00:00Quantum mechanics is our fundamental framework for understanding the physics, the behavior
00:07of the very, very small.
00:09I'm talking like atoms, molecules, and subatomic particles.
00:15I'm Paul Sutter and this is Paul Explains, the show where I, you know, explain.
00:22There's three big pieces to quantum mechanics.
00:26So one of the pieces is in the name itself, this idea of quantization, that certain properties
00:36of subatomic systems like energy or angular momentum come in discrete levels or packets
00:45or what we call quanta, hence the name quantization.
00:48For example, an electron in an atom can't have any old energy that it feels like.
00:56No, it can have only certain energy levels.
01:01That's because the energy levels in an atom are quantized.
01:04This is a fundamental core tenant of quantum mechanics and it's very different than the
01:10physics of the macroscopic world.
01:11Another key component of quantum mechanics is something we call wave particle duality,
01:18where tiny things sometimes act like particles, like tiny little bullets, tiny little billiard
01:26balls, tiny little ping pong balls bouncing around, doing everything that particles do and
01:31sometimes also act like waves where they're more sloshing around or they interfere with each
01:38other.
01:39Depending on what you're looking for and how you're looking for it, sometimes, sometimes
01:45it might act like a little bit of both.
01:48And the last bit is that quantum mechanics and subatomic systems are ruled by probabilities
01:54and uncertainty.
01:57Up here in the macroscopic world, if you can know exactly where something is and exactly how
02:02fast it's moving and you can predict, using the laws of physics, exactly where it's going
02:08to be, exactly where it's going to go.
02:10But you don't get that kind of precise knowledge in the subatomic world.
02:16You don't always know exactly where something is, like an electron.
02:20You don't always know where an electron is or how fast it's going.
02:24And once you do know where it is, or at least have some idea, you don't know exactly where
02:31it's going to go.
02:32Instead, it's going to be a range of probabilities.
02:35Our understanding of quantum mechanics underlies so many things.
02:42Atomic and nuclear power, all of that is thanks to our understanding of quantum mechanics.
02:47Microchips, semiconductors, lasers and LED, and even biology.
02:54So, you know, a bunch of physicists playing around in the early 20th century gave us this
02:59major cornerstone of many fields of science.
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