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The Quantum Chain

10 sessions, in order

This sequence exists to help you help your kid do something genuinely difficult: understand quantum mechanics. That's not a challenge meant to talk anyone out of trying. Richard Feynman, one of the best physicists who ever lived, said it himself: "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." Ten sessions, built up one real idea at a time, from a double slit experiment all the way to the point where quantum mechanics and general relativity flatly disagree. You won't walk away with all the answers. Neither has anyone else. You're in good company.

1.P&A-30The Spookiest Experiment EverPhysics & Astronomy~34 minDoes looking at something change what it does? Wave-particle duality and the strange role of observation.
2.P&A-31Why Light Comes in ChunksPhysics & Astronomy~18 minDoes energy flow smoothly, or come in pieces? Why the smallest scales of nature are chunky, not continuous.
3.P&A-32The Blurry Fan ProblemPhysics & Astronomy~20 minCan you ever know exactly where something is and exactly how fast it's going? The real limit behind the uncertainty principle.
4.P&A-33The Spinning Coin ProblemPhysics & Astronomy~17 minDoes a coin have a side before you look at it? Why quantum systems hold every possibility at once until measured.
5.P&A-34The Same Spot ProblemPhysics & Astronomy~20 minWhy can't two things ever be in exactly the same state? The rule that keeps atoms from collapsing and matter from being crushed flat.
6.P&A-35The Matched EnvelopesPhysics & Astronomy~20 minHow can measuring one particle instantly tell you about another, far away? Quantum entanglement, with nothing traveling between them.
7.P&A-36The Question GamePhysics & Astronomy~24 minCould entangled particles be secretly agreeing on answers in advance? The proof that rules out any hidden plan.
8.P&A-37The Cat That Wasn't Really BothPhysics & Astronomy~22 minWas Schrodinger's cat really alive and dead at once? Why he proposed the idea to show how absurd that would be.
9.P&A-38The Wall That Isn't Really TherePhysics & Astronomy~22 minCan something pass through a wall it shouldn't have the energy to cross? Quantum tunneling, and why it's what powers the sun.
10.P&A-39Clash of the Physics TitansPhysics & Astronomy~30 minWhy don't our two best theories of physics agree with each other? General relativity, quantum mechanics, and where they clash.