I have suddenly been intrigued by quantum physics simply because of wonder. I am totally ignorant to quantum physics and its concepts. I don't think my school offers it either. So I was wondering if anyone would be nice enough to explain the general concepts of quantum physics to me, like what it is, what is it used for, why use it, etc. It would be really appreciated.
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Edited by realdomdom: 5/21/2013 7:20:03 PMQuantum physics or rather, the quantum theory is not comparable to other scientific theories in a sense, that it does not predict a certain outcome at a certain income, like typical theories do. Instead it gives you the probability for several events to happen, which is of course not very precise. In the beginning, Einstein even said, that the quantum theory lacks the traits of a proper theory, because it doesn't predict a certain outcome. Basically, the quantum theory says, that at a certain level of magnification of an object, the sub-atomic level, cause and effect are no longer linear, relatable. Instead, the effect may even seem to occur, before the actual cause. It also says, that even monitoring experiments on this level, will inevitably influence them, no matter what. Though, this does, of course, only apply for effects and occurences on the sub-atomic level. But they can have consequences in the larger world. In fact, quantum physics are mostly used for calculating very complex systems, like modern electronics or the research on protein folding, which could potentially help fight diseases like parkinson. They could even be used to predict the weather more precisely, but that would, amongst other things, require us to monitor every single water particle, which is in turn physically impossible. So, you see, quantum physics quite literally rule the world.