What is Quantum computing ?

Computers were invented to solve complex mathematical problems which were solved by humans with pen and paper which was quite a breath taking task. So let us imagine we live in a mathematical world, where moving around is equivalent to solving math problems. So first when humans were solving problems on there own with pen and paper, we were moving in the math world on our own legs. When early computers were invented we started horse riding (believe me these early computers were like a blue whale! f huge). And when modern computers came into play we started moving around in a car.

Obviously, now everyone will think that using quantum computers will be like using a super car (certainly not DC Avanti, its not a super car!) or a Jet. But wait, Quantum computers are not that. Its the biggest misconception that people have about quantum computing,it is though faster than our traditional computers but only in certain fields of mathematics. You can consider quantum computers as a boat. Therefore boats aren’t necessarily faster than cars but, they are made for different terrain, which in our case is to discover different undiscovered area of the math world.

How does a Quantum computer works ?

For understanding this, first we need to understand how does our traditional computers work.In traditional computers all the mathematical operations are done using logic gates such as AND, NOT, OR gates and their combinations. To perform these operations we use transistors, consider transistors as a valve(faucet) on a water pipeline, where water acts as current. When the valve is open water can flow hence 1 and when the valve is closed it is 0. These 1 and 0 are called bits. They can stay only in a single state that is either 1 or 0.Using different combinations of transistors we can create many logic gates depending on the application of user.

As we progress, we need to solve more and more complex mathematical problems, for the same we use many combinations of transistor hence reducing the size of transistor to fit on a single chip or CPU. A typical size of transistor in todays world is about 14 nm which is 8 times smaller than a HIV virus(120nm) and 500 times smaller than a Red blood cell(7µm).As we advance further we reach the physical limitations of making things smaller and smaller, hence limiting technological progress. Because in quantum realm(world) physics works different. As transistors are the approaching size of few atoms, here electron flow may not be obstructed by the valves of transistors, which means even though the gates are closed electrons may teleport on the other side of the gate. This phenomenon is called quantum tunneling.

Scientists are trying to make use of this unusual property for solving problems with the help of Quantum computers. Because of this property, bits can stay in both states i.e. 1 and 0 at the same time this is called as quantum superposition state and these bits are called as Qubit (quantum bits).

In conclusions, quantum computers will certainly not take place of our desktop computers. But they do provide some serious potential threats to the internet encryption system which we follow in todays world.