Brian Cox explains quantum mechanics in 60 seconds - BBC News

Transcript

Brian Cox without hesitation repetition or deviation can you please explain for us as succinctly as possible I have a timer here the rules of quantum mechanics your time starts now well the most basic version I know of is is Fan's version which uh essentially says particles are particles and they hop from place to place with a particular probability and the probability that a particle that's at some place will be at some different place later is given by a very simple rule um it uses a quantity called the action which is to do with the mass of the particle and the time and the distance uh and you so you basically calculate these little uh quantities which to do with something called the action and you add them up so if I if I start with an electron in one corner of the room and I say what's the probability at sometime later it'll be somewhere else then every point in the room you can assign a probability that it will be there at a later point with one simp Rule and that's it now this is called a path integral formulation of quantum mechanics that underlies everything else you can you can get the rest from that so it's a simple rule says what's the probability of particle move from A to B that's it I'll I'll stop the timer then very good well under a minute