Ever wondered why Schr\u00f6dinger’s cat became so famous \u2013 or who Schr\u00f6dinger is, for that matter? And could an infinite number of monkeys really type the complete works of Shakespeare? And if they could, how does this help scientists anyway?<\/p>\n
Well, it turns out that cats stuck in boxes, monkeys with aspirations to write and demons with time on their hands can all help scientists immeasurably. Each of these creatures is at the centre of its own thought experiment. This is a tool used by scientists to consider a theory from all angles – to prove or disprove it and to understand its consequences.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take Schr\u00f6dinger’s cat \u2013 perhaps the most famous thought experiment of all time. Physicist Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger put forward the hypothetical case of a live cat being placed inside a windowless steel box. Also in the box is a Geiger counter and a microscopic piece of radioactive material. Should one of the radioactive atoms decay, the Geiger counter will set off a mechanism that results in a small amount of hydrocyanic acid being spilled \u2013 killing the cat. If the atom doesn\u2019t decay, nothing will happen and the cat will be fine (albeit lonely, hungry and trapped in a box).<\/p>\n
Because over the next hour there is an equal chance that one of the atoms will decay or won\u2019t decay, there is also an equal chance of the cat being alive or dead. As there is no way of seeing into the box to check, this means that \u2013 according to the theory of quantum mechanics \u2013 the cat is both alive AND dead.<\/p>\n
Confused? We\u2019re not surprised! But what you might not know is that Schr\u00f6dinger actually came up with this paradox to highlight the problems he saw with the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics – not to prove it, as is the popular assumption. Quantum mechanics deals with science on a microscopic level and Schr\u00f6dinger wanted to show that when the science was applied to something larger, it became ridiculous. He did so with his dead-alive cat.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to a room of immortal monkeys \u2013 or rather, one immortal monkey. While the theorem often conjures up the image of a roomful of monkeys, it is actually just one monkey typing forever that\u2019s at the centre of this thought experiment. Given enough time to smash the typewriter at random, the monkey will \u201calmost surely\u201d bash out the Bard\u2019s back catalogue. But, if the room \u2013 and the entire observable universe \u2013 was full of monkeys typing away for billions and billions of years, this probability actually falls.<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s the point of this theory? Well, it\u2019s simply the proposition that, given enough time, order can come from chaos and anything can be created by random input.<\/p>\n
Both the \u2018the infinite monkey typing pool\u2019 and \u2018Schr\u00f6dinger’s cat\u2019 have been used as the inspiration for a couple of the short stories that feature in Thought X, <\/em>the latest in Comma Press\u2019 series of short story collections inspired by real science. Other titles in the collection include When It Changed<\/em>, Litmus<\/em> and Lemistry<\/em>.<\/p>\n The book is a unique blend of science and fiction. As a starting point, the authors received a thought experiment to inspire their short story, and the scientists were then asked to write an afterword that turned the fiction into facts.<\/p>\n UoM Faculty of Science and Engineering\u2019s Dr Rob Appleby and Professor Sarah Bridle were among the scientists invited to add scientific weight to stories by the likes of Ian Watson (who wrote the screen story for Steven Spielberg\u2019s A.I. Artificial Intelligence) <\/em>and Robin Ince, presenter of BBC Radio 4\u2019s The Infinite Monkey Cage<\/em>.<\/p>\n As a starting point, the authors received a thought experiment to inspire their short story, and the scientists were then asked to write an afterword that turned the fiction into facts. Dr Appleby, from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University, assisted writer Ian Watson on his story inspired by \u2018the infinite monkey typing pool\u2019. Professor of Astrophysics Sarah Bridle, meanwhile, worked with Adam Roberts on a story about Olber\u2019s Paradox – which was well suited to the Jodrell Bank astrophysicist. The experiment argues against the belief that the universe is infinite, eternal and static by pointing to the darkness of the night sky.<\/p>\n Thought X<\/em> was born a few years ago when Comma Press commissioned five short stories inspired by scientific thought experiments. Dr Appleby was asked to act as a consultant for authors Sarah Schofield and Marie Louise Cookson on their stories, which explore \u2018Laplace\u2019s demon\u2019 and \u2018Maxwell demon\u2019 respectively.<\/p>\n Speaking at the time, Dr Appleby said: \u201cThere\u2019re so many [thought experiments] to do and they\u2019re so interesting. But then there\u2019s a couple that don\u2019t get as much press as the others \u2013 and they both have devils in them!\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Laplace\u2019s demon\u2019 imagines there\u2019s a demon who knows the position of every particle in the universe and the speed it travels. Using classical physics such as Newton\u2019s Laws of Motion, the demon is able to take this information and calculate the position and speeds of each particle in the next instant in time, the one after that and so on. Armed with this information, the demon can also work out the position and speed of every particle at every point in the past. This means that for the demon, tomorrow is predetermined \u2013 so what happens to free will?<\/p>\n \u2018Maxwell\u2019s demon\u2019, meanwhile, throws a trident in the works of the theory of thermodynamics, which states heat always flows from hot to cold. \u201cThe devils are there to play an interesting role. They\u2019re there to be a little mischievous,\u201d Dr Appleby explained. \u201cThe demon is trying to teach us through a thought experiment [to ask] is the theory true and what are the limitations of the theory.<\/p>\n \u201c[The demons] stretch us to ask \u2018how good is your physics? Is there a way to circumvent what you grandly call a fundamental principle?\u2019 And also they\u2019re really good devices to produce good works of short fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n Thought X<\/em> is out now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Words – Hayley Cox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ever wondered why Schr\u00f6dinger’s cat became so famous \u2013 or who Schr\u00f6dinger is, for that matter? And could an infinite number of monkeys really type the complete works of Shakespeare? And if they could, how does this help scientists anyway? Well, it turns out that cats stuck in boxes, monkeys with aspirations to write and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[213],"tags":[219],"class_list":{"0":"post-375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uom-life","8":"tag-physics-and-astronomy","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nCall the scientists<\/h2>\n
Devil’s in the detail<\/h2>\n