How Quantum Physics Works
Step inside the strange rules that govern the universe at its smallest scales. Discover why light acts like both waves and particles, how probability replaces certainty, and why these bizarre quantum quirks 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: 10 levels across 2 sections, about 20 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Unlearning Common Sense and Quantum Reality in Action. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in How Quantum Physics Works
- Light travels through space and around obstacles by spreading and interfering like a continuous wave
- Light exchanges energy with atoms and sensors in fixed, individual packets called photons
- A single interaction with matter records a localized point, not a smeared-out splash
- Each particle lands as a single, distinct dot on the detector
- Even when sent one by one, the dots gradually map out an alternating wave interference pattern
- A single quantum particle effectively explores all available paths at once as it travels
- Detecting which slit a particle passes through destroys the wave interference pattern
- Once measured at a slit, particles hit the back wall like tiny solid bullets, forming two distinct bands
- In quantum physics, measuring a system fundamentally alters how that system behaves
- The Latin word 'quantum' refers to a fixed, discrete quantity rather than a smooth continuum
- At subatomic scales, energy is absorbed or emitted only in specific, indivisible packet sizes
- A quantum system cannot give or take half of an indivisible unit of energy
- Everyday labels like 'billiard ball' and 'water ripple' are approximations drawn from the macroscopic world
- Wave-particle duality does not mean physics is broken; it means human analogies reach their limits at subatomic scales
- Light and matter follow precise quantum rules, even if they behave counter to everyday common sense
- In quantum physics, an unmeasured particle does not possess a secret, predefined position waiting to be uncovered
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.
When light transfers its energy to a camera sensor or an atom, how does it deliver that energy?
Get it right to open this lesson and 9 more in the app.
Where How Quantum Physics Works takes you
- 1
Unlearning Common Sense
- Light as Waves and Packets
- Superposition and the Observer
- 2
Quantum Reality in Action
- Entanglement and Non-Locality
- Tunneling and Everyday Technology
2 sections · 4 units · 10 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
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 Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. 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
How the Quantum World Works
Discover the surprising rules of nature at its smallest scale. Learn why particles act like waves, how atoms communicate across space, and how quantum oddities power the device in your hand.
How Quantum Physics Works
Peel back the surface of everyday reality to discover the strange, pixelated universe underneath. Explore wave-particle duality, entanglement, and the quantum mechanics powering our modern technologies.
How Quantum Physics Works
Explore the strange rules governing nature at its smallest scales. Discover why particles act like waves, how probability replaces certainty, and how quantum weirdness powers modern technology.
Quantum Physics: Rules of the Ultra-Small
Explore the mind-bending rules that govern the universe at its smallest scales. Discover how particles act like waves, why uncertainty rules reality, and how quantum quirks power the technology in your pocket.
Making Sense of Quantum Physics
Discover how nature behaves at its smallest scales, where particles act like waves and matter exists in multiple states at once. Explore core principles like superposition, uncertainty, and entanglement without getting lost in advanced mathematics. Connect counterintuitive subatomic rules to the everyday technology they make possible.
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.
Start How Quantum Physics Works today.
Download Tomo, search How Quantum Physics Works, and play your first lesson in under a minute.