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The Rules of the Very Small course icon

The Rules of the Very Small

Like Duolingo, but for The Rules of the Very Small. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

10 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Quirk the Quark
The Rules of the Very Small
with Quirk the Quark
10
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in The Rules of the Very Small

  • Quantum objects exist in a 'superposition' of many places at once
  • Energy is 'quantized', meaning it comes in minimum indivisible units
  • The electron is better described as a cloud of probability than a tiny billiard ball
  • You cannot have half a photon or a partial energy level change
  • Position is not fixed until an interaction occurs
  • The transition between energy states is an abrupt jump, not a smooth slide
  • The concept that subatomic particles exist in a spread-out state of probability
  • The distinction between continuous flow and discrete quantum packets
  • Observation requires physical interaction
  • Superposition as a probability cloud
  • Measurement causes collapse
  • Energy is quantized
  • Information gathering changes the system
  • Unobserved particles travel as waves
  • Particles show single-point impact when measured
  • Randomness is built into the fabric of the universe, not just a result of human error
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives The Rules of the Very Small 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.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

The Quantum Leap

What does it mean when scientists say that energy is 'quantized'?

Get it right to open this lesson and 9 more in the app.

Course map

Where The Rules of the Very Small takes you

Discover why the universe gets weird at the atomic level and how these 'impossible' rules power the modern technology in your pocket.

  1. 1

    The Weirdness of Reality

    • The End of Certainty
    • Being in Two Places at Once
    • The Spooky Connection
  2. 2

    Quantum in Your Pocket

    • How Quantum Rules Built Your World

2 sections · 4 units · 10 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

The Rules of the Very Small is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. 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.

Start free

Start The Rules of the Very Small today.

Download Tomo, search The Rules of the Very Small, and play your first lesson in under a minute.