• Question: Nick how do you think understanding quantum will help us in the future?

    Asked by anon-209488 to Nick on 10 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Nick Werren

      Nick Werren answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      Things that are quantum are generally very small and delicate. This is why quantum stuff can make AMAZING sensors and scanners (this will be very useful detecting cancer and stuff in hospital). So if I get a particle and put it in a box, then that particle becomes “more quantum”. What I mean by that is that the particle starts being in multiple places at the same time, the same way that a wave of water spreads itself out across the sea.

      When we use quantum mechanics to understand particles, we are describing those particles like waves. Why is this important? Because particles being in many places at the same time is weird AND USEFUL! 😀 We can use this weirdness to create quantum computers that can do loads of things at the same time, and maybe in the future we can use quantum technology to teleport an object from one place to another.

      There are so many ways that quantum mechanics could help us, some I can guess and others I don’t even know yet!

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