Quantum Mechanics: The Architecture of an Unreal World

(01.01.2020 – From the “Mood (4.3.2.)”

Whether you loved playing with Legos as a child or building in Minecraft as an adult, our collective journey to discover matter began in a similar way: by assembling pieces. First, we identified the atom, but upon discovering its immense power, we even turned it into a weapon. A mere kilogram of uranium contains enough energy to end tens of thousands of lives. Today, we attempt to harness this “atomic bomb” in slow motion through nuclear power plants. Yet, there are still fantastic, scientific truths that few truly grasp. This is the realm of Quantum Mechanics.

The Alchemy of Electrons

Electrons orbit the nucleus. In a hydrogen atom, a single electron spins in solitude; in gold, seventy-nine companions orbit together. But why do they spin, and what is their purpose? Electrons are what make matter matter. After the Big Bang, the simplest and lightest element, hydrogen, was formed. If you add 78 electrons and a corresponding number of neutrons to hydrogen, it transforms into gold. The only difference between the most precious metal and the volatile hydrogen gas is the arrangement of these spinning spheres. How is it that merely changing the number of orbiting particles alters the very essence of reality? While chemistry deals with the results, we must look to modern physics to understand the reasons.

The Void Within

From Thomson’s “Plum Pudding” model to Rutherford’s groundbreaking gold foil experiment, our understanding of the atom has shifted radically. Rutherford discovered that the atom is not a solid ball but a vast, empty space with a tiny, positively charged nucleus at its center.

This is a reality that collapses our macroscopic perceptions: matter is almost entirely void. If you were to compress matter until no space remained, you would create objects of incredible density, like black holes. Later, Bohr developed a model of energy-specific orbits. Today, by analyzing the light emitted from planets hundreds of light-years away, we can identify their elemental composition because light and matter are fundamentally intertwined.

The Death of Determinism: Wave-Particle Duality

We often visualize electrons as tiny marbles, but the truth taught in schools is a far cry from reality. In the quantum world, rules defy logic. The famous Double-Slit Experiment (Young’s Experiment) revealed that electrons behave like waves, creating interference patterns. Even if you fire electrons one by one, they maintain this wave-like nature.

The truly mind-bending part? When we place a detector to observe which slit the electron passes through, it begins to behave like a particle. Observation collapses the wave function. Our very act of looking changes the behavior of the universe. Max Planck revolutionized physics by suggesting that energy is not continuous but comes in discrete packets called “quanta.” Einstein further bridged the gap, proving that mass and energy are essentially the same thing ($E=mc^2$).

The Reign of Chaos and Entropy

With Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, we learned that we can never truly know both the position and the velocity of an electron. They exist in “probability clouds,” appearing and disappearing almost instantaneously, moving at staggering speeds within a tiny radius. If we could see the universe at this level, we would witness an infinite sea of flickering subatomic particles in a state of constant flux.

This relentless motion is governed by Entropy—the universal tendency toward disorder. The expansion of the universe, the decay of radiation, and ultimately the death of living beings are all driven by these atoms. Even photosynthesis depends on this quantum dance: photons striking chlorophyll to displace electrons, triggering the chemical process of life.

Conclusion: Is Everything Material?

Does resolving these particles truly matter? Experiments at CERN might seem distant to some, but they probe the very fabric of our existence. If every meaning in the universe is created only through the consciousness that observes it, perhaps even the ancient belief of Animism—that all matter possesses a soul—holds a kernel of modern truth. We are distinct “selves” emerging from a magnificent, subatomic chaos. Can everything really be explained through the purely material, or is there something more in the “observation” itself?