IS THE UNIVERSE ONE BIG SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT ?

Most people are familiar with the concept of Schrödinger’s cat. The thought experiment, which involves a cat in a box, is normally used to describe quantum mechanics. The cat is placed in a box alongside a source of radiation, which is likely to kill the cat eventually. Let’s say at one point, the cat has a 50-50 chance of being alive or dead. The box is closed, and you have no way of knowing whether the cat is dead or alive until you open the box. Schrödinger said the cat is both dead and alive until the box is opened, when it becomes either dead or alive depending on what you can see.

This analogy was developed to describe particles in quantum mechanics, when the position of a particle is unknown. The particle could have a 50 per cent chance of being in two different positions, or states, and