Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 12, 2026

Quantum weirdness

Quantum weirdness encompasses the aspects of quantum mechanics that challenge and defy human physical intuition.

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Jun 12, 2026
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Quantum weirdness encompasses the aspects of quantum mechanics that challenge and defy human physical intuition.1

Human physical intuition is based on macroscopic physical phenomena as are experienced in everyday life, which can mostly be adequately described by the Newtonian mechanics of classical physics.2 Early 20th-century models of atomic physics, such as the Rutherford–Bohr model, represented subatomic particles as little balls occupying well-defined spatial positions, but it was soon found that the physics needed at a subatomic scale, which became known as "quantum mechanics", implies many aspects for which the models of classical physics are inadequate.3 These aspects include:

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Paul Sukys (1999). Lifting the Scientific Veil: Science Appreciation for the Nonscientist. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-9600-0. p. 135: Quantum weirdness refers to those quantum phenomena that appear to defy common experience when explained in terms of everyday life.
  2. Ball, Philip (2018). Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics is Different. Bodley Head. ISBN 978-1-84792-457-5.
  3. William J. Mullin (2017). Quantum Weirdness. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-879513-1.
  4. Lisa Grossman (November 18, 2010). "Universe's Quantum Weirdness Limits its Weirdness". Wired.
  5. Hans Christian von Baeyer (2013). "Quantum Weirdness? It's All in Your Mind". Scientific American. 308 (6): 46–51. Bibcode:2013SciAm.308f..46V. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0613-46. PMID 23729070..
  6. Carlo Rovelli (March 10, 2021). "Quantum weirdness isn't weird – if we accept objects don't exist". New Scientist. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  7. Tom Siegfried (November 20, 2010). "Quantum weirdness". ScienceNews. 178 (11).
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