45: Schrodinger - Revision history

FaviFake: New template!!! Take a look, it has a new bottom navigation bar to browse the early xkcd comics in the original order, and a new style for the original title!

2025-05-02T06:39:34Z

New template!!! Take a look, it has a new bottom navigation bar to browse the early xkcd comics in the original order, and a new style for the original title!

DollarStoreBa'al at 16:03, 1 May 2025

2025-05-01T16:03:41Z

FaviFake at 16:10, 26 March 2025

2025-03-26T16:10:27Z

FaviFake at 12:58, 31 August 2023

2023-08-31T12:58:38Z

FaviFake at 09:02, 20 August 2023

2023-08-20T09:02:59Z

FaviFake: Moved the original title and quote (and added Wayback Machine links) from the trivia to the comic template because they are relevant to understanding the comic

2023-08-18T21:29:13Z

Moved the original title and quote (and added Wayback Machine links) from the trivia to the comic template because they are relevant to understanding the comic

FaviFake at 10:11, 8 August 2023

2023-08-08T10:11:25Z

FaviFake at 10:24, 4 August 2023

2023-08-04T10:24:09Z

FaviFake at 11:22, 30 July 2023

2023-07-30T11:22:15Z

FaviFake at 10:14, 29 July 2023

2023-07-29T10:14:35Z

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | date      = January 4, 2006
 | title     = Schrodinger
-| ognumber =42
+| ognumber  = 42
-| ogtitle =Drawing: Schrodinger
+| ogttlabel = Title on LiveJournal
-| oglink =https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Schrodinger
+| ogtitle   = Drawing: Schrodinger
-| ogprev =39
+| oglink    = https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Schrodinger
-| ognext =46
+| ogprev    = 39
 | image     = schrodinger.jpg
 | titletext = There was no alt-text until you moused over
 }}
-This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
+This was the forty-second comic [[LiveJournal|originally posted to LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
 ==Explanation==

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | date      = January 4, 2006
 | title     = Schrodinger
-| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Schrodinger LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Drawing: Schrodinger'''</big></big>
+| ognumber =42
 | image     = schrodinger.jpg
 | titletext = There was no alt-text until you moused over

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 }}
 This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
 This comic is a joke creating a humorously false synthesis, combining the principles of quantum superposition and the effects of reading a comic one panel at a time. {{w|Schrödinger's cat}} is a thought experiment that illuminates the notion that a particle only resolves itself to its state upon observation, and until such observation is made, it is in all of its possible states simultaneously. In the thought experiment, a cat is both dead and alive until observation; likewise, in this comic, [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are likening the last panel to the box with the cat: until you read it, it is in a mixed state (a superposition) of both funny and unfunny. Finally, in the last panel, both of them say "Shit." The joke is that after reading the last panel, the comic is both funny (as it is unexpected) and not funny (as the last line was a non sequitur and therefore there is no climax) at the same time, thus proving Black Hat and Cueball wrong, hence them expressing discontent with the word "shit."

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
+This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
 This comic is a joke creating a humorously false synthesis, combining the principles of quantum superposition and the effects of reading a comic one panel at a time. {{w|Schrödinger's cat}} is a thought experiment that illuminates the notion that a particle only resolves itself to its state upon observation, and until such observation is made, it is in all of its possible states simultaneously. In the thought experiment, a cat is both dead and alive until observation; likewise, in this comic, [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are likening the last panel to the box with the cat: until you read it, it is in a mixed state (a superposition) of both funny and unfunny. Finally, in the last panel, both of them say "Shit." The joke is that after reading the last panel, the comic is both funny (as it is unexpected) and not funny (as the last line was a non sequitur and therefore there is no climax) at the same time, thus proving Black Hat and Cueball wrong, hence them expressing discontent with the word "shit."
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 [[Category:Posted on LiveJournal| 42]]
-[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd]]
+[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Physics]]
 [[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | date      = January 4, 2006
 | title     = Schrodinger
-| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Schrodinger Original title</span>]: '''Drawing: Schrodinger'''</big></big>
+| before    = <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Schrodinger LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Drawing: Schrodinger'''</big></big>
 | image     = schrodinger.jpg
 | titletext = There was no alt-text until you moused over
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched on January 1, 2006. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
+This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
 This comic is a joke creating a humorously false synthesis, combining the principles of quantum superposition and the effects of reading a comic one panel at a time. {{w|Schrödinger's cat}} is a thought experiment that illuminates the notion that a particle only resolves itself to its state upon observation, and until such observation is made, it is in all of its possible states simultaneously. In the thought experiment, a cat is both dead and alive until observation; likewise, in this comic, [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are likening the last panel to the box with the cat: until you read it, it is in a mixed state (a superposition) of both funny and unfunny. Finally, in the last panel, both of them say "Shit." The joke is that after reading the last panel, the comic is both funny (as it is unexpected) and not funny (as the last line was a non sequitur and therefore there is no climax) at the same time, thus proving Black Hat and Cueball wrong, hence them expressing discontent with the word "shit."

