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In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality Paperback – August 1, 1984

by John Gribbin (Author)

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Quantum theory is so shocking that Einstein could not bring himself to accept it. It is so important that it provides the fundamental underpinning of all modern sciences. Without it, we'd have no nuclear power or nuclear weapons, no TV, no computers, no science of molecular biology, no understanding of DNA, no genetic engineering. In Search of Schrodinger's Cat tells the complete story of quantum mechanics, a truth stranger than any fiction. John Gribbin takes us step by step into an ever more bizarre and fascinating place, requiring only that we approach it with an open mind. He introduces the scientists who developed quantum theory. He investigates the atom, radiation, time travel, the birth of the universe, superconductors and life itself. And in a world full of its own delights, mysteries and surprises, he searches for Schrodinger's Cat - a search for quantum reality - as he brings every reader to a clear understanding of the most important area of scientific study today - quantum physics. In Search of Schrodinger's Cat is a fascinating and delightful introduction to the strange world of the quantum - an essential element in understanding today's world.

Length

302
Pages
Language

EN
English
Publisher

Bantam
Publication date

1984
August 1
Dimensions

5.3 x 0.9 x 8.2
inches
ISBN-10

0553341030
ISBN-13

978-0553342536
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Part history book and part remedial physics text for those who lost interest when the equations started getting unintuitive, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat explains quantum physics in a way that's not only clear, but also enjoyable.

Gribbin opens with the subjects that most physics professors have just started to examine at the end of the semester: The mysterious character of light, the valence concept in Nils Bohr's atomic model, radioactive decay, and the physics of life-defining DNA all get clear, comprehensive, and witty coverage. This book reveals the beauty and mystery that underlies everything in the universe.

Does this book claim to explain quantum physics without math? No. Math is too central to physics to be bypassed. But if you can do basic algebra, you can understand the equations in In Search of Schrödinger's Cat. Gribbin is the physics teacher everyone should have in high school or college: kind without being a pushover, knowledgeable without being condescending, and clearly expressive without being boring. Gribbin's book belongs on the shelf of every pre-calculus student. It also deserves a place in the library of everyone who was scared away from advanced physics prematurely.

About the Author

John Gribbin, PhD, trained as an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge before becoming a full-time science writer. His books include the highly acclaimed In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, The First Chimpanzee, In Search of the Big Bang, In the Beginning, In Search of the Edge of Time, In Search of the Double Helix, The Stuff of the Universe (with Martin Rees), Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science, and Einstein: A Life in Science (with Michael White).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

LIGHT

Isaac Newton invented physics, and all of science depends on physics. Newton certainly built upon the work of others, but it was the publication of his three laws of motion and theory of gravity, almost exactly three hundred years ago, that set science off on the road that has led to space flight, lasers, atomic energy, genetic engineering, an understanding of chemistry, and all the rest. For two hundred years, Newtonian physics (what is now called “classical” physics) reigned supreme; in the twentieth century revolutionary new insights took physics far beyond Newton, but without those two centuries of scientific growth those new insights might never have been achieved. This book is not a history of science, and it is concerned with the new physics—quantum physics—rather than with those classical ideas. But even in Newton’s work three centuries ago there were already signs of the changes that were to come—not from his studies of planetary motions and orbits, or his famous three laws, but from his investigations of the nature of light.

