Didn't know about the theory til I saw Penny expound on it on The Big Bang Theory.
Quote:
Take one ordinary cat, one large box, a particle detector, a radiation source, a bottle of cyanide gas.
Hook up the detector so that if it detects a particle from the radiation source, it will open the cyanide gas.
Set it up inside the box in such a way that there will be a 50% probability of a particle being detected from the radiation source within a five minute period. Add the cat to the box.
Theory says that the cat will enter a quantum state where it is 50% alive and 50% dead until the experimenter looks inside the box.
However, reality teaches us that the severely pissed off cat cat WILL escape the box well before the 5 minutes are up, attack the experimenter and depart just in time for the severely lacerated experimenter to watch the hammer descend on the cyanide bottle one inch from his nose.
