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    My Cat Hates Schrödinger
    My Cat Hates Schrödinger
    My Cat Hates Schrödinger
    Ebook129 pages1 hour

    My Cat Hates Schrödinger

    By Luca Montemagno

    ()

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    About this ebook

    "My cat hates Schrödinger" is an amusing introduction to the principles of quantum physics. It's never too late to become a quantum physics fan! 
    The Book achieved resounding success on amazon.it and in fact became a bestseller, reaching the first position in the "Physics" category. The aim of the book is to explain, in a way that will make you laugh and learn at the same time, how quantum physics and the universe work. To do so, the author has used his long-suffering cat. And it was a great idea: just have a look at the hundreds of followers of his Facebook page.
    The main topics explained in the book are:
    Quantum Physics Space-time Relativity Big Bang Universe Dark Matter Theory of Everything Higgs field Multiverse Black Holes String Theory
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBabelcube Inc.
    Release dateFeb 12, 2017
    ISBN9781507139646
    My Cat Hates Schrödinger

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      Book preview

      My Cat Hates Schrödinger - Luca Montemagno

      reading

      If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.

      Richard Feynman

      Preface

      Writing a convincing preface is always a difficult task. In this case, however, I assure you that it was only right to sketch one out. At least this will set the scene for a text that I shamelessly consider to be truly valuable.

      I have tried to make friends, relatives, parents and cats read some of the content, and I assure you that this has been frenzied, (especially in the case of the cat).

      Many of these people eventually began to develop a passion for the subject. Others, having fallen prey to mysticism, greedily began to pad out their own bookcases with more detailed books. Yet others sheepishly meowed. One person snorted unashamedly.

      But, believe me, each one of them managed to grasp something more about a topic that has a tangible impact on our everyday lives; you can let me know what you think later.

      So before I start I would just like to write a few words about the structure of the book, which I would describe as a nice, not too challenging, simplified but not shallow, brief introduction to Quantum Physics.

      Obviously, the text is not an essay, but it will help many of you to gain some enthusiasm for a subject with striking and increasingly profound implications. 

      Let me start by saying that I have tried to avoid using formulae wherever possible. They would have bored you needlessly (and moreover would have been out of place in a text that is intended for informative but light reading).

      Instead I have inserted find out more boxes wherever necessary.

      One piece of advice: the boxes are stand-alone and can be read separately to the text.  In fact, this is probably the right approach to take when confronted with material like this, which should be fluent in itself.  This also goes for those who, if they're honest, rank themselves among the uninitiated. 

      As for the sketches in this book, please be lenient. They are my own work.  Even now, when I look at them critically, they still seem pretty good:  they’re suitable for a text that is fairly informal, after all.

      For the more savvy and inquisitive readers I have also tried to insert some mystical, religious and spiritual inspiration, and so on and so forth.

      Bear in mind, however, that I would never dream of churning out some nonsense that had no scientific basis. 

      Hence, out of the numerous half-baked theories available, I have tried to choose the most reasonable, if we can call them that.

      Moreover, I have added a helpful glossary at the back of the book. This will help to clarify concepts that might have been a bit of a hindrance during the narrative, but which, I felt, were sufficiently important to be included.

      But enough for now. I wish you happy reading; we have already spent too much time chatting.  Science awaits us. I’ll see you on the other side of the mirror.

      Why my cat hates Schrödinger

      You are the only person I like to discuss things with.  Almost everyone goes from the facts to the theory, and not from theory to facts. People are incapable of thinking outside the accepted concepts and they continue to beat about the bush in a grotesque manner.

      Albert Einstein on Erwin Schrödinger

      ––––––––

      ––––––––

      My cat hates Schrödinger. And if you are patient enough to listen to me you will understand why.

      More and more often I find that many of you see Physics, especially Quantum Physics, as a topic to be confined to the laboratory, or at least to the most academic universities.  The stuff of hardcore NERDS; the stuff of stuffy old scientists.

      Hardcore NERD prototype

      ––––––––

      Nothing could be further from the truth.

      Physics, and especially Quantum Physics, can really make you reassess your view of the world.  If we look closely, modern Physics has, among other things, countless things in common with various eastern religions. Is this merely coincidence?

      Actually, if well-explained, I believe that this is not only fascinating, but also quite understandable (at least in its key concepts). Have faith in your listening skills and let yourself be blown away.

      Ok, ok.  I know that I haven’t yet convinced you, so this is what we’ll do: First of all, I’ll start by illustrating one of the paradoxes that worries the fat family feline the most (though not so much, however, as the attentions of my son, if we are really honest).

      Its name is:  The paradox of Schrödinger’s cat.

      A paradox that provides those observing reality with an ESSENTIAL role to play.

      The saying that each is the architect of his own destiny, could, after reading this, take on a much broader, even mystical, significance. 

      Listen to me. Read what I have to say carefully, and try to grasp its most profound implications. You are about to go down the rabbit hole. Lower your head and watch your step.

      But first of all, who was Schrödinger?

      Erwin Schrödinger, as well as having a name that I find unpronounceable, was a great mathematician and physicist, famous for his contribution to quantum mechanics.

      Schrödinger’s cat was a thought experiment intended to highlight the theoretical difficulties associated with the measuring process in quantum mechanics.

      I’ll explain this a little more clearly, for the sake of the majority.

      In classical Physics (the Physics that seems familiar during everyday activities), there are no limitations in the measurement of the features of a physical system.

      For example, there’s nothing to stop us measuring the position, velocity (approximately the same as that of a tortoise),

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