Schrodingers's iPod Mystery Box
Submitted by: Matt Schwartz
Description: Here is a mystery box for all you physics and quantum mechanics fans out there! Giving a nod to noted physicist Erwin Schrödinger, the mystery in this box lies not in what is inside but rather the mystery is the existence of a superposition in quantum theory which allows the iPod, when unobserved, to exist in both the intact and destroyed states.
Below read a description from the maker of the Schrodinger's iPod Mystery Box:
In this experiment a brand new, iPod Touch is sealed in a steel chamber, along with a very small amount of the radioactive substance Cesium-137. If even a single atom of the substance decays during the test period it will be detected by the Geiger counter. In turn, this will activate a motorized pulley system, which lowers the iPod Touch into a container of hydrofluoric acid (HF), dissolving it.
The observer cannot know whether or not an atom of the substance has decayed, and consequently, cannot know whether the motor has been activated. Since we cannot know, the iPod Touch is both destroyed and intact according to quantum law, in a superposition of states. It is only when we open the box and learn the condition of the iPod Touch that the superposition is lost, and the iPod Touch becomes one or the other (intact or destroyed).
Ready to enter your Mystery Box?
Hurry up! You've got until September 30, 2009.
The grand prize winner receives a laser engraved iPod Touch, and will be selected by Epilog Laser and GeekDad and announced October 6, 2009.
See all the Mystery Box Challenge entries here!
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What will yours look like? |
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