That was news to me, and the fact that quantum tunnelling is required for our sense of smell. Who'd a thunk it?Xamonas Chegwé wrote:Yes. This is the sort of thing I love about QM! The complete bizzarity of it all. particles that are also waves and know what they have to do to get through any obstacles before they are in place! What i want to read is a book that explains the current theorising behind these insane experiments.
the thing that piqued (or rather repiqued) my interest was in the Horizon show where it was pointed out that photosynthesis wouldn't work without QM weirdness. Light molecules travel every possible way at once through a chlorophyll molecule in order to activate the PS process as quickly as possible. If this didn't happen, PS couldn't happen fast enough to support life on the planet! (At least that was what they seemed to be saying.) I want to know more about this aspect of science, theoretical though it may be. It makes relativity seem mundane.
I can't think of a good book, except maybe http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Qu ... 81884.html, but that's probably already too basic for you. I just rely on the Internet these days. Whatever I read in a book today may very well be obsolete this time next month, so I don't bother to buy.
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/views/qm17.htm looks good...