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | date      = January 4, 2006
 | title     = Schrodinger
 | image     = schrodinger.jpg
 | titletext = There was no alt-text until you moused over
@@ Line 8: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This comic is a joke creating a humorously false synthesis, combining the principles of quantum superposition and the effects of reading a comic one panel at a time.
+This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]]. It was among the [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|last eleven comics]] posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched on January 1, 2006. This comic was published on the same day across both sites, but not all of them shared the same posting day.
-{{w|Schrödinger's cat}} is a thought experiment that illuminates the notion that a particle only resolves itself to its state upon observation, and until such observation is made, it is in all of its possible states simultaneously. In the thought experiment, a cat is both dead and alive until observation; likewise, in this comic, [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are likening the last panel to the box with the cat: until you read it, it is in a mixed state (a superposition) of both funny and unfunny.
+This comic is a joke creating a humorously false synthesis, combining the principles of quantum superposition and the effects of reading a comic one panel at a time. {{w|Schrödinger's cat}} is a thought experiment that illuminates the notion that a particle only resolves itself to its state upon observation, and until such observation is made, it is in all of its possible states simultaneously. In the thought experiment, a cat is both dead and alive until observation; likewise, in this comic, [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are likening the last panel to the box with the cat: until you read it, it is in a mixed state (a superposition) of both funny and unfunny. Finally, in the last panel, both of them say "Shit." The joke is that after reading the last panel, the comic is both funny (as it is unexpected) and not funny (as the last line was a non sequitur and therefore there is no climax) at the same time, thus proving Black Hat and Cueball wrong, hence them expressing discontent with the word "shit."
-Finally, in the last panel, both of them say "Shit." The joke is that after reading the last panel, the comic is both funny (as it is unexpected) and not funny (as the last line was a non sequitur and therefore there is no climax) at the same time, thus proving Black Hat and Cueball wrong, hence them expressing discontent with the word "shit."
+The title text, which [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] here unusually calls "alt-text", implies that it might only come into existence when the mouse over action takes place. This is another reference to the Schrödinger's cat concept, where the user can't determine if the title text exists until they hover the mouse over it. So, prior to hovering, the title text might be absent or present.
 ===Schrödinger's cat===
-Schrödinger's cat is a famous thought experiment proposed by {{w|Erwin Schrödinger}} to question the {{w|Copenhagen interpretation}} of quantum mechanics.
+Schrödinger's cat is a famous thought experiment proposed by {{w|Erwin Schrödinger}} to question the {{w|Copenhagen interpretation}} of quantum mechanics. Under the {{w|Copenhagen interpretation}}, any particle is described by a {{w|wave function}} that allows one to calculate the probability that it is any given state. A radioactive nucleus with a half-life of one hour, for instance, would have a wave-function that would split, showing two distinct states (decayed, undecayed) that change over time until some "observation" forced the wave-function into one state or another (called "collapsing the wave-function"). Before the wave-function is collapsed, it is incorrect to say that the atom has decayed or has not decayed; it is in a "superposition" of states, effectively both decayed and undecayed.
-If this experiment were to be performed, the cat would not be both dead and alive.
+Schrödinger thought that the Copenhagen interpretation was absurd and devised a thought experiment to demonstrate it. The experiment consisted in putting a cat in a box with a device triggered by the decay of an atom with a half-life of one hour that would release a poisonous gas if triggered. Then, after waiting an hour, the Copenhagen interpretation would say that the atom is in a superposition of decayed and undecayed states, and thus, by extension, the cat would be in a superposition of alive and dead states. Only when the box is opened would the wave-function for the cat collapse into either alive or dead states. This thought experiment is not meant to be taken literally, as every interaction of a particle with another constitutes an observation, and many particles must interact for a cat to die, but still his argument was that since it is absurd for a cat to be both alive and dead, it is absurd for an atom to be both decayed and undecayed. If this experiment were to be performed, the cat would not be both dead and alive.
 == Transcript ==
@@ Line 39: / Line 34: @@
 ==Trivia==
-* This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]].
+* There had been a break of almost a month between this and the previous comic. This time was probably used to prepare the launch of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. See [[LiveJournal]].
-* There had been a break of almost a month between this and the previous comic. This time was probably used to prepare the launch of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
+* This was the first comic to be posted on the same day on both LiveJournal and [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
 {{comic discussion}}

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 * Original title: "Drawing: Schrodinger"
 * This was one of the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|first 13 comics]] posted to [[LiveJournal]] within 12 minutes on September 30th, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.
-* This was the first comic to be posted on the same day on both LiveJournal and [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
+* This was the first comic to be posted on the same day on both LiveJournal and [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. This was the first comic to be posted simultaneous (i.e. on the same day) on both LiveJournal and the new xkcd site.
 * This comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.
 ** These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the xkcd site opened on the 1st of January 2006.

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 ==Trivia==
-*This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]],andThe next was [[46: Secrets]].
+* This was the forty-second comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]]. The previous one was [[39: Bowl]], and the next one was [[46: Secrets]].
-*There had been a break of almost a month between this and the previous comic.
+* There had been a break of almost a month between this and the previous comic. This time was probably used to prepare the launch of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
-**This time was probably used to prepare the launch of the new [[xkcd]] site.
+* Original title: "Drawing: Schrodinger"
-*Original title: "Drawing: Schrodinger"
+** For the first time in eight comics and only the second time since after the first day on LiveJournal, the weekday was not part of the title on LiveJournal.
-**For the first time in eight comics and only the second time since after the first day on LiveJournal, the weekday was not part of the title on LiveJournal.
+** But the extra word "Drawing" was still added to the title for this and the four comics after the next, in spite of the simultaneous release on xkcd.
 **But the extra word "Drawing" was still added to the title for this and the four comics after the next, in spite of the simultaneous release on xkcd.
-*There were no original [[Randall]] quote for this comic.
-*This was the first comic to be posted simultaneous (i.e. on the same day) on both LiveJournal and the new xkcd site.
+* This was one of the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|first 13 comics]] posted to [[LiveJournal]] within 12 minutes on September 30th, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.
-*Thus this comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.
-**These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the xkcd site opened on the 1st of January 2006.
+* This was the first comic to be posted on the same day on both LiveJournal and [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
-**They were not all posted on the same day though.
+* This comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.
-*Black Hat's hat is beginning to shorten from its top-hat look, although its height varies between panels. (As does Cueballs height compared to Black Hat.)
+** These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the xkcd site opened on the 1st of January 2006.
 {{comic discussion}}