Schrodinger's Fridge

Bob encounters his nemesis, quantum physics.

Vital Statistics

Date: November 12, 2004

Category: Shorts

Appearing: Graham and Paul

Camera: Unknown

Editing: Graham

Adapted from: Bob the Angry Flower by Steve Notley

Location: Graham's Parents' House

Synopsis

One of three shorts adapted from Bob the Angry Flower. Bob may have drunk all the beer in the fridge; he may not have. Until the fridge is opened, the number of beers drunk is indeterminiate! The problem is that the wavefunction doesn't collapse no matter how much Bob observes.

Trivia

Warning: The following contains real quantum mechanics making it unsuitable for arts students.

• This is a spoof of Schrodinger's Cat an important thought experiment posed to examine whether quantum mechanics makes sense at the classical limit. It asks whether a cat trapped in a box is a combination of being alive and dead until it is observed.
• Due to the conservation of energy the total number of beers in the fridge is constant - there is no uncertainty in the number. However the position and speed of the beers is uncertain. While the Heisenberg uncertainty principle does imply that energy is uncertain the amount of energy energy required for a beer is so large the phantom beer would not last long enough to be observed.
• The wavefunction is collapsing as the beer can be seen. Each photon reflecting off the beer is "observing" the beer. However the wavefunction is not collapsing in the same place each time it observed due to the large uncertainty in the position.
• Due quantum tunnelling the is a good chance the beer is outside the fridge.