Schrödinger's 'Cat

The story of Schrödinger's 'cat is a thought experiment (imaginary experiment) conceived by Erwin Schrödinger in an attempt to show how stupid a probabilistic interpretation of electron behavior was.

A probabilistic interpretation of the nature of matter is now the excepted world view but Schrödinger's 'Cat is kind of fun any way.

Have a look at the following web sites to gather information about Schrödinger's 'cat.

http://www.phobe.com/s_cat/s_cat.html

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_122.html

http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/1996/split/pnu273-1.htm

Using your understanding of wave functions, alpha radioactivity and probability to explain (in about half a page) to Schrödinger why his cat can be both alive and dead.