How Quantum Physics Works
Explore how reality behaves when you zoom down to the atomic scale. Build an intuitive grasp of wave-particle duality, superposition, and entanglement without needing complex mathematics, and see how these bizarre rules power modern technology.
Like Duolingo, but for How Quantum Physics Works. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Rewriting the Rules of Light and Matter and The Bizarre Effects Shaping Our World. It starts from scratch.
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Key ideas in How Quantum Physics Works
- Energy at the subatomic scale comes in distinct, indivisible packets called quanta
- You cannot exchange half a quantum of energy; it is an all-or-nothing delivery
- Everyday smooth energy transfers are an illusion caused by billions of tiny discrete packets blurring together
- Each incoming packet of light delivers energy based on its color (frequency), not the overall beam brightness
- A single high-energy photon (like violet or UV) has enough punch to eject an electron, while billions of low-energy red photons cannot combine their energy to do it
- Increasing brightness only adds more packets of the same energy, not stronger individual packets
- Electrons are restricted to specific, fixed energy levels (rungs) around the nucleus
- There is a lowest possible rung (the ground state) below which an electron cannot fall
- Because an electron cannot lose energy continuously, it cannot spiral into the nucleus and collapse matter
- Transitions between allowed states happen instantaneously rather than across a smooth path
- An electron is never found 'halfway' between two allowed energy rungs
- The size of the downward step an electron takes directly sets the exact color and wavelength of the emitted photon
- Because each element has a unique ladder of allowed rungs, each produces a unique set of sharp color lines (spectral fingerprint)
- Atoms do not glow in continuous rainbows; they glow at specific discrete wavelengths corresponding to their rung gaps
- Single particles still form a multi-striped wave interference pattern over time
- Each particle lands as a discrete dot, but the collective distribution shows alternating bands of high and low probability
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How Quantum Physics Works the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What happens if an atom wants just a little piece of a quantum packet?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where How Quantum Physics Works takes you
- 1
Rewriting the Rules of Light and Matter
- Packets and Steps: Nature's Discrete Energy
- Waves and Particles: The Dual Nature of Everything
- 2
The Bizarre Effects Shaping Our World
- Superposition: Living in Possibilities
- Tunneling and Entanglement: Defying Classical Limits
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
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Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
How Quantum Physics Works is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Science on Tomo
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Everyday Quantum Physics
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The Weird World of Quantum Physics
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The Quantum World
Explore the counterintuitive rules that govern the universe at its smallest scales. Discover how superposition, entanglement, and quantum tunneling shape everyday technology and fuel the computing revolution.
Start How Quantum Physics Works today.
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