ScienceAugust 24, 2026
quanta
KWON-tuh
Definition
The smallest, indivisible units or packets of energy or matter in physics, such as photons for light.
Etymology
Derived from the Latin word 'quantus,' meaning 'how much,' it entered scientific English in the early 20th century to describe the discontinuous nature of energy transfer.
In the news
The article uses the word to describe how light is composed of discrete units, which Einstein identified in his 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect. This concept is fundamental to the quantum theory that Einstein eventually helped found, though he remained skeptical of its probabilistic nature.
99 Years Later, Einstein's Letter About Quantum Mechanics Is Still the Most Famous Argument in Physics
Read the full article ↗19FortyFive