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Quantum
physics tries to explain the behavior of even smaller
particles. These particles are things like electrons,
protons, and neutrons. Quantum physics even describes
the particles which make these particles! That's right;
the model of an atom that you were taught in high-school
is wrong. The electrons don't orbit like planets; they
form blurred clouds of probabilities around the nucleus.
Protons and neutrons? They're each made of three quarks,
each with its own 'flavor' and one of three 'colors'.
Lets not forget the gluons, the even smaller particles
that hold this mess together when they collect and form
glueballs (not a very original name). Why weren't you
told about this already? Were you fluent in calculus when
you took general chemistry?
The quantum model of the atom is much more complex than
the traditional model, so most teachers save that stuff
for college. (But this doesn't mean that you can't have
a basic understanding and impress your friends!) The reason
that quantum physics needs complex math to explain the
behaviors and properties of small particles is that the
world of these subatomic particles is a very bizarre one,
filled with quantum probabilities and organized chaos.
For example, the exact position and velocity of an electron
is very hard to find because attempts to "see"
it involve bouncing other particles off of it. By doing
this, you've just changed the electron's velocity, so
your data is useless. What quantum physics does is give
us the statistical probability of the electron's location
at any one moment. By learning how these particles act,
scientists can better understand the matter which makes
up the universe, and the way it behaves (or misbehaves).
Quantum physics even plays a part in blackholes, where
regular physics is thrown out the window and then some!
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