Newton’s ideas about light owed a lot to his ideas about the behavior of solid objects and the orbits of planets. He realized that our everyday experiences of the behavior of objects may be misleading, and that an object, a particle, free from any outside influences must behave very differently from such a particle on the surface of the earth. Here, our everyday experience tells us that things tend to stay in one place unless they are pushed, and that once you stop pushing them they soon stop moving. So why don’t objects like planets, or the moon, stop moving in their orbits? Is something pushing them? Not at all. It is the planets that are in a natural state, free from outside interference, and the objects on the surface of the earth that are being interfered with. If I try to slide a pen across my desk, my push is opposed by the friction of the pen rubbing against the desk, and that is what brings it to a halt when I stop pushing. If there were no friction, the pen would keep moving. This is Newton’s first law: every object stays at rest, or moves with constant velocity, unless an outside force acts on it. The second law tells us how much effect an outside force—a push—has on an object. Such a force changes the velocity of the object, and a change in velocity is called acceleration; if you divide the force by the mass of the object the force is acting upon, the result is the acceleration produced on that body by that force. Usually, this second law is expressed slightly differently: force equals mass times acceleration. And Newton’s third law tells us something about how the object reacts to being pushed around: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If I hit a tennis ball with my racket, the force with which the racket pushes on the tennis ball is exactly matched by an equal force pushing back on the racket; the pen on my desk top, pulled down by gravity, is pushed against with an exactly equal reaction by the desk top itself; the force of the explosive process that pushes the gases out of the combustion chamber of a rocket produces an equal and opposite reaction force on the rocket itself, which pushes it in the opposite direction.

These laws, together with Newton’s law of gravity, explained the orbits of the planets around the sun, and the moon around the earth. When proper account was taken of friction, they explained the behavior of objects on the surface of the earth as well, and formed the foundation of mechanics. But they also had puzzling philosophical implications. According to Newton’s laws, the behavior of a particle could be exactly predicted on the basis of its interactions with other particles and the forces acting on it. If it were ever possible to know the position and velocity of every particle in the universe, then it would be possible to predict with utter precision the future of every particle, and therefore the future of the universe. Did this mean that the universe ran like clockwork, wound up and set in motion by the Creator, down some utterly predictable path? Newton’s classical mechanics provided plenty of support for this deterministic view of the universe, a picture that left little place for human free will or chance. Could it really be that we are all puppets following our own preset tracks through life, with no real choice at all? Most scientists were content to let the philosophers debate that question. But it returned, with full force, at the heart of the new physics of the twentieth century.

WAVES OR PARTICLES?

With his physics of particles such a success, it is hardly surprising that when Newton tried to explain the behavior of light he did so in terms of particles. After all, light rays are observed to travel in straight lines, and the way light bounces off a mirror is very much like the way a ball bounces off a hard wall. Newton built the first reflecting telescope, explained white light as a superposition of all the colors of the rainbow, and did much more with optics, but always his theories rested upon the assumption that light consisted of a stream of tiny particles, called corpuscles. Light rays bend as they cross the barrier between a lighter and a denser substance, such as from air to water or glass (which is why a swizzle stick in a gin and tonic appears to be bent), and this refraction is neatly explained on the corpuscular theory provided the corpuscles move faster in the more “optically dense” substance. Even in Newton’s day, however, there was an alternative way of explaining all of this.

The Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens was a contemporary of Newton, although thirteen years older, having been born in 1629. He developed the idea that light is not a stream of particles but a wave, rather like the waves moving across the surface of a sea or lake, but propagating through an invisible substance called the “luminiferous ether.” Like ripples produced by a pebble dropped into a pond, light waves in the ether were imagined to spread out in all directions from a source of light. The wave theory explained reflection and refraction just as well as the corpuscular theory. Although it said that instead of speeding up the light waves moved more slowly in a more optically dense substance, there was no way of measuring the speed of light in the seventeenth century, so this difference could not resolve the conflict between the two theories. But in one key respect the two ideas did differ observably in their predictions. When light passes a sharp edge, it produces a sharply edged shadow. This is exactly the way streams of particles, traveling in straight lines, ought to behave. A wave tends to bend, or diffract, some of the way into the shadow (think of the ripples on a pond, bending around a rock). Three hundred years ago, this evidence clearly favored the corpuscular theory, and the wave theory, although not forgotten, was discarded. By the early nineteenth century, however, the status of the two theories had been almost completely reversed.

