🔥 0 ⚡ 0 XP
← Back to Path
1 / 6

CHEMISTRY AND MATERIALS

Nature's hardest problems

Haber–Bosch factory about 400–500 °C 150–300 atmospheres roughly 1–2% of world energy Nitrogenase enzyme in soil bacteria room temperature FeMoco metal cluster N₂ + H → NH₃ (ammonia) Simulating FeMoco exactly is beyond classical computers
🌾

Fertiliser

Understand the enzyme bacteria use to fix nitrogen at room temperature.

🔋

Batteries

Design electrolytes and electrodes from first principles.

⚗️

Catalysts

Better catalysts for green hydrogen and capturing CO₂.

Molecules are quantum systems, so simulating them was the first reason to build quantum computers.

CRYPTOGRAPHY

Breaking, and fixing, encryption

The threat Shor's algorithm could break RSA and elliptic-curve encryption.
Harvest now, decrypt later Data copied today could be unlocked years from now.
The fix Post-quantum encryption, standardised by NIST in 2024, is being rolled out now.
The security impact starts before the quantum computer even exists.

SORT THE HYPE

Quantum, classical, or still unclear?

Strong cases Chemistry, materials, cryptography, and quantum sensing, which already works.
Unclear Optimisation, finance and machine learning: modest or debated speedups.
No help Everyday software like email, video and spreadsheets.
Ask of any claim: what problem, compared to which classical method?

WHAT IT WON'T DO

An accelerator, not a replacement

Classicalcomputer Quantumprocessor in a 10 mK fridge circuit results A specialist accelerator, like a GPU Everything else still runs on classical chips
Hybrid computing Classical computers run everything, sending special tasks to a quantum processor.
Big data Loading huge datasets into qubits is a bottleneck.
Your laptop Will never be replaced by a quantum computer.
Think of a quantum processor like a GPU: a specialist for certain jobs.

HOW BIG?

How large a machine do useful problems need?

Today Hundreds to about a thousand noisy physical qubits.
Useful Roughly 105 to 106 physical qubits for chemistry or breaking RSA (estimates vary and keep falling).
The gap Bridged only by error correction and better fabrication.
Part 2 explains why: what makes a good qubit, and how errors are tamed.

UNIT 8 STUDY COMPLETE

🧭

Ready for the Fab Challenge?

You can sort real quantum use cases from hype and explain why useful machines need error correction.