DUDE, WHERE'S MY BOX? I'M A CAT AND I LIKE THIS BOX. THAT SCHRÖDINGER CHAP TURNED IT INTO A HUGE PARADOX. "IS THE CAT ALIVE OR IS IT DEAD?" JUST SHUT THE [BLEEP] UP AND LET ME GO BACK TO BED! MEOW MEOW PURR, ME-MEOW PURR PURR. MEOW MEOW PURR, ME-MEOW PURR PURR. ARE YOU BLIND? CAN'T YOU SEE MY BOWL IS HALF EMPTY? GET YOUR ASS OFF THIS GAME AND FEED ME I'M HUNGRY. YEAH I PEED ON YOUR RUG, WHATCHA GONNA DO? IF YOU DON'T FEED ME RIGHT NOW, I'LL PEE ON YOU TOO! MEOW MEOW PURR, ME-MEOW PURR PURR. MEOW MEOW PURR, ME-MEOW PURR PURR.
Right. In Schrödingers theory a cat, a radioactive sample, a geiger counter and a bottle of poison are placed in a sealed box. If the radioactive material decays the geiger counter will trigger the smashing of the bottle of poison. This was to show the major flaws of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics. That says a particle exists in all states until observed. This suggests the radioactive material has both decayed and not decayed until the box is opened so the cat is both dead and alive until the box is opened. Obviously the cat is either dead or alive regardless of whether we have checked or not so this just shows the limitations of the Copenhagen interpretation.