In the eighteenth century, very few people took the wave theory of light seriously. One of the few who not only took it seriously but wrote in support of it was the Swiss Leonard Euler, the leading mathematician of his time, who made major contributions to the development of geometry, calculus and trigonometry. Modern mathematics and physics are described in arithmetical terms, by equations; the techniques on which that arithmetical description depends were largely developed by Euler, and in the process he introduced shorthand methods of notation that survive to this day—the name “pi” for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter; the letter i to denote the square root of minus one (which we shall meet again, along with pi); and the symbols used by mathematicians to denote the operation called integration. Curiously, though, Euler’s entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica makes no mention of his views on the wave theory of light, views which a contemporary said were not held “by a single physicist of prominence.”* About the only prominent contemporary of Euler who did share those views was Benjamin Franklin; but physicists found it easy to ignore them until crucial new experiments were performed by the Englishman Thomas Young just at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and by the Frenchman Augustin Fresnel soon after.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0553342533
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam; Reprint edition (August 1, 1984)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 302 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0553341030
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0553342536
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.27 x 0.88 x 8.18 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #62,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #29 in Quantum Theory (Books)
- #146 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #820 in Philosophy (Books)

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Quantum Physics Sounds like Science Fiction

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2018

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In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat is one of the more accessible books on quantum physics. Quantum physics, which deal with the properties of subatomic particles, is based on fairly esoteric experiments and somewhat opaque mathematical formulae. Even more than the theory of relativity, it is for the experts. Relativity sort of makes sense. Quantum mechanics does not.

Gribbin explains things pretty well: that many of these subatomic particles are both waves and particles. One could say that they have the properties of both a tiny object and a wave, but they do not necessarily have both properties at the same time. Instead of traditional Newtonian mechanics which are described by fairly clear mathematics, in quantum mechanics “events are governed by probabilities.” (2) Hence the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat, there is a 50-50 chance it is dead or alive, but we do not know till we open the box. Indeed, Niels Bohr, one of the pioneers of both relativity and quantum physics said. “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” (5)

Much of In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat is the history of the main discoveries of quantum mechanics. It seems like just about everyone named in the book has won a Nobel Prize unless they died young. This helps us see how we arrived at where we are and what the different researchers were looking for or what they discovered. One great ironic/paradoxical sentence: “In 1906 J. J. Thomson had received the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are particles; in 1937 he saw his son awarded the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are waves. Both father and son were correct, and both awards were fully merited.” (91)

Some connections were made because someone had studied esoteric mathematics in his past. So Max Born discovered some of the strange properties of quanta because he had studied matrices in college. At the time, matrices were interesting mathematical constructions developed in calculus but had no known practical application. Now they do. As in a matrix the numbers may not be commutative—that is, 3 + 2 might not equal 2 + 3—so it is with properties of certain quanta.

Gribbin notes: "Wave mechanics is no more a guide to the reality of the atomic world than matrix mechanics, but unlike matrix mechanics, wave mechanics gives us an illusion of something familiar and comfortable." (117)

We finally get to the main observation concerning probabilities and particles. "It is a cardinal rule of quantum mechanics that in principle it is impossible to measure certain pairs of properties, including position/momentum, simultaneously." (121)

While this does sort of make sense since quanta are both waves (with motion) and particles (in a position), Gribbin’s conclusion? “There is not absolute truth at the quantum level.” (120) Is he absolutely sure about that?

Gribbin notes that quantum mechanics explains why the sun shines, when according to “classical theory” it cannot. (Kind of like bees flying…) When he quotes Heisenberg as saying “We cannot know as a matter of principle the present in all its details,” Gribbin states: "This is where quantum theory cuts free from the determinacy of classical ideas. To Newton it would be possible to predict the entire course of the future if we knew the position and momentum of every particle in the universe; to the modern physicist, the idea of such a perfect prediction is meaningless because we cannot even know the position and momentum of even one [Gribbin’s italics] particle precisely." (157)

Gribbin notes perhaps the greatest curiosity about quantum physics, that particles like electrons seem to change their properties or state when they are being observed. "In quantum physics the observer interacts with the system to such an extent that the system cannot be thought of having an independent existence. By choosing to measure position more precisely, we force a particle to develop more uncertainty in its momentum, and vice versa." (160)

Gribbin tells us that to him the best way to explain this is that there are multiple universes in different dimensions that intersect with each other. To his credit, Gribbin does not bring personal beliefs like these until the last chapter, and he is direct about it, even admitting that it sounds more like science fiction. So we get to see the discoveries of the mysteries of quantum physics without much getting in the way other than the mystery itself. He understands that the reader might not see things his way, but he sees his multiverse hypothesis at least as good as any of the others. Also, unlike many scientists in academia, he is not afraid to mention the anthropic principle.

