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quantum

Minimum positive amount of any physical property involved in an interaction

Also known as quanta

Instance of: concept in physics
Subclass of: unit
, physical quantity

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In physics, a quantum is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization". This means that the magnitude of the physical property can take on only discrete values consisting of integer multiples of one quantum. For example, a photon is a single quantum of light of a specific frequency. Similarly, the energy of an electron bound within an atom is quantized and can exist only in certain discrete values. Atoms and matter in general are stable because electrons can exist only at discrete energy levels within an atom. Quantization is one of the foundations of the much broader physics of quantum mechanics. Quantization of energy and its influence on how energy and matter interact is part of the fundamental framework for understanding and describing nature.

Overview

All data

28 statements · 18% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Facet of: quantum mechanics
quantization
Different from: Q11751560
Has characteristic: discreteness
Studied by: quantum physics

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19 identifiers linking quantum across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

18%

externally sourced

Source last edited August 20, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). quantum (Q46344). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/quantum-Q46344