Quantum physics
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Quantum mechanics is a science that deals with how the atoms and subatomic particles in matter and waves behave. It forms a mathematical framework for modern physics and chemistry. It also helps to explain how large objects like stars and planets are formed and why big events in space happen, like the Big Bang.
Quantum in Latin means 'how much'. It is used in quantum mechanics to describe set units that the theory gives to different properties. The basic parts of quantum mechanics were made during the first half of the 20th century by Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Max Born, John von Neumann, Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli and others.
Quantum mechanics was first developed to explain the atom, especially the light emitted by different atomic species. The quantum theory of the atom developed as an explanation for the electron staying in its orbit, which could not be explained by other theories.
The other thing that led to quantum mechanics was the study of electromagnetic waves such as light. It was found in 1900 by Max Planck that the energy of waves could be described as made of small packets or quanta. Albert Einstein used this idea to show that an electromagnetic wave such as light could be described by a particle called the photon with a set amount of energy, depending on its frequency. This led to a theory about subatomic particles and electromagnetic waves called wave-particle duality. This is where particles and waves were neither one or the other, but had certain properties of both.