This reviewer recognizes that unless I go back to school, I will never have a completely clear understanding of quantum physics, but In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat is about the best introduction to the subject that I have read (and I have tried a few).

28 people found this helpful

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ktollstam

An understandable description of the nature of the Universe

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2016

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This was my second read of this book. When I read it the first time, I was too stupid to understand it. I am still too stupid to fully grasp everything but for those who are interested in the nature of the Universe, this is an excellent attempt to "dumb down" the subject for the average (or in my case, the below average) person. The book highlights some of the giants in the field - the big brains and deep thinkers who have given us an accurate model of the Universe and have enabled inventions from GPS to the cell phone. Thankfully, there is no or little math here and no requirement to have a PhD in Physics. And it is not really written for cat lovers.

5 people found this helpful

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Wayne Rash

A must read

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2002

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It's hard to overstate the importance of this book. It's also hard to overstate the value. John Gribbin has written one of those timeless books that belongs to the ages. Despite the fact that it's decades out of date, it's still current. Despite the fact that much has been discovered about the field of quantum physics since he wrote this book, nothing in it has been superseded. And yet, it's so clear that "Cat" is one of those books that those of us who write about science and technology as a profession use as a touchstone - a book that we compare our own writing against - and find wanting.
My original copy of this book is so worn from reading that it must be replaced. Both of my daughters read this book, and became physicists or are about to. This is a book so important, and so readable, that it helps define its category.
This is more than a good read. It's a necessary read.

In the years since I wrote the review above, I've learned more, and I've grown to appreciate this book even more. I bought two more copies of this book, which John Gribben generously signed so they'd each have a copy. I've recommended this book to countless people and the feedback I've heard are words of delight and growing appreciation. My daughter who went on to become a physicist at least partly because of this book has grown in her career, and still keeps her copy nearby. My other daughter went on to physics and engineering. I think this book was instrumental in helping them form their lives in science. I can't think of any words to say that can overstate this book's importance, at least to my family. But it has proven similarly transformative to others, so it's probably not just me.

My children first read this book when they were eight, and it changed everything. Please also buy it for someone you love and who you want to grow in their understanding of the universe.

25 people found this helpful

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John Smith

A classic and easy to read

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2022

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I have other materials on this subject but this is a great introduction and basic. Basic, except for the last about one quarter of the book - a little thick. Greatly recommended reading.

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paul jordan

brilliant narrative derails

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2011

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Anyone who has read in this subject area must concede the interaction of the men who developed the ideas of quantum mechanics is as compelling as the science itself. For the first half to this book, J. Gibbon does a masterful job of creating a narrative that captures the science and the men who developed it. Gibbon's scientific expositons are largley non-technical, but he does an excellent job of identidentifying common misconceptions. Unfortunately, this brilliant account of the birth of quantum mechanics is strangely bookended by 40 pp of cursory filler about "quantum cookery"--or quantum based technologies technologies--followed by a much less adept, largely rushed, analysis of the work of second gen quantum scientists like Richard Feyman. The iconic cat thought experiment only emerges toward the end of the book, and seems strangely uncompelling. Overall, this reads very much like an excellent 100pp book padded into a mediocre 200 page pastiche. A must read, but skip the skip the second half.

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Aris Makridis

The best introduction to quantum mechanics for the general public.

Reviewed in Germany on September 11, 2021

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This is the best introduction to quantum mechanics for the general public. Great gift for everyone that is curious about the mysteries of our world or has a philosophical mind set.

rebecca heipel

❤️

Reviewed in Canada on July 16, 2019

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