Macroscopic World

• The laws of physics that govern the macroscopic

world (apples and cars and trees and us) are
called Newton’s Laws or Classical Physics

• Newton's laws of motion are three laws of

classical mechanics that describe the
relationship between the motion of an object and
the forces acting on it.
Classical Mechanics predicts a precise trajectory for
a particle.
velocity v

position r = (x,y,z)

The exact position (r) and velocity (v) and hence the
momentum p = mv) of a particle (mass = m) can be known
simultaneously at each point in time.
 Classical Mechanics

• Do the electrons in atoms and molecules

obey Newton’s classical laws of motion?

• We shall see that the answer to this question

is “No”.

• This has led to the development of Quantum

Mechanics .
• Classical Mechanics (Newton's mechanics) can explain
MACROSCOPIC phenomena such as motion of billiard balls
or rockets.

• Quantum Mechanics is used to explain MICROSCOPIC

phenomena such as photon-atom scattering and flow of the
electrons in a semiconductor.

• Quantum Mechanics is a collection of postulates based on

a huge number of experimental observations.
• In Newtonian mechanics, the laws are written in terms of
PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES.

• A PARTICLE is an united mass point object that has a

variety of properties that can be measured, which we call
observables. The observables specify the state of the
particle (position and momentum).

• All properties of a particle can be known to infinite

precision.
 In Quantum mechanics

• Quantum particles can act as both particles and waves

 WAVE-PARTICLE DUALITY

• Quantum state is an assembly of several possible

outcomes of measurement of physical properties
 Quantum mechanics uses the language of
PROBABILITY theory

• QUANTIZATION of energy is yet another property of

"microscopic" particles.
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 A great
breakthrough
The thought experiment known as
Schrödinger’s cat is intended to show that
the strangeness of the quantum world
does not transfer to the macroscopic
world.
The thought experiment about a cat, now known as
Schrödinger’s cat. In the thought experiment, the
imaginary cat is put into a steel chamber that
contains radioactive atoms. The chamber is
equipped with a mechanism that, upon the emission
of the radioactive atoms, causes a hammer to break
a flask of hydrocyanic acid, a poison. If the flask
breaks, the poison is released and the cat dies.
Erwin Schrödinger was born in Vienna on August 12,
1887 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in
1933. He is best known for his work regarding quantum
theory, particularly about his thought experiment
involving a cat in order to explain the interpretation of
quantum theory. And demonstrate that this quantum
strangeness could never transfer itself to the
macroscopic world
 Schrodinger's Cat: Description
Experiment: A cat is placed in a sealed box. Attached to the box
is an apparatus containing a radioactive nucleus and a container
of poison gas. When the nucleus decays, it emits a particle that
triggers the apparatus, which opens the container and kills the
cat. There is a 50% chance of killing the cat.
According to quantum mechanics, the radioactive
nucleus is described as a superposition (mixture)
of "decayed radioactive nucleus " and "undecayed
radioactive nucleus ".

However, when the box is opened the experimenter

sees only a "decayed radioactive nucleus /dead cat"
or a "undecayed radioactive nucleus /living cat.

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 Schrodinger's Cat: Description

wavefunction is a mathematical function of time and space that

can provide information about the position and momentum of a
particle, but only as probabilities.

What is the wave function of the cat just before the box
is opened?
( 12 dead + 12 alive ?)
When does the wave function collapse and the cat becomes
dead or alive instead of a mixture of both?
The wave function () contains all the information
we need to know about any particular system.

Basically what Schrodinger is saying is that because of

the way the experiment is set up, the cat has a 50%
chance of being alive, and a 50% chance of being
dead. It is just as likely that the cat is alive as that it is
dead, so Schrodinger said that until the box is opened,
the cat is both alive and dead. This is obviously false,
the cat cannot be both alive and dead at the same
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time.
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