Friday, December 24, 2010

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Physics

A Christmas picture from Germany
I want to tell you about Quantum Physics, because nothing says Christmas like science.

Let’s say you have a box with plutonium on one side and a cute kitten named Mittens on the other. If you put a lid on that box, you have no idea if the radioactivity has leaked over the wall separating the kitten and the plutonium; therefore, you have no idea if Mittens is playing with a ball of string or if, instead, he has died a brain-bubbling death. To you, Mittens has a quantum state of both being alive and dead at the same time. However, Mittens sure as hell knows what’s what, so to him, his state is what’s called rational: He knows if he is either alive or dead.

To you, MY quantum state is either here at my computer or somewhere else. I, however, know right where I am – but I’m not going to tell you for the sake of this lesson.

Something to think about at mass tonight: What is the quantum state of Jesus?

God? What's you quantum state?