Skip to main content
2 of 2
edited tags
Qmechanic
  • 213.1k
  • 48
  • 590
  • 2.3k

Examples of Quantum Superposition for the layman?

I'm trying to introduce Quantum Superposition to high-schoolers, and I feel like it would be nice to start with some real-world examples of where it comes up. I'm hoping for non-contrived examples that are relevant for their lives (like I don't think the two slit experiment would be ideal because they've probably never heard of it, and particle beams being fired in a lab is very distant from daily life; I'm also shying away from schrodinger's cat because it seems like a bit of a contrived mathematical example).

I've got two examples in mind:

  1. An atom. They probably know that an atom consists of a nucleus with electrons around it, and they may have also heard that the electrons don't actually "rotate". This is quantum superposition- the electrons are everywhere around the atom at once in a sort of "probability cloud".
  2. Transistors. Quantum superposition will soon mess with how we make computers. A computer is made up of a bunch of tiny machines called transistors that can be 0 or 1, and these transistors interact with each other to do all the calculations and logic we use computers for. 1 means the transistor has more electrons on one side, and 0 means it doesn't. But if the transistor is small enough, we can't be sure the electrons are only on one side - they could be on both sides, and that possibility messes with our calculations. So the fact that electrons exist in quantum superposition means there's a limit to how small we can make our computers.

So example 1 is kind of based on stuff they already know, if not directly relevant to their lives, and example 2 is directly relevant to the technology they use on a daily basis, if a little harder to understand.

It was surprisingly hard to find examples on google, so I've turned here. Any suggestions? (examples of quantum entanglement also appreciated)