Quantum tunnelling (also spelled quantum tunneling in American English) refers to the quantum mechanical phenomenon where a particle tunnels through a barrier that it classically could not surmount. This plays an essential role in several physical phenomena, such as the nuclear fusion that occurs in main sequence stars like the sun, and has important applications to modern devices such as the tunnel diode. The effect was predicted in the early 20th century and its acceptance, as a general physical phenomenon, came mid-century.
Tunnelling is often explained using the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the wave–particle duality of matter. Purely quantum mechanical concepts are central to the phenomenon, so quantum tunnelling is one of the novel implications of quantum mechanics.
Read more about Quantum Tunnelling: History, Introduction To The Concept, Related Phenomena, Applications, Faster Than Light
Famous quotes containing the word quantum:
“But how is one to make a scientist understand that there is something unalterably deranged about differential calculus, quantum theory, or the obscene and so inanely liturgical ordeals of the precession of the equinoxes.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)