Atomic vs Quantum - What's the difference?
atomic | quantum |
(physics, chemistry) Of or relating to atoms
Of or employing nuclear energy or processes
Infinitesimally small
Unable to be split or made any smaller
(computing) Said of an operation that is guaranteed to either complete fully, or not at all.
* Burke
* 1749 , (Henry Fielding), Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 416:
*1997 , (Kiran Nagarkar), Cuckold , HarperCollins 2013, p. 375:
*:Otherwise I will have given the lie to my maxim that whether you work eight or twenty hours, the quantum of work that gets done on a normal day is the same.
* 2008 , The Times of India , 21 May 2008, [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Fuel_price_hike_put_off_over_quantum/articleshow/3087364.cms]:
The amount or quantity observably present, or available.
*1979 , , Smiley's People , Folio Society 2010, p. 96:
*:Each man has only a quantum of compassion, he argued, and mine is used up for the day.
* 1999 , Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams , Oxford 2008, p. 34:
(physics) The smallest possible, and therefore indivisible, unit of a given quantity or quantifiable phenomenon.
* 2002 , David C Cassidy et al., Understanding Physics , Birkhauser 2002, p. 602:
(math) A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.
Of a change, sudden or discrete, without intermediate stages.
(informal) Of a change, significant.
(physics) Involving quanta.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Michael Riordan
, title=Tackling Infinity
, volume=100, issue=1, page=86
, magazine=
(computing theory) Relating to a quantum computer.
As an adjective atomic
is atomic.As a noun quantum is
.atomic
English
Adjective
- A stream of atomic hydrogen is emitted
- We built a small atomic bomb in the garage
- The hairs on a bedbug are almost atomic
- A bit is an atomic item of data
- In order to avoid race conditions, this operation has to be atomic
Antonyms
* molecular (1)Derived terms
* atomically * atomic bomb * atomic charge * atomic cocktail * atomicity * atomic mass * atomic wedgie * atomic weightquantum
English
(wikipedia quantum)Noun
(quanta)- without authenticating the quantum of the charges
- The reader will perhaps be curious to know the quantum of this present, but we cannot satisfy his curiosity.
- The Congress's core ministerial panel on Friday gave its green signal to raising motor fuel prices but the quantum of increase emerged as a hitch.
- The dream of flying, according to Strümpell, is the appropriate image used by the psyche to interpret the quantum of stimulus proceeding from the rise and fall of the lungs when the cutaneous sensation of the thorax has simultaneously sunk into unconsciousness.
- The quantum of light energy was later called a photon .
- (William Kingdon Clifford)
Adjective
(-)citation, passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum' electrodynamics and ' quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.}}
