Quantum physics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior of matter and energy in the presence of an observer. It is the foundation of modern physics and the theory of the wave-particle duality.
Quantum mechanics is the branch of quantum physics that deals with the behavior of matter and energy in the presence of an observer. It is the foundation of modern physics and the theory of wave-particle duality.
In classical mechanics, particles (like atoms and molecules) are described by their position, momentum, and other properties such as mass, electric charge, and spin angular momentum. These variables are independent from each other; for example, two different particles can have identical positions but different momenta. However, in quantum mechanics these variables are not independent; they are linked together by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. This means that it is impossible to know both a particle’s precise position and momentum at the same time; you can know one or the other but not both simultaneously. The more precisely you measure one variable (such as position), the less precisely you can measure its partner variable (such as momentum).
The wave-particle duality is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics that states that every particle also has a wave-like nature. This means that particles can exhibit properties usually associated with waves, such as interference and diffraction. The wave-like nature of particles was first demonstrated experimentally by Louis de Broglie in 1927. He showed that electrons could be diffracted just like light waves, which had been shown to exhibit wave-like properties earlier by Thomas Young in 1801. Wave-particle duality has since been demonstrated with many other types of particles including atoms, photons, neutrons, protons, electrons, muons, neutrinos, and even large molecules like buckyballs.
The mathematical framework for describing quantum mechanical phenomena was developed between 1900 and 1930 by a number of physicists including Max Planck (who introduced quantization), Albert Einstein (who explained photoelectric effect using quantization), Niels Bohr (who developed Bohr model), Werner Heisenberg (who formulated matrix mechanics), Erwin Schrödinger (who formulated wave equation), Paul Dirac( who developed electron spin ),and Enrico Fermi( who developed statistics for fermions ).This framework makes use of Hilbert spaces which are infinite dimensional vector spaces used to describe states mathematically . Quantum mechanics has been extraordinarily successful in explaining a wide range of physical phenomena . Its predictions have been verified experimentally to an extremely high degreeof accuracy . In addition ,quantum mechanics has led tothe developmentof technologieswith widespread societal impact such asthe laser ,transistor ,and semiconductor industry .