What is Quantum Tunneling?
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Suppose you drop a ball down the side of a valley - classical wisdom tells us that whenthe ball rolls up the hill on the other side, it can't go any higher than the height fromwhich you dropped it - that's conservation of energy!Even if there's a nice big long slope to roll down on the far side of the mountain, theball just can't get there - unless you give it enough energy to get over the barrier.But in quantum mechanics, things work a little differently. You see, the quantum world isprobabilistic, so if you release a particle in a valley, chances are the next time yousee it, it'll still be somewhere in that valley. But if there's a nice big slope to roll downon the far side of the mountain… well, that's a place the parti...
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Suppose you drop a ball down the side of a valley - classical wisdom tells us that whenthe ball rolls up the hill on the other side, it can't go any higher than the height fromwhich you dropped it - that's conservation of energy!Even if there's a nice big long slope to roll down on the far side of the mountain, theball just can't get there - unless you give it enough energy to get over the barrier.But in quantum mechanics, things work a little differently. You see, the quantum world isprobabilistic, so if you release a particle in a valley, chances are the next time yousee it, it'll still be somewhere in that valley. But if there's a nice big slope to roll downon the far side of the mountain… well, that's a place the parti...
