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Chemistry Applications Essay Charlie Bares Honors Chemistry I Mr. Ceccarelli 1/2/13 Quantum Computing: Stretching the Realm of Possibility  Quantum Computing is considered by many to be the future in technology and processing, one of the most influential aspects of many American’s lives. However, with so many purported “supercomputers” already in existence, it is harder to fathom the existence of an exponentially more powerful machine. The answer to this perplexing dilemma is found in the realm of subatomic particles and their interaction, better known as quantum physics. Though this discipline is tied in with physics, the interaction between particles that quantum mechanics explains is also an underlying tenet of chemistry. This set of laws for the unseen particles that govern our existence has two especially interesting properties which facilitate quantum computing; superposition and entanglement. The basic concept of superposition is evidenced in the fictional Schrödinger’s Cat experiment. It is the idea that a particle like an electron can exist in two different states at once, for instance the aforementioned electron having two different energy states at once. The concept of entanglement is equally counterintuitive. In entanglement theory, the measured state of one particle directly affects another, regardless of space. Using the electron example, if one measured an entangled electron to have a certain spin or velocity, the other electron would have a corresponding value. These two properties of quantum mechanics allow for a vastly more powerful system of computing. Consider a basic binary system, where information is stored in a chain of either ones or zeros. With a quantum computer, a binary digit, or bit, can be simultaneously zero and one. In addition to initially doubling the information storage of the processor, when these quantum bits, or “q-bits”, are entangled, they form a cluster of superposed information, which grows in power as each new q-bit is added. Michael Brooks, an author for //New Scientist//, estimates that “Just a few hundred q-bits could store more numbers than there are thought to be atoms in the universe.” (Brooks). This sort of raw power would be thousands of times more powerful than modern computers; however it is still a long ways off. Scientists experimenting with ions and microscopic semiconducting sheets of aluminum have been able to encode and utilize information stored in the energy levels of said ions. However, this sort of computer is very rudimentary, and is less powerful than current processors.

 Though it is an interesting theoretical concept, it is difficult to envision the uses for quantum computing. After all, what is the use of an extremely fast computer when society has already produced so many? The answer is found in the events of the past century. If a useable quantum computer were to be developed, the revolution that would inevitably follow would be similar to the invention of the digital computer. Scientists predict that while quantum computers will not be used for personal or home computing, in the near future they will be applied to tasks or operations too difficult for digital computers. These include pattern-recognition, and the type of complicated syntax and judgement found in artificial intelligence. However, until the quantum computer is actually developed no one can tell for sure what the effects will be. Undoubtedly, as such a radical new technology is developed applications will spring up left and right, though they may not be clear to us in the near future. After all, the first computer was a gargantuan machine that was good for little better than what a modern graphing calculator can do. However, twenty years after the fact, we can all see the ways that the computer has affected our lives. And in twenty years, it is very possible that we will look back on the development of the quantum computer as the dawn of a new era. Works Cited ====Deutsch, DavidEkert, Artur. "Beyond The Quantum Horizon." //Scientific American// (2012): 84. //MAS Ultra -// School Edition. Web. 1 Jan. 2013. ====