DEVELOPING AND DESIGNING NEW CHEMICALS AND MATERIALS - Chemistry: Notable Research and Discoveries - page 21

discussed in the present section, involves designing new materials from
scratch by applying principles of chemistry and physics. If scientists or
engineers gain an understanding of how atoms and molecules impart
specific properties to a given material, they could design a new material
with a specific property by assembling the essential atoms or molecules;
atoms and molecules would be like building blocks out of which the de-
sired material would be made. The other method will be described in the
following section.
Quantum mechanics governs the behavior of tiny particles such as
atoms. This theory has been confirmed in many different experiments
does not yield the exact values or trajectories but rather prob-
abilities for these quantities. A solution to Schrödinger's equa-
tion does not predict the course of a single particle; it assigns
probabilities to different courses. For example, 60 percent of
the particles in the same situation will follow path A, 30 per-
cent will follow path B, and 10 percent will follow path C.
Some physicists have had trouble accepting the proba-
bilistic nature of quantum mechanics, including some great
physicists such as Albert Einstein, who died in 1955 and nev-
er embraced this aspect of the theory. Einstein wrote about
quantum mechanics in a 1926 letter: “The theory says a lot,
but it does not really bring us any closer to the secrets of
the Old One [Einstein's name for God or the creator]. I, at any
rate, am convinced He does not play dice.” Yet as Einstein
acknowledged, the formulations of quantum mechanics are
accurate. And even though Schrödinger's equation cannot
determine exactly which particle does what, the behavior of
an aggregate, such as a large piece of matter, is predict-
able. If, for example, 60 percent of particles behave in a
certain way, a researcher can predict with excellent accu-
racy the behavior of a piece of matter containing thousands
or millions of these particles. Since everyday objects consist
of billions of atoms, the behavior of these objects appears
deterministic and follows Newtonian physics.