Quantum mechanics is a mathematical theory that can describe the behavior of obj ects that are roughly 10,000,000,000

times smaller than a typical human being. Q uantum particles move from one point to another as if they are waves. However, a t a detector they always appear as discrete lumps of matter. There is no counter part to this behavior in the world that we perceive with our own senses. One can not rely on every-day experience to form some kind of "intuition" of how these o bjects move. The intuition or "understanding" formed by the study of basic elements of quantu m mechanics is essential to grasp the behavior of more complicated quantum syste ms. The approach adopted in all textbooks on quantum mechanics is that the mathemati cal solution of model problems brings insight in the physics of quantum phenomen a. The mathematical prerequisites to work through these model problems are consi derable. Moreover, only a few of them can actually be solved analytically. Furth ermore, the mathematical structure of the solution is often complicated and pres ents an additional obstacle for building intuition. This presentation introduces the basic concepts and fundamental phenomena of qua ntum physics through a combination of computer simulation and animation. The pri mary tool for presenting the simulation results is computer animation. Watching a quantum system evolve in time is a very effective method to get acquainted wit h the basic features and peculiarities of quantum mechanics. The images used to produce the computer animated movies shown in this presentation are not created by hand but are obtained by visualization of the simulation data. The process of generating the simulation data for the movies requires the use of computers tha t are far more powerful than Pentium III based PCs. At the time that these simula tions were carried out (1994), most of them required the use of a supercomputer. Consequently, within this presentation, it is not possible to change the model parameters and repeat a simulation in real time. This presentation is intended for all those who are interested to learn about th e fundamentals of quantum mechanics. Some knowledge of mathematics will help but is not required to understand the basics. This presentation is not a substitute for a textbook. The presentation begins by showing the simplest examples, such as the motion of a free particle, a particle in an electric field, etc.. Then, t he examples become more sophisticated in the sense that one can no longer rely o n ones familiarity with classical physics to describe some of the qualitative fea tures seen in the animations. Classical notions are of no use at all for the las t set of examples. However, once all other examples have been "understood", it s hould be possible to "explain" the behavior of these systems also. Instead of us ing a comprehensive mathematical apparatus to obtain and analyze solutions of mo del problems, a computer simulation technique is employed to solve these problem s including those that would prove intractable otherwise. source: http://www.embd.be/quantummechanics/