Paradoxes: and the contradictions continue
After a long time, it is finally time for the second article about paradoxes. So here are a few more quiet famous paradoxes . These are less commonly known than the last ones.
1.Schrödinger's cat
This was a thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger. Imagine a cat, poison, a Geiger(a radiation detector) counter,radioactive element and a hammer were inside a sealed container. The quantity of the radioactive element present was so small that there was only a 50 % chance of it getting detected over an hour. If the Geiger counter detected the radiation, then the hammer would smash the poison and kill the cat.
The state of the cat's life would not be known until someone opened the box making the cat both alive and dead at the same time, creating a paradox.
2.Olbers' Paradox
This one is from the field of astrophysics.This is also known as dark night sky paradox. The argument here is that the dark night sky contradicts the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe. If the universe is static and homogenous and full of infinite number of stars then every sight line from earth should end at a bright surface of a star, hence appearing very bright. This is contradicted by the observed darkness of the night sky.
In simple words, the night sky theoretically should be bright, but it is dark creating a paradox.
3. Paradox of fiction
This is one of my favorite paradoxes and will be very relatable for almost every person alive. This is a paradox for all people obsessed with fictional things. We, at some or the other point have been obsessed with one fictional character or another. We become emotionally attached to him/her. But how can anyone be attached with something that does not exist, knowing that it can not exist and is not real. This was proposed by Colin Radford in 1975. This may not seem like a paradox but it is considered a paradox.
4.Hedgehog's Dilemma
This is a paradox that deals with human intimacy. It describes a situation in which a group of hedgehogs all seek to become close to one another in order to share heat during cold weather. They must remain apart, however, as they cannot avoid hurting one another with their sharp spines.This suggests that despite goodwill, human intimacy can't exist without creating any harm.
5.Black Hole Information Paradox
Stephen Hawking, the most famous physicist of modern era, concluded that when a black hole disappears after giving all its mass to the surroundings in form of Hawking Radiation, all the physical information about the material which formed the black hole also disappears, i.e. It is lost forever. But, the most fundamental fact of quantum mechanics says that information is never lost within a closed system. Now, here comes the paradox. Hawking used the principles of quantum mechanics in order to derive an expression for Hawking radiation and yet his theory falsified the most revered principle of quantum mechanics. This is the main essence of the Black hole information paradox.
That's a wrap for the article 2. There'll be a few more in the future. feedback is appreciated:)