Cat lives, cat dies - Schroedinger's experiment

"Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or it may be dead. You never know until you look. In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious."

Schroedinger's cat is probably one of the most famous thought experiments ever, and one of the most misunderstood and misquoted too. Let's try and see the reality behind this experiment: what it means, why it was formulated and how it's really supposed (not) to work.

(2008-10-04: Fixed a broken link)