Schrodinger famously postulated a thought experiment where a cat put in a box with a flask of poison and a radioactive material that potentially could discharge a particle detectable by a Geiger counter that would be set up to break the flask, killing the cat. As the release of the particle was random and undetectable outside the box it would be impossible to know if the cat was alive or dead unless you opened the box, with the suggestion that until that point in time the cat was both alive and dead. However...
Surrey scientist Bill Redmonds and his drinking buddy, history lecturer Alan Fountain, who holds regular history debriefs in the local Wetherspoons have debunked the story.
'First of all,' said Bill today, 'have you ever tried to get a cat into a f@cking box? Just a box, never mind one rammed with fragile flasks of poison and a 1930s Geiger counter, which would be about the size of 32 inch TV back then. The flask would be shattered in the first two seconds killing the cat and Schrodinger. In fact, scratch that, the cat would be out of the room before anyone realised the flask was broken,' he added. 'Even if you got the cat in the box, with or without the flask, Geiger counter etc, etc, you would be in no doubt if the cat was alive or not. The bloody box would be bouncing around the room, unless the cat was dead. Thought experiment, my arse,' he said.
'But,' said Alan, holding up a handful of letters, 'his neighbours had cats, either side, and he was forever sending letters complaining that their cats were sh!tting on his lawn. Then he proposes his "thought experiment" and the letters stopped. I bet he didn't have to worry about cat sh!t either from that point on and I for one would think twice about getting a replacement cat.
Scientists have refined the theory in the light of this revelation. Imagine you have a lawn and your neighbour has a bloody feral cat. If there is sh!t on the lawn is the cat alive or dead? If I've got anything to do with it...
image from pixabay
