Schrodinger’s Cat
“Schrodinger’s Cat” was not a real experiment nor even part of any scientific theory, nor even a real cat; it did not scientifically prove anything. You probably never heard of this cat, but I assure you every quantum physicist refers to it continually. We’ll get back to this feline story later.
When you throw a ball up into the sky, what happens next? It returns to the earth, of course. The ball is responding to a predictable, replicable physical law – gravity. There are four fundamental forces that operate in our universe: Gravity, Electromagnetism, Weak Nuclear Force, and Strong Nuclear Force. These are “laws”; they function everywhere and all the time; they are totally predictable. We would call this the “real world”, or “classical physics” or “Newtonian physics”.
The following is an example of classical physics at work. The Sun is one of billions of stars in a predictable orbit around a central black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is a giant nuclear reactor that pumps unimaginably high (but known) quantities of energy into space around it; it even has a life-span that scientists can calculate. Earth is one of nine planets that circle the sun in an expected orbit. Each planet receives a known amount of energy from the sun in the form of energy bundles called “photons”. Everything observed on this macro-scale is behaving in predictable fashion, obeying all the laws of physics.
But Newtonian physics begins to break down when the mini-scale is encountered, the world of atoms and electrons, and quarks, and gluons – the realm of sub-atomic particles. A classic example would be bundles of electromagnetic energy radiating from the sun called “photons”. Another word for photon is “quantum”. Photons certainly have an effect: if you’re exposed to them too long you get a sunburn; if you stare at the sun, you can go blind; photons are the basis for photosynthesis in plants. But photons, or quantum, are weird. Photons travel at the speed of light, have zero mass, zero electric charge, carry energy, and interact with matter. Even stranger, they also travel as both waves and particles and can be at multiple or no places at the same time; they cannot be measured or have predictable behavior, only described as probabilities. Particles can actually tunnel through walls, appear out of thin air and disappear, stay entangled and choose to behave like waves. Strange creatures don’t you think? Welcome to the spooky, bizarre realm of quantum physics (quantum mechanics), the subatomic world that defies all logic of our macroscopic world.
Quantum Particle – Wave Mechanics
Quantum Mechanics remains a mystery (in theory), but in practice is a big part of our daily lives; it is the guiding theory that led to critical technologies like nuclear power, MRI machines, and transistors in computers and cell phones. You don’t have to understand quantum when you operate your flashlight; you just flip the switch and let the photons light your path. A famous scientist, Max Plank, determined that energy could only be traded in ‘packets’ or ‘quanta’. Shortly thereafter another scientist, Albert Einstein, famous for his equation E=MC (squared) that validates Plank’s ideas, stated: “God does not play dice with the universe”. Einstein was not a Christian, and he hated the idea that ‘nothing can be certain’, a principle that underlies quantum theory; rather, he believed that eventually science would discover the laws that govern quantum mechanics.
In quantum theory, quantum particles can exist in a superposition of states (be multiple or zero places at the same time) and can collapse down to a single state upon interaction with other particles. Because of the mysteries, some scientists of the 1930s began to move quantum theory away from science and into the realm of philosophy. They believed that quantum behavior only existed in the eyes of a conscious third-party observer; otherwise it was not ‘real’. This is where Schrodinger’s Cat in a box comes in.
Schrodinger, an Austrian physicist, saw the absurdity of moving quantum from science to philosophy, so he developed a teaching tool to illustrate how some people were misinterpreting quantum theory. He contrived a hypothetical thought experiment in which a cat is put inside a box, with some equipment which releases poisonous gas upon detection of beta (radiation) particles emitted by a radioactive source. Since beta emission is random by nature (there is no timing pattern), there is no way of knowing whether the cat is dead or alive (a 50/50 chance), until the box is opened and observed. So, until we look inside the box, according to quantum theory, the cat is both dead and alive!
Confused yet? You should be! Quantum physics is messy and filled with uncertainties. Scientists hate mystery; they typically believe there must be a natural (fact-based) answer for everything; what many researchers believe they need is more time, not a Creator; perhaps that’s why so many are atheists. If a nature-trusting scientist can struggle with the mysteries of quantum mechanics, imagine their challenge with statements made in the Bible. For example, in Hebrews, we’re informed: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for…by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11)
As a geologist, I’m well acquainted with the struggle of embracing the supernatural. Geology is steeped in the natural world. Just as a photon is both particle and wave, so I (and you) are both body and spirit at the same time. Need we be reminded that our spirits exist in the realm of the mysterious (unseen) and yet influence the natural (seen) realm? The Bible reminds us that we are simultaneously citizens of a worldly and a heavenly kingdom – in this world but not of this world. When you whisper a prayer, do you expect it to travel to God at the speed of light, or in that very instant? Aren’t you glad God doesn’t play by the natural laws of the universe when answering prayer? Much like Schrodinger’s cat, all humans live in a concealed box which will one day be opened by the Lord, revealing our status; yet we determine, by our own decision, whether we will be found dead (in sin) or alive (in Christ). A mystery of quantum proportions!
