It turned out that the experiment could still do this, and Song Huiqin felt incredible. The experiments he did at the U City Polytechnic University involved all kinds of bottles and cans, chemicals, electrical components, etc. This old man is Yang Shimo, a retired professor of the Department of Physics of U City University of Technology, and the pronunciation of "Yang's modulus" in "Mechanics of Materials" is relatively similar, and his assistant's name is Gao Shuangbo. Professor Yang originally wanted to build a similar laboratory at the U City Polytechnic University, but the leaders said that the laboratory involved incredible mysterious forces and did not approve it. Professor Yang had no choice, so he rented the basement of this abandoned factory and established the current laboratory.

"I heard a cat meow during the experiment, what's going on?" Song Huiqin vaguely remembers some details of the electronic double-slit experiment.

"This cat is not an ordinary cat, it is very famous, it also has a surname, its surname is Xue, and it is called Schrödinger Cat." Professor Yang said.

Professor Yang took Song Huiqin to another room and opened the door, which was pitch black. Professor Yang turned on the light, and the cat in the room was frightened and let out a scream. Song Huiqin walked into the room, saw a secret room, and asked, "What's in the secret room?" ”

"It's a cat." Professor Yang said.

"Why did you keep the cat in the secret room? If someone from the Animal Protection Society finds out, they'll come to you for trouble. I have classmates who are in the Animal Protection Society, and they have to take in stray cats and dogs. They protest the dog meat festival in Yulin every year, and if they know you're abusing a cat here, they won't take a break. Song Huiqin said.

"Hey, it can't be helped, some animals have to make sacrifices and contributions for the sake of science. I have friends in the medical profession who have hurt many guinea pigs in order to do medical experiments. I had to use cats for this experiment. Professor Yang said.

This poor "Schrödinger cat" has been locked in the secret room, and Song Huiqin carefully observes its living environment. There is a warm, clean and comfortable nest inside, which is where the cats sleep. There is also a plate with fishy fish and animal offal. Song Huiqin asked, "This cat eats these smelly things?" Why not feed it cooked food? ”

"As the saying goes, there is no cat that doesn't steal fishy, and cats love to eat these fishy things." Professor Yang said.

Song Huiqin saw another bottle with the mark "skull" on it, it seemed that it was a bottle of poison. Song Huiqin asked Professor Yang, "Why are you putting a bottle of poison here?" ”

"For the sake of experimentation, poison the cat if necessary." Professor Yang said.

"Professor, you just restrict the freedom of this Schrödinger cat, I didn't expect that you, a kind old professor, would kill animals in experiments?" Song Huiqin said.

"This ...... This...... The experimental scheme designed by the great scientist Schrödinger in 1935 is like this, and we can't change it. Professor Yang said.

Song Huiqin saw that there was an iron hammer on top of the poison bottle, and the iron hammer was controlled by an electronic switch, which in turn was connected to a box. Song Huiqin asked again: "What's in this box?" ”

"Inside the box is a radioactive source, and the radioactive source can control the electronic switch. If the nucleus in the radioactive source decays, alpha particles are released, the electronic switch is triggered, the hammer falls, smashes the poison bottle, and releases the cyanide-carbon gas inside, and the cat will surely die. Professor Yang said.

"What if the nucleus doesn't decay?" Song Huiqin asked.

"The decay of an atomic nucleus is a random event, and we have no way of knowing when it will decay. All we know for sure is the half-life – half the time it takes to decay. If the half-life of the nucleus is one day, then after one day, the element is less than half, and another day, there is less than the remaining half. We have no way of knowing when the nucleus decays, in the morning or in the afternoon. Of course, we know the chance of it decaying in the morning or afternoon – that is, the chance that the cat will die in the morning or afternoon. If we don't lift the lid of the chamber, based on our experience in everyday life, we can conclude that the cat is either dead or alive, and these are its two eigenstates. If we use the Schrödinger equation to describe the Schrödinger cat, we can only say that it is in a superposition of living and inactive. We can only know for sure whether a cat is dead or alive the moment the lid is lifted. Professor Yang said.

"Hey, Professor, I, as a young junior, I'm going to talk about you again. If you want to kill this cat, you can just kill it, why let it be scared in the secret room? When I was sleeping in my dormitory last month, one of my classmates came back late, and when she went to bed, she snapped one shoe off the floor, and then she thought that it shouldn't interfere with her classmate's sleep, so she gently put the other shoe on the floor. I lay in bed and waited for her second shoe to hit the ground, but I couldn't wait, and I was so scared that I couldn't sleep all night. This Schrödinger cat is the same, I don't know when your atomic nucleus will decay, and I am always scared, how difficult it is these days......" Song Huiqin said.

"This ...... This...... I can't help it, that's how the experiment was designed. Professor Yang said.

"Can't you innovate?" Song Huiqin asked.

"No matter how innovative it is, there must be a small animal in the secret room, which can be a dog or a chicken, no different from this Schrödinger cat. Besides, everyone likes to use cats, and if you change to another animal, the experimental results may not be recognized by your peers, and the published articles will not pass peer review, so why bother. Professor Yang said.

"The results of your experiment are very strange! If we don't lift the lid and observe, we will never know whether the cat is dead or alive, it will always be in a half-dead superposition state, but this makes the microscopic uncertainty principle become the macroscopic uncertainty principle, Marxist philosophy tells us: the objective law is not transferred by human will, and the state of the cat living and dead in this experiment violates logical thinking. Song Huiqin said.

"yes, so what to do? According to quantum mechanics, the cat in the chamber is in a 'dead-alive superposition' – both dead and alive! It is not until you open the box and look at the cat that you decide whether it lives or dies. Please note! Not a discovery but a decision, just one look is fatal! Professor Yang said.

Dead-live superposition? Both dead and alive? Song Huiqin remembered the poet Zang Kejia's poem "Some People": Some people are alive, but he is dead; Some people are dead, and he is still alive. Some people, riding on the heads of the people: "Oh, how great I am! "Some people bend down and serve the people as cattle and horses...... Song Huiqin remembered a sentence from Shakespeare's "Hamlet": "To live or to perish, this is a question." It is only when one opens the box that the superposition of the cat ends abruptly, i.e., the wave function collapses. Prince Hamlet's hesitation is finally over, and people know the cat's certainty: dead or alive.