Brewster Rockit explains Schrödinger
Looking for a good exposition of Schrödinger’s famous quantum cat? Check with idiot space captain, Brewster Rockit! (Click the picture and navigate to Sunday 25 Sept ‘05 episode to see the whole comic)
Comicspage.com only shows the most recent month’s comic, so after 25 October it won’t be available. Here’s the text:
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Brewster narrates:
“Hello Rockiteers! Time for this week’s edition of ‘Rockit Science.’”
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Brewster in foreground, Dr. Mel Practice and Winky in background with box on tabletop.
“This week we look at Schrödinger’s Cat. In 1935, physicist Erwin Schrödinger devised a thought experiment to explain superposition, or how something can have two properties at once according to quantum physics.”
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“If you put a cat in a box, and set it up so that the cat has an equal chance of being alive or dead, the cat is actually both alive and dead. Wierd, Huh?”
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Dr. Mel Practice reaches to open box as Winky observes. Brewster continues:
“Only until the cat is actually observed would both possibilities collapse into one reality. So… dead or alive? We’re going to settle this once and for all.”
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Cat jumps out of box hissing, attacks Winky
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Cat clawing Winky’s head…
Brewster: “There you have it. Schrödinger’s cat is alive and hacked off about being stuck in a box.
Dr. Mel Practice: “This ‘Rockit Science’ moment is brought to you by Schrödinger’s Cat-Litter Box. If you don’t observe it, you won’t have to change it.”
Gotta give ‘em props for being able to turn something like Schrödinger’s Cat into a joke about litter boxes. Thanks for the laugh.