May 13, 2024

Kathlyn Phan

11th Grade

Fountain Valley High School

By understanding chemical reactions on a molecular level, scientists have developed a method to capture rapid chemical reactions in slower time frames in order to analyze and make observations. Some chemical reactions can occur within femtoseconds, making it impossible for scientists to predict results or conduct research. With collective knowledge in both Physics and Chemistry, researchers invented a computer that could slow these reactions down to a time frame humans can observe. These chemical processes are crucial for applications of forensic science, solar energy harvesting, etc., so understanding how their dynamics work will enable us to find solutions to some of the most complex problems in science.

By using a quantum computer, scientists studying at the University of Sydney have been able to capture chemical reactions at lightning speed. Chemical reactions that seemingly finish at the speed of light were captured on the computer 100 billion times slower than their original speed, making it visible to the human eye. Since the 1950s, scientists have been trying to process and understand scientific processes that involve light; such as photosynthesis and bioluminescence. Until recently, these chemical reactions were impossible to perceive without a trapped-ion quantum computer to prolong the time frame. The rate of reaction for chemical reactions is dependent on factors like the reactants' concentration, the temperature, the physical state of the reactants, etc. In a trapped-ion quantum computer, scientists are able to manipulate these conditions to create the perfect environment to capture the kinematic motion of the reaction.

On a molecular level, chemical reactions are when the molecular bonds between the atoms of an object are broken or formed. The reaction rate is determined by the amount of successful collisions between atoms since they are always moving. As stated before, we could add heat, increase the concentration of reactants, or increase the surface area for the reaction rate to speed up. Quantum mechanics can be applied to this area of chemical kinematics by studying the behavior of protons, neutrons, and electrons as well as molecular dynamics. With the quantum computer, scientists have finally caught a single atom undergoing an inference pattern thanks to a conical intersection. A conical intersection is created at points of intersection when there is a rapid transfer of energy. Conical intersections are a crucial component to understanding the mechanisms in photochemistry, which is notoriously difficult to capture due to its reaction speed. 

In quantum chemistry, quantum is described to be “a single packet of matter or energy”. A quantum computer is a highly advanced piece of equipment used for data collection. It works by using a qubit instead of a regular bit commonly seen in other computers as their basic unit of information. Quantum computers have the capability of solving complex chemical problems; such as observing molecular behaviors and atoms interacting with conic intersections. An example of a process that involves atoms interacting with conic intersections is photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the chemical process plants undergo in order to produce the oxygen humans breathe in everyday. A quantum computer could slow down this speedy photochemical process in order to understand how the molecular bonds are changing to convert CO2 to O2, allowing humans to breathe.