What is the crossover point between undetectable and detectable, blurry and certain? When does quantum behavior disappear in favor of the everyday, macroscopic reality we're used to? Can we "chain together" reality so tiny behaviors determine larger ones? That's the direct question Schrödinger's Cat raises. Oh! How cruel!" I felt that this Schrodinger guy must be a bounder of the first water, famous scientist or not. "He must be reported to the SPCA!" The first two parts of the book explore the discussions, and scientific developments as quantum theories began to emerge from classical Newtonian approaches. It's unapologetically forthcoming, and NEVER tries to dumb down things in an effort towards becoming more "accommodating" and "plebian", which are the more euphemistic expressions for undervaluing the readers.

Learning Gotcha: How We Misunderstood Schrödinger’s Cat Learning Gotcha: How We Misunderstood Schrödinger’s Cat

An Elizabethan male dramatist (or female?), unbeknownst to himself succinctly put this --"To be or not to be". If that's the case, create a scenario where subatomic bluriness determines the fate of a macroscopic object That's stupid! You can't be dead and alive at the same time. In fact, you are very much alive now." I was indignant. I think this book is meant for laypeople, you don't need to understand any equations, but even for an expert, I think having the history laid out like this, and told in such a personable voice, must be interesting and helpful. Both events happened, but we don't know which alternate universe we're in. Maybe every possible outcome creates a new timeline. (I flip a coin and put it under my hand. Are we in a spooky quantum state?)Well, it was all these scientists talking about wave/ particle duality - how subatomic particles behaved both like a wave and a particle, and changed into one or the other only upon observation. Schrodinger was dead against it. So he created me in the box - and I am both dead and alive until someone observes me... at what point, either the vial breaks or it doesn't, I either die or live." She said all this in one breath. scarcely any of them will realise that every item on that list has its roots in quantum mechanics, a branch of science that they may never have heard of and almost certainly do not understand. They are not alone. All of those advances have been achieved by quantum cookery, using the rules that seem to work although no-one really understands why they work...it is doubtful that anyone understands why the quantum recipes work.”

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A cat is in a box with a radioactive source and a poison that will be released when the source (unpredictably) emits radiation. According to quantum mechanics, the cat is simultaneously both dead and alive until the box is opened and the cat observed. It was, however, the final third that made me sit up, and read & re-read things, only to understand them. That part dealt with actual state of quantum theory, and needs considerable conceptual clarity, which is not so easy to muster at my stage.Physics was one subject i was never good at during High school (not that i was great at any of the other subjects though but Physics was a nightmare). There were concepts which were totally ambiguous to me and went way above my head. This book not only clarified some of them but also instilled in me a deep interest in Physics. Having just wrapped the book up, my memory with innumerable sieves(I have forgotten the number) is nagging me to jot down my gleanings from this one. this book explains generally the perplexing, mind-boggling, paradoxical principles of quantum physics while relating the history of discoveries leading up to and through it, including the discovery of the X-Ray. Philosophically, the issue reminds me of how we think about infinitely small quantities. Do infinitesimals exist? The third part probes some of the deeper mysteries, possibilities and paradoxes of quantum mechanics.