Advice to toys collectors : Schrödingcat® remains nor dead nor alive as long as kept in its original packaging. To box openers and incorrigible players : Schrödingcat® comes in 11 collectible dimensions.
Bet to collect them all ?!
Schrödingcat® is a science popularization project, attempting to picture the famous thought experiment of Austrian scientist Erwin Schrödinger. In order to highlight quantum physics' paradoxes, once applied to our human-sized world, he proposed the following ficticious experiment : a cat is penned up in a box along with a radioactive substance, with equal probability for the atoms to decay and kill the cat. The cat is considered nor dead, nor alive, until the observer opens the box (well, this is a simplified shortcut).
Let's roll the dice ! Which cat will you get ?!
We often invoke images to ease conceptualization . We understand relying on familiar and tangible or mental images. That is why I attempted to translate this (wrongfully) mindblowing quantum phenomenon. Under the features of a cat-toy, isn't the amplitude probability distribution function much fluffier and palpable ?
Hence, it seemed to me toy packaging and advertising work perfectly to make this thought experiment come true. After all, science is as fun as a game !
According to quantum mechanics, the (very serious) hypothesis of a multiverse, including up to 10 or 11 dimensions, could ease your mind, if you try to understand the superposition of states. If you cat-toy's battery dies : you can find consolation in the possibility that it still purrs in another dimensions !
Quantum mechanics also assumes that you can't determine a particule's position AND speed at the same time. It is called Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, pictured in this user's guide (see above).