Quantum mechanics is a body of scientific laws that describes the incredibly strange behaviour of atoms, photons, electrons and the other particles that make up our universe. It is essentially the brain-melting branch of physics that’s concerned with things that are very small – so small that they require special microscopes and cameras to be observed!
Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon studied in quantum mechanics. When a laser beam is fired through a crystal, it causes an individual photon to be split into a pair of entangled photons. Amazingly, these two particles somehow remain linked to one another, so any action performed on one – like measuring it – will affect the other. This reaction still happens no matter how far apart the particles are, even when they’re light years across the universe!
Caught speeding
The affected change in quantum entanglement seems to take place faster than the speed of light – it may even be immediate! The speed of light is, as we know, the speed limit of the universe. The speed of change for entangled particles should not be possible, which only adds to the mystery of this phenomenon
Fog over
Unlike classic mechanics – which describes how things move at more standard speeds and sizes (like how a tennis ball travels through the air) – in quantum mechanics, objects exist in a fog of possibilities. There’s a probability of being in one place and another chance of being at another.
Hard to handle
Don’t worry if you find the idea of quantum mechanics extremely hard to understand. That’s because it is! Scientists struggle with it too. As the famous physicist Richard Feynman once said: ‘If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.’
Very spooky
Albert Einstein did not like the strangeness of quantum entanglement and referred to it as ‘spooky action at a distance.
