: Brian Clegg
: The Quantum Age How the Physics of the Very Small has Transformed Our Lives
: Icon Books Ltd
: 9781848316997
: 1
: CHF 6.20
:
: Naturwissenschaften allgemein
: English
: 288
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
The stone age, the iron age, the steam and electrical ages all saw the reach of humankind transformed by new technology. Now we are living in the quantum age, a revolution in everyday life led by our understanding of the very, very small. Quantum physics lies at the heart of every electronic device from smartphones to lasers; quantum superconductors allow levitating trains and MRI scanners, while superfast, ultra-secure quantum computers may soon be a reality. Yet quantum particles such as atoms, electrons and photons remain mysterious, acting totally unlike the objects we experience directly. With his trademark clarity and enthusiasm, acclaimed popular science author Brian Clegg reveals the amazing world of the quantum that lies all around us.

Brian Clegg is a popular science writer whose Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity were both longlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. He has written for publications including Nature, The Times and BBC Focus.

CHAPTER 1

Enter the quantum

Until the 20th century it was assumed that matter was much the same on whatever scale you looked at it. When back in Ancient Greek times a group of philosophers imagined what would happen if you cut something up into smaller and smaller pieces until you reached a piece that was uncuttable (atomos), they envisaged that atoms would be just smaller versions of what we observe. A cheese atom, for instance, would be no different, except in scale, to a block of cheese. But quantum theory turned our view on its head. As we explore the world of the very small, such as photons of light, electrons and our modern understanding of atoms, they behave like nothing we can directly experience with our senses.

A paradigm shift

Realising the very different reality at the quantum level was what historians of science like to give the pompous term a ‘paradigm shift’. Suddenly, the way that scientists looked at the world became different. Before the quantum revolution it was assumed that atoms (if they existed at all – many scientists didn’t really believe in them before the 20th century) were just like tiny little balls of the stuff they made up. Quantum physics showed that they behaved so weirdly that an atom of, say, carbon has to be treated as if it is something totally different to a piece of graphite or diamond – and yet all that is inside that lump of graphite or diamond is a collection of these carbon atoms. The behaviour of quantum particles is strange indeed, but that does not mean that it is unapproachable without a doctorate in physics. I quite happily teach the basics of quantum theory to ten-year-olds. Not the maths, but you don’t need mathematics to appreciate what’s going on. You just need the ability to suspend your disbelief. Because quantum particles refuse to behave the way you’d expect.

As the great 20th-century quantum physicist Richard Feynman (we’ll meet him again in detail before long) said in a public lecture: ‘[Y]ou think I’m going to explain it to you so you can understand it? No, you’re not going to be able to understand it. Why, then, am I going to bother you with all this? Why are you going to sit here all this time, when you won’t be able to understand what I am going to say? It is my task to persuade