- 1. The wave property of matter and energy: Any object which obeys quantum theory (e.g. a particle such as an electron) can be in more than one place at once. Its position is ‘smeared out’ into a probability function, which tells us the probability of finding it an any given place when we measure its position.
2. The particle property of energy and matter: when we measure the position of a quantum object, we pin it down, as it were, to a particle-like state - i.e. , previous to our measurement, the object wasn’t really anywhere in ordinary space-time; it only had a probabilistic wave nature; after we measure its position, it gets a real position in ordinary space-time. This is called ‘collapsing the probability function’ or ‘collapsing the wavefunction’. What happens is that our observation causes its properties to manifest.
3. The observer-dependent universe: The fact that our observation creates the particular manifestation of the reality we are observing, as in point (2).
4. The quantum leap: quantum objects have the property of disappearing from one place and reappearing in another without crossing the intervening distance. An electron moving from one orbital in an atom to another does it in this way.
5. Indeterminacy: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that we cannot measure with arbitrary accuracy the position and the momentum of any quantum object at the same time. The more accurately we measure the position of an electron, the less accurately must we measure its momentum. Position and momentum are a conjugate pair of variables, and Heisenberg’s equation also shows that there are other conjugate pairs of variables, like energy and time.
6. Non-locality: The collapse of the probability function caused by our observation implies that the observer-dependency is non-local in space; this non-locality is further born out by the experiments of Alain Aspect, and John Bell’s interpretation of them. In these experiments it was demonstrated that if two photons are fired out from the same source in opposite directions, and we polarize one of them, the other gets polarized too. Somehow, they remain connected, even thought they are traveling apart at the speed of light.
A photon is discrete wave packet of energy that carries the electromagnetic force.
As a photon is absorbed by an atom, it excites the atom, elevating an electron to a higher energy level (on average, one that is farther from the nucleus). When an electron in an excited molecule or atom descends to a lower energy level, it emits a photon of light equal to the energy difference. Since the energy levels of electrons in atoms are discrete, each element and each molecule emits and absorbs its own characteristic frequencies.
As a photon is absorbed by an atom, it excites the atom, elevating an electron to a higher energy level (on average, one that is farther from the nucleus). When an electron in an excited molecule or atom descends to a lower energy level, it emits a photon of light equal to the energy difference. Since the energy levels of electrons in atoms are discrete, each element and each molecule emits and absorbs its own characteristic frequencies.