Quantum physics is really hard to comprehend. They say if you think you understand it, then you don’t. Something about how light is both a particle and a wave? Schrodinger’s cat is both alive and dead? Crazy stuff. I think I understand, but I guess that means I don’t, so I’m not going to even try for this article. But without scientists understanding it, a whole bunch of stuff that you use on a daily basis would not exist.

Toasters

Let’s start with toasters. You know that little wire that heats up red? Everything, no matter what it’s made of – if it doesn’t blow up or disintegrate when heating – will go through the same colors as it heats up. That was the thing that started it all. Scientist were like “WTF? Why is it always the same temperature for the same color no matter what it’s made of?” Max Planck solved this problem and so invented quantum theory.

Pew pew pew!

Lasers are totally a quantum physics thing. You make an electron go crazy and it jumps to a high level. When it jumps back down to a lower level, it emits light. If you make sure that those emissions are the same color, line them all up, and point them in the same direction, that’s a laser. They’re in all kinds of stuff; laser printers, tattoo removal guns, barcode scanners, CD drives, those crazy security systems in James Bond movies, etc.

Computers

Os and 1s. Heard of them? They make computers go. Those 0s and 1s are held in transistors. Those transistors could not be so tiny without precise mixtures of silicon and other materials. That mix is only possible with, you guessed it, an understanding of quantum physics.

Of course it’s all more complicated than all this. Anything quantum seems to be explained with some kind weird metaphor. But I hope it peaks your interest in quantum mechanics.