when is Schroedinger's cat dead, and when is it not?

You will not dictate to me what i will do. People aren't trolls just because they disagree with you. Thumby goes from thread to thread trying to take over the discussion, trying to make himself the center of attention. Brandon does not do that. There is no good reason to call him a troll, and least of all just because you don't see eye to eye on political matters. I don't agree with his politics, either--that doesn't make him a troll.

You have presumed to tell the world physics community that it's wrong and you know better. If you cannot solve an elementary physics problem such as teenagers solve in high school physics classes daily, then you are not qualified to say that established theory and the world physics community are wrong. I'll give you one more chance to demonstrate that you know what you're talking about. If you can solve it, then I will admit that you have at least a basic working knowledge of the subject. Put up or shut up.

And I got a little problem for you, Brandon: in quantum physics, what's the essential difference between a physicist and a cat?

Well for one, the physicist can contemplate QP......the cat can not, to say that this is not true on a Q level, while correct, has far less importance as to how does QP allow for comprehension of QP. That is to say, how do elementary particles enable thought. In the answer, you will find creation.

Cats can contemplate quantum physics. They do it all the time...

If this were true, then perhaps you can pose a QP question to a cat......!

Let us know what you find.

Why not tackle Brandon's question, DNA...or acknowledge that you cannot.

Being unable to answer his question calls your scientific knowledge into question.

Being unwilling to acknowledge that you cannot answer it...calls your integrity into question.

You ought really to do one or the other...or lose credibility.

Maybe he's having a problem with this specific question, rather than being completely ignorant of basic physics. I guess he was absent from school on the day that they studied the conservation of momentum.

The problem was:

A bullet of mass 10 grams srikes a simple pendulum of mass 2 kg and remains embedded in it. The center of mass of the pendulum rises a vertical distance of 12 cm. Calculate the bullet's initial speed.

Let Mb = mass of the bullet
Mp = mass of the pendulum
Vi = velocity of the bullet before the collision
Vf = velocity of pendulum with embedded bullet just after the collions

The momentum of the bullet before the collision is equal to the momentum of the pendulum with a bullet embedded after the collision.

Mb Vi = (Mb + Mp) Vf

By conservation of energy:

½ (Mb + Mp) Vf^2 = (Mb + Mp)gh

Vf ^2 = 2gh
Vf = SQRT(2gh)

Plugging this back in to the above relation between Vi and Vf:

Vi = [(Mb + Mp)/Mb] SQRT(2gh)

Plugging in Mb = .01 kg, Mp = 2 kg, h = .12m, and g = 9.8 m/s^2, this gives:

(2.01 kg/.01 kg) SQRT[2 ( 9.8 m/s^2) (.12m)] = 308.3 m/s


But here is your chance to redeem yourself and show that you really are qualified to correct the world scientific community:

A circular curve of road is designed for traffic moving at 40 mi/hr. If the radius of the road’s curve is 400 ft, what is the correct angle of banking for the road?

Do yourself a favor, and do not include the word, "collions" in your thesis.

Funny how some people can discover something a trillion trillion trillion to the trillionth power miles away, yet can not even tell what is in my pockets if they are right next to me. Some people will believe anything.

http://www.conservativenewsandviews.com/2011/07/23/creation/water-vapor-cloud-edge-universe/

Look and you shall see, what your mind chooses.

We don't know yet how to communicate with cats. Until we do, we won't know what they think of quantum mechanics. ;-)

Anyway, knowledge of QM doesn't not a meaningful difference make at the quantic level. The atoms can't know whether they are being observed by an organism that is quantically-astute, or one that isn't.

These questions are designed to determine if you know really basic high school physics. This determination is relevant because a person who is utterly ignorant of the most basic principles has no business telling the world's scientific community that they are wrong about science accepted for more than three quarters of a century. It simply comes down to whether you know anything about this subject or not. You have failed to solve a very, very elementary problem which any student who received a decent grade in high school physics should have no trouble with. I have given you a second chance with another really basic problem. All you have to do is provide some kind of correct answer. Stop trying to distract me or derail the conversation, because I will not be distracted. I don't care about your Web links. Demonstrate that you have some idea of the subject on which you are presenting yourself as an expert.

DNA...

...Brandon and I disagree on lots and lots of things, but he is correct in asking you to show some competence before telling us that you can show us how out-of-date science is.

I have no competency in what Brandon is asking whatsoever...and freely acknowledge that I do not.

I am not as interested in whether you are competent in that area as I am in your credibility and integrity. (Both of which seem to be suspect at this moment.)

If you cannot answer Brandon's questions...why not just be a stand-up guy and simply acknowledge that you cannot?

Dude, when you are 50, then and only then will you be able to comprehend how ignorant you are now. You will consider this an insult, until the point in time when you see it as true, as all do.

If you earned 50 Phd's, this would not change the facts that Bill Gates is a University dropout, and that Thomas Edison all but never attended school at all. Are you implying that Edison never invented anything because he never wasted his time learning high school physics?

There are exceptions however.
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/scouting-guid-top-high-school-inventors

I never said that science was out of date, from where did you get this idea? Science is but a chronicle of human understanding, to be out of date, for this is implausible. However since yesterdays chronicle has been updated, a text written last year, would likely need changes, in order to be current.

You have now demonstrated that you lack even the most basic knowledge of physics. You cannot answer questions which numerous high school students around the world wouldn't have a problem with. By all means, roam the board correcting the world's physicists. Correct the world's doctor's about medicine even if you have never studied it. Lecture people in Tibet about their mistaken ideas about their country even if you've never been there. However, everyone who has read the last few pages of this thread will know that you have no idea what you're talking about.

You have demonstrated the intellect of the typical 16 year old. Margin of error, plus or minus 3 years, noting that year value is in mental and not calendar years.

15 degree.

In quantum mechanics, what's the essential difference between a cat and a physicist?

You're right, of course. Here's how I solved it:

v = 40 mi/hr
r = 400 ft
N = the normal force of the road on the car
m = mass of the car

N cos θ = mg
N sin θ = mv^2/r
tan θ = v^2/rg

v = 40 mi/hr (5280 ft/mi) (1 hr /3600 sec) = 58.67 ft/sec
tan θ = v^2/rg = (58.67 ft/sec)^2/(400 ft) (32.17 ft/sec^2) = .2675
θ = 15 degrees

But are you completely sure of the Quantum teleportation formula

You did not answer my own question though.

How can a cat NOT be considered a valid observer of his own death, that's what bugs me in this thought experiment...