Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Schrodingers cat.svg

Schrödinger's cat diagram

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 20 Nov 2013 at 02:10:19 (UTC)

Original – Schrödinger's cat: a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor detects radioactivity (i.e. a single atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the poison that kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead.

Reason

This is a high quality diagram which does a good job of concisely and clearly illustrating the theoretical setup of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.

Articles in which this image appears

Schrödinger's cat, Thought experiment, Physical paradox

FP category for this image

Diagrams

Creator

Dhatfield

• Support as nominator --Cat-fivetc ---- 02:10, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
• Support - Novel illustration of a difficult paradoxical theorum. -Godot13 (talk) 14:29, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
• Support Although it could be argued that this would be a relatively simple image to recreate, simple can also mean elegant. My only (very minor!) quibble is that the ghostly transparency of the cat allows a Necker cube effect. Stigmatella aurantiaca (talk) 14:31, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
• Comment: I would support with a better caption. There should be some (albeit minor) explanation of what is going on within the image. -- ТимофейЛееСуда. 20:39, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
  • I changed the caption to the one from the Schrödinger's cat article, excluding the last sentence since it doesn't really apply to the image. This is definitely a long caption but it does a pretty good job imo of describing what we're seeing in the image. If anyone has any better ideas though feel free to change it. Cat-fivetc ---- 20:43, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
    • Support. The caption rounds out the image, explaining what is going on. -- ТимофейЛееСуда. 22:44, 10 November 2013 (UTC)
• Oppose. I'm honestly not convinced that this is a professional-quality diagram or an example of Wikipedia's best work. Look at the little cartoon beakers, for instance. They look like clip-art. J Milburn (talk) 15:14, 11 November 2013 (UTC)

I agree. Though this is a thoroughly worthwhile illustration, the execution is not top quality IMO. 86.177.105.62 (talk) 20:22, 11 November 2013 (UTC)

• Oppose. It is not amongst Wikipedia's finest work. From a design standpoint, there are numerous inconsistencies in the style used to draw the various entities. The quasi-3D look and the superimposition of the two outcomes make the image more complicated and difficult to understand than is necessary. I think that File:Schroedingers cat film.svg is a bit better executed. dllu (t,c) 21:08, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Well, maybe I am stating the obvious here, but the superimposition is really the entire point of the illustration. 86.151.118.91 (talk) 04:00, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

I think Dllu was referring to the two different drawing styles used in the diagram the (1) superimposed 2D cat, and (2) the 3d boxes and switch. This combination makes it look rather hokey. So it's not about the superimposition itself. Mattximus (talk) 04:40, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

• Oppose Nice idea, but I can't get past the clip art. I can envision a much better diagram for this concept. Mattximus (talk) 04:42, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Not Promoted --Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 02:59, 20 November 2013 (UTC)