Creating a Link

As a person with no particular background in science or math I've always been interested in Quantum Mechanics. The only problem was every time I tried do research or watch a video on it, I honestly couldn't even grasp the most basic concepts. Not because it was impossibly hard, but because anyone with a degree tends to dive straight into the mathematics of how they "believe" this sub atomic realm operates. I'm no expert but I think I may be able to break the basics down in a way that doesn't require you to be a particle physicist.

So what is quantum mechanics? On the surface its the the study of how particles smaller than an atom "behave"(I use the word behave due to the absurd nature of what can happen when you observe this realm, but I'll come back to this). so you might be wondering why in the world does it matter how these particles work, and whats the purpose of studying it? I'll tell you why!!!ts because we as a species have no idea how or why our perceived reality is the way it is. Albert Einstein's ultimate goal was to understand how the universe functions on a fundamental level. Unfortunately he never got the answers he was looking for, and with the quantum world being discovered it seems like we're left with more questions than answers.

So what exactly happens when we view the quantum world? Well things don't adhere to the standards of classic physics. Which is strange considering the fact that the entire universe is made up of these quantum particles. When you break down an atom you get particles refereed to protons and neutrons, when we observe how these subatomic particles interact with their surroundings we see that that they play by their own rules. We find that particles also behave like waves. That the position of a certain particle follows a wave like pattern and only when measured is it in a fixed place.

There is a multitude of phenomena that can occur at this level. For Example there has been evidence of particles traveling straight through a solid object as if it was never there in the first place, the call this quantum tunneling. Superposition is another fascinating mystery, it basically states that a particle has both an anti clockwise and a clockwise spin simultaneously giving the appearance of no spin whatsoever. There's also quantum entanglement , which states that when two particles collide they are now essentially mirrors of each other no matter how far away they are in space from each other. So imagine that these two particles are coins and we flip on of them , if that coin comes up heads the other one is going to be tails instantaneously. Even if the coins were on opposite sides of the universe. Einstein called this phenomena "spooky action at a distance" because it basically proves his own theory of relativity to be false.

This next part is just my interpretation on how this could possibly affect us. Our eyes perceive light particles called photons. This is how we see the world around us. I'm going to use the sun as an example of a light source to demonstrate how the light gets to us. Light travels from the sun to earth in waves and at certain intervals or frequencies in these waves, photons are deposited in the space around it. Quantum field theory suggests that for every known particle (and unknown particle) there also exists a field for each particle to travel on. These fields would encompass the entire universe. Each particle would have its own field. The fields would overlap and also create a quantum grid that allows every particle to move independently yet it would also allow the particles to clump and create unique patterns of matter, energy, light , etc. Here is the crazy thing, the universe is always in motion so every combination of particle or pattern of energy that could exist , has already existed or will at some point. The only time any of these particles appear solid is when they're being measured. Our eyes measure these particles and our brains make sense of what was being observed. This is my theory of how reality or the universe operates at the most fundamental level.

Those are just a few examples of how the quantum world functions. The craziest part in my opinion is the fact that this "world" exists within each of us , as well as everything else in the universe. Every second there are billions of particles interacting with us , moving through our body , dancing with everything that exists in a chaotic yet harmonious pattern. This realm of understanding allows us to be open to more than what we can see, it shows us how to think in terms of possibility rather than stay stagnant in our ways.

Thank you for reading ! The theories and understanding of quantum mechanics goes much deeper than this and i was merely trying to demonstrate how its not that difficult when we relate it using something other than math.