What is a quantum computer and what can it do?

By Marco Gava. As featured on Anything TECH.

Quantum computers are pushing the boundaries as to the capabilities of a computer, allowing for exponentially faster and more efficient calculations as opposed to the ‘classical’ computer.

A few years ago, the quantum computer was still in the ‘academic’ realm, with the notion that it was still being studied and developed, and that is was not yet ready for real world uses.

Recently, it has begun to shift towards the commercial realm, with companies such as LG, BMW and Johnson & Johnson all expressing their interest in the new technology.

In this article, I’ll discuss how the revolutionary computer works and its promising opportunities to be used in many different fields.

First of all, before we get into anything, let’s understand how the quantum computer is able to achieve what it does…

How does the quantum computer work?

A quantum computer harnesses some of the most mystical properties of quantum mechanics. A regular computer uses ‘bits’, the famous 1s and 0s, to represent data. On the other hand, a quantum computer uses ‘qubits’, which are sub-atomic particles like photons and electrons.