My understanding would be that a "quantum leap" would refer to the distance between one electron orbit to another within an atom [assuming that within an atom the word "distance" has any meaning at all...]
I'm looking forward to using this term to offer faint praise for someone's declaration of progress.
Credit to Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
This is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weinersmith.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-06-01
ReplyDeleteThis is from a web comic called Saturday Breakfast Cereal (SMBC)
ReplyDeleteHere you go on the credit. https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-06-01
ReplyDeleteFour answers within 15 minutes! Many thanks to all of you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the opportunity. I was surprised to see the change in his artwork. Still familiar, but definitely different.
DeleteAnd it's worth checking the bonus panel at the link (the red "button under the comic). It's pretty good.
wikipedia suggests it can also mean a paradigm shift or tipping point, so it can go either way. As for physics, think of the “leap” as a small change in energy, not distance. We (physicists) don’t think of them as orbits. Note that a lot of little leaps in energy add up, and make things like lasers possible.
ReplyDeleteCalling shit on the cartoon.
ReplyDeleteThe term "quantum leap" has been around for 70 years and used in the way with which we are familiar. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1955
Quoting Google AI:
A "quantum leap" is large metaphorically, meaning a huge, sudden change in everyday terms, but scientifically, it's a tiny, discrete jump between fixed energy levels for an electron, which is significant because it's so precise and sudden, not because it's a large amount of energy; the term evolved to mean big breakthroughs due to its initial implication of sudden, revolutionary change, even though the actual physical jump is minuscule.
The Science vs. The Metaphor
Quantum (Science): A "quantum" is the smallest possible unit of energy or matter for a given process, like a single photon or the specific energy an electron can have.
Quantum Leap (Science): An electron instantly jumping from one specific, allowed energy level to another (e.g., from energy level 2 to 3).
This jump is typically incredibly small (e.g., a billionth of a billionth of a joule).
The key is its discreteness: it's an abrupt transition, not a gradual slide, which was revolutionary.
Quantum Leap (Metaphor): In popular language, it means a major, sudden, groundbreaking advancement (like a new invention or discovery).
Why the Confusion?
Discreteness is Revolutionary: The idea of things changing in sudden, fixed jumps (not continuously) was radical when quantum mechanics started, so people associated the term with "big" conceptual shifts.
Metaphorical Drift: Around the 1950s, the term became popular to describe significant breakthroughs, emphasizing the suddenness and magnitude of change, even if the actual energy change was tiny.
"Small" vs. "Big" Scale: A quantum leap is a big deal in the tiny world of atoms because it's a precise, non-continuous event, but it's still a tiny amount of energy compared to everyday objects.
In short, the "leap" is large in significance and suddenness (metaphorically), but small in physical energy (scientifically).
SMBC routinely turns pedantry into humor, but you just illustrated that it's much easier to murder humor with it.
DeleteSemantics is always interesting, IMO. Some find it tedious (the realm of pedants?). It's still important. I tend to think of the cartoon as nitpicky and ill-founded more than humorous. Inane. But humor is highly subjective. Vive la difference.
DeleteI remember way back in my college days (the 80s), I remember my using the term in a paper and my professor mentioning that it was actually almost infinitely small.
ReplyDeleteWow, way to troll the physicists. As I'm sure someone mentioned in the comments. It refers to the speed not the distance.
ReplyDeleteThe term Quantum Leap is just not very exact, so its meaning is hazy and vague.
ReplyDeleteIt can refer to the discovery of the quantummechanics, which was one of the giant leaps forward in science. If you want to reduce physics to two people, it's Newton, Einstein and you're done.
I don't think many scientists would use the term quantum leap for what Stan describes above. That's just an electron changing (quantified) energy levels. Whether you consider those large or small is a matter of perspective. From our macro world, they're small, but as Anonymous refers to above, these changes allow for micro-electronics, lasers and color screens on your cell phone. That's pretty powerful stuff.
Anonymous also mentions that physicists think a certain way, and that's correct to point out because chemists tend to view quantum through a different lens.
Physicists tend to be rather hardcore about quantum and explain material properties such as semi-conductivity, supermagnetism, lasers and quantum computing with quantum mechanics.
Chemists are a bit more relaxed because they use quantum mostly to talk about chemical bonds between atoms in molecules and then terminology about orbitals comes up. But you can only do so by running roughshod over some things that physicists are really attached to, so they have to leave the room when chemists do so.