Understanding Quantum Mechanics themindguild.com/understanding-quantum-mechanics November 12, 2018
Quantum mechanics is the part of physics that deals with the microscopic world. It has come about due to what could be some very strange things about our physical world. When we are working at the scale of electrons and atoms, the popular laws and equations that we use in classical mechanics cannot be used. For instance, objects in the world of classical mechanics exist in a certain place at a certain time. However, where an object exists in the world of quantum mechanics is a blur of probabilities. It would a specific probability of existing at point A, but will have an entirely different likelihood of existing at point B and so forth.
Three Amazing Revolutionary Principles Quantum mechanics has been developed over several decades. It began as a group of very controversial explanations of mathematical experiments that classical mechanics failed to explain. It started at the beginning of the 20th century, at about the same time that the brilliant Albert Einstein published his legendary theory of relativity, which was a mathematical revolution in physics describing the motion of objects at very high speeds. Unlike relativity, the origins of quantum mechanics cannot be attributed to just one scientist. Instead, it was the combined effort of multiple scientists who established three revolutionary principles that slowly gained acceptance and eventually experimental verification. Quantized properties: There are specific properties like position, color and speed, can at times only happen in certain, set amounts, just like a dial that can click from one number to another. This notion challenged the fundamentals of classical mechanics, which claimed that these properties ought to exist on a continuous spectrum. To describe the notion that certain properties are “clicked” like a dial to specific settings, scientists used the word “quantized.” Particles of light: At times, light can behave as a particle. This idea initially received harsh criticism, because it contradicted 200 years of experiments that indicated light behaved like a wave – like ripples across the surface of calm pond. Light also bounces off walls as it bends around corners, and these crests and troughs of a given wave tend to cancel each other out. Waves of matter: We also know that matter can behave like a wave. This also ran counter to about 30 years of experiments which demonstrated that matter can also exist as particles. 1/2
https://youtu.be/EPbAuyjVQtM
2/2