In one of the previous episodes we learned how quantum mechanics is fundamentally different (check here). Now let’s take that idea one step further.
Most of the time, order feels irrelevant.
If I add salt to a glass and then pour water, or pour water first and then add salt, I still end up with salty water. The final result is the same. Life often works like this, and mathematics agrees. 4 × 2 is the same as 2 × 4. We are simply rearranging groups. Four groups of two apples or two groups of four apples contain the same 8 apples.
But not everything in life behaves that way. If you are into cooking you would soon realise
“Boiling the potatoes and then frying is very different from frying first and then boiling”
That sentence hides a deep truth. The order matters. The ingredients are the same, but the outcome is not.
A more serious example is a Rubik’s Cube. In the first glance it is a colorful toy. When you twist a Rubik’s Cube, the order of your moves matters. Rotate the top face first and then the right face, and the cube ends up in one configuration. Do the moves in the opposite order, and the cube ends up in a completely different arrangement. The same pieces, just a different outcome. So the order matters!
Quantum mechanics lives entirely in this order sensitive world.
