Simple Quantum Theory

Quantum theory or quantum mechanics sounds like some topic only discussed between intellectuals and those with an already advanced understanding. Really though, the basic concepts are not all that hard to grasp for the average person.

Here I will attempt to give a very very simple and basic comprehension of what quantum mechanics is, and what it's basic applications are.

First off, what is Quantum Mechanics?

Well, think of it this way. We have basic scientific rules that we agree on for our everyday lives. Like gravity, kinetic and potential energy, friction, and other principles of physics.

But when we try to apply these principles on a very large scale (say, to stars, solar systems, galaxies, and 'empty' space), our laws are inadequate and ineffective. They do not necissarily apply. So, we come up with a different kind of theory to explain these things, and we call this Relativity. Most of you may have heard of Einstien's Theory of Relativity. Well, now you know what he's actually talking about! It's just a theory of how things work on a very very large scale.

Likewise, we must develop a different kind of theory for things that operate on an extremely SMALL scale. Like atoms, waves, and particles. This is called Quantum Mechanics. It is simply a theory for how things work on an extremely small scale.

The reason why the current understandings of quantum mechanics are seemingly so hard to understand is because in our everyday theory we have a large tendency to think of things as "this or that". It is a fruit, or a vegetable. Light is a wave, not a particle. Or light is a particle, not a wave.

Well, there was some debate about this, and in the relatively famous DOUBLE-SLIT experiment, a more modern theory came to suggest that it is both a wave AND a particle. This is an aspect of quantum theory called DUALITY. More specifically, Wave-Particle duality.

When it comes to quantum mechanics, it is also proposed that light is neither a wave nor a particle. This is where quantum theory can surpass our normal conceptions of the way things are. So, what is light then if it is not a wave or a particle? (A wave and a particle are the most base forms of matter/energy that we have discovered). Well, quantum theory proposes an answer to this question, but we won't go into that here.

Now you should have some basic idea of what quantum theory is all about! Not as difficult as you thought, huh?