What Is Quantum Physics?

So what is quantum physics? The word “Quantum” comes from the Latin translation of “how much.” Quantum physics is the study of how matter and energy behaves at microscopic levels were the laws of matter is different. Scientists concluded that it could let particles be in 2 different states at the same time.

 

As scientists gained the technology and instruments to measure with greater precision, a new discovery was made. The birth of quantum physics is attributed to Max Planck’s 1900s paper on blackbody radiation and several other scientists also contributed with this discovery including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schroedinger, and many others.

 

As human technology became more and more advanced, more and more scientist have found uses for quantum physics including quantum computers which uses the principles of quantum physics to increase the computational power far faster and powerful than a traditional computer. Current computers such as mac books and PCs use “bits” Consisting of only zeros and ones. However quantum computers uses qubits which are particles that are subatomic made with electrons and photons. Many companies, such as IBM, Google, and Rigetti Computing uses superconducting circuits cooled to temperatures colder than deep space to isolate the qubits in a controlled quantum state. The new quantum supercomputers might sounds really amazing but engineers and scientist have yet too fully develop its potential and quantum computers can only do simple task as for right now.

 

There has been some famous experiments that demonstrates the effect of quantum physics. The double slit experiment was conducted in the early 1800s by a scientist named Thomas Young. Young shot light to pass through a slit in a barrier so it goes through the slit onto a interface screen. While Young observed, the light went through the slits as particles, making holes on the interface screen. After running this test several times, Young decided to leave

and have the computer run the test by itself. After Young left, the particles shot out of the shooter suddenly turned into waves. From this experiment, people concluded that observing something can in fact influence the physical processes taking place in the realm of quantum physics. Light waves can act like particles and particles can act like waves.

 

Quantum physics will definitely play a big role in tomorrow’s science, opening up a new world of possibilities.