Thought Experiments Should Stay That Way
Recently, the researchers at The Mill brought you some exciting news explaining why public transport never runs to schedule. In our article, we mentioned that we were just filling in some time before the Nobel Prize ceremony during which our work would receive the recognition it deserved. Unfortunately, it looks like our work was a little late being submitted to the Nobel committee for the 2001 prizes, so we've got until next year to fill you in on some more details.
One element of our Grand Unified Theory of Accumulated Lateness was the Schrödinger Tram, analogous to the Schrödinger Cat Thought Experiment. If you missed the details of the Schrödinger Tram and Schrödinger Cat, have a look at our article1 neatly archived on The Mill's website (www.ysa.org.au/themill).
Amongst the masses of email received by our Millers, we found an interesting website pertaining to this same experiment.
We had a look at it and we were scared.
The scientists involved are working under the rather interesting disclaimer: "Note: do not attempt this experiment yourself at home. We are trained scientists! Your cat may theoretically die!"
The site is called the Schrödinger Cat Webcam. They have constructed a highly sophisticated apparatus to perform the experiments. They also have a page to introduce you to the star of the show - their cute little kitten.
http://www.madsciencelaboratories.com/laboratory/cat (18 Jan 2002: this website appears to have vanished... link-rot at work...)
What more can we say? Surf at your own risk...
(1) Mill, T.; Perturbations in the Space-Time Continuum of Mass Transport: 1. Why Public Transport Sucks, YSA News, 2000 (www.ysa.org.au/themill).
The Researchers at The Mill are interested in hearing about your unpublished research or new and interesting theories. If you have something in which you think our team would be interested, send it to us by email or snail mail to your YSA Chapter. Prizes will be awarded to good contributions as judged by the senior researchers.
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Last Modified: Monday, 08-Sep-2003 10:24:09 EST
