Everything is ‘Quantum’ these days, its a word used for cleaning products, sci fi programmes, batteries….
Quantum, meaning tiny packets of energy, such as a quantum of light or electrons.
I’m no physicist or chemist but it does interest me. A few years ago I read a couple of books by John Gribben, “In search of Schrodingers cat” and “In search of Shrodingers kittens”.
See Wikipedia for information about Erwin Schrodinger. I tried to post a link but it would not copy over.
The idea is a thought experiment where a cat is placed in a box and a radioactive source is used to determine whether a poison will be released into the box killing the cat. There is no way of telling if the cat is alive or dead unless you open the box….. the cat is in a duality of states in the thought experiment, neither alive or dead until an outside influence, ( you or me) open the box to determine what has happened.
Seeing the cats this morning reminded me of the books.
Apparently electrons can become entangled and then even if they are separated by the entire universe, they will still react at the same time if something happens to one of them….Einstein called it a spooky reaction at a distance, or something like that, I don’t remember the exact quote. But it showed that something was moving faster than light to make this happen. I don’t understand half of what was being explained but that is no reason to not try and understand, if you see what I mean.
Other authors and books to read?
Richard Feynmann, “QED”…stands for quantum electro dynamics. ( hard going and I didn’t understand much of it)
Feynmann wrote several books “Surely you are joking Mr Feynmann” is a wonderful autobiography and gives an inkling of what quantum mechanics is about.
I would write more, but my knowledge is too poor. However I hope I have tickled your thought-buds?!
(Apologies to scientists out there for this rather sketchy blog post)
