The branch of physics dealing with the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.
Quantum Mechanics
The concept that every quantum entity may be described as either a particle or a wave depending on the experimental setup.
Wave-Particle Duality
A fundamental limit stating that it is impossible to simultaneously measure both the exact position and the exact momentum of a particle.
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
A principle where a physical system exists in all its theoretically possible states simultaneously until it is measured.
Superposition
A phenomenon where particles become linked such that the state of one instantly influences the state of the other, regardless of the distance separating them.
Quantum Entanglement
The fundamental quantum of electromagnetic radiation, acting as a discrete packet of light energy.
Photon
A mathematical description that encapsulates the probability amplitude of a particle’s position and momentum.
Wave Function
A famous thought experiment illustrating the paradox of quantum superposition applied to everyday objects.
Schrödinger’s Cat
A physical constant that relates the energy of a photon to its frequency, serving as the scale factor for quantum effects.
Planck’s Constant
The alignment of light’s oscillations to only the components oriented to the direction or plane of the filter it passes through.
Polarization
These _________________ will create scenarios where the sunlight reflecting at specific angles will create glare.
Reflective Surfaces
An optical device that works to block horizontally polarized light and reduce glare from reflective surfaces.
Sunglasses
An optical device that uses polarization to allow us to view two images simultaneously creating an interesting visual effect in movies.
3D Glasses
This law analyzes the intensity of light depending on the angle of the polarizers.
Malu’s Law
Describes how as the angle of the polarizers increase, the intensity or brightness of the light decreases in a non-linear relationship.
Malu’s Law Relationship
When observed, the wave function resolves into one state.
Collapse
Experument that illustrates the dual nature of light as both a particle and a wave when the light occurs in superposition at both slits simultaneously, creating an interference pattern.
Double-Slit Experiment
A phenomenon in which light behaves as both a wave and a particle due to superposition depending on how it is observed.
Wave-Particle Duality
The phenomenon where electromagnetic radiation, such as light, hits a material and causes the emission of electrons, demonstrating the particle-like nature of light.
Photoelectric Effect
The minimum frequency that has enough energy to eject an electron as observed by the photoelectric effect.
Threshold Frequency
A theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory by proposing that energy is radiated in discrete units called quanta, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1918.
Max Planck
An experiment that supports the quantum concept that photons have quantized, discrete amounts of energy.
Atomic Emission Spectra
This branch of physics describes the macroscopic world according to Newtonian physics allowing us to predict future outcomes exactly.
Classical Physics
This branch of physics describes the subatomic world allowing only us to only predict probabilities of future outcomes in discrete states.
Quantum Physics
