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Veritasium
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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.
How does a quantum computer work?
This video compares the language used by classical computers (0 and 1) with that used by quantum computers (qubits). Qubits can be photons, nuclei or electrons. In this video the use of electrons is explained as follows. To be able to measure something it must change and for electrons their ability to occupy high and low spins (energy states) in an external magnetic field is used. If just 2 electrons are considered their relative spins can be up-up, up-down, down-up and down-down, i.e., 4 different states. The ability of electrons to occupy both up and down states is called superposition and is understood in terms of the proportion of up and down states occupied at any time (for n qubits there are 2n potential states).
This property allows certain calculations to be performed extremely well (e.g., deciphering encrypted codes), but for normal use (watching films etc.) a classical computer is better.
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