Erwin Schrödinger the Austrian Chemist
Born: 08/12/1887 Death: 01/4/1961
Ernest Schrodinger, a physicist, invented an equation(
) that showed the existence of electron waves in an atom & allowed us to find the probability of an electron's position . To prove this equation & his theory, he used a thought experiment, Schrodinger's Cat, that used a cat to symbolize the atom & explained that we don't know the outcome of the atom unless we observe it.The impact of his Equation has allowed quantum mechanics to develop & to develop new technology that involves waves.
) that showed the existence of electron waves in an atom & allowed us to find the probability of an electron's position . To prove this equation & his theory, he used a thought experiment, Schrodinger's Cat, that used a cat to symbolize the atom & explained that we don't know the outcome of the atom unless we observe it.The impact of his Equation has allowed quantum mechanics to develop & to develop new technology that involves waves.
Schrodinger Thought Experiment:
"One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks".
