Note: I’m mainly a researcher, not a professional writer, and English isn’t my first language. Please excuse any grammar mistakes or unpolished phrases you might find.
The Quantam Thread
At the smallest level, everything in nature seems to be vibrating. Even a single atom connected to a spring can’t stay fully still. This idea is known in quantum mechanics as the quantum harmonic oscillator. It shows that motion is always there, even at the tiniest scale. When many atoms join together in a solid object, their tiny movements combine and turn into something called phonons. These phonons are like little particles that carry heat and sound through the material.
Molecules also move in their own way. The bonds between the atoms stretch, bend, and twist, kind of like a dance. We can study these small movements using a method called infrared spectroscopy, which uses infrared light. This helps scientists see what kind of vibrations are happening inside different materials.
At Neurahz, we’re trying to follow this path, from the smallest atomic vibrations all the way up to the waves of electricity moving in the human brain. We believe that by studying these patterns, we can better understand how vibration connects the physical world and the mind.
Quantum springs
Imagine a tiny ball attached to a spring. In your everyday world, you pull it and let go, and eventually friction brings it to a complete stop. In the quantum world however, that ball never comes to rest. No matter how much you cool it down, even all the way to absolute zero, the ball still vibrates. This perpetual vibration is a core lesson of the quantum harmonic oscillator, one of the simplest models in quantum physics .
In classical physics, energy can keep getting lower and lower, so eventually, the oscillations stop.
In quantum physics, energy doesn’t flow smoothly like in normal life. It comes in small fixed amounts called quanta. Even when an oscillator reaches the lowest energy it can have (the “ground state”), it still has a little bit of energy left. This is known as zero-point energy. Because of this small leftover energy, the ball on the spring never fully stops moving. It keeps shaking very slightly, even if we cool it down as much as possible.
Even if you remove all the outside energy, the quantum spring still keeps some built in energy that makes it keep vibrating forever.
The vibrations in a quantum oscillator don’t happen at random speed. They happen at specific, fixed frequencies. These frequencies depend on how stiff the spring is and how heavy the mass is. Because of this, the quantum oscillator can only vibrate at certain notes, like how a guitar string can only make certain sounds. It can never vibrate at just any frequency, and it can never go completely silent, because there is always some tiny movement left.
Understanding this zero‑point motion lays the groundwork for everything from how molecules absorb infrared light to how quantum computers manipulate particles. It shows that vibration is built into the very core of reality, right from the smallest scales.
Phonons
In a solid, atoms are like tiny balls linked by invisible springs. Even though they look still and lined up, they actually keep vibrating up and down. Those vibrations link together to form waves, just like when you move one end of a spring and the motion travels through it. In quantum physics, each of these waves acts like a tiny particle we call a phonon.
How phonons carry heat
When you heat one part of a material, the atoms there start vibrating more strongly and push against their neighbors. This vibration passes energy along from atom to atom. Each phonon is a packet of vibrational energy that moves heat through the material. Materials that let phonons travel easily (like metals) conduct heat well, while materials that block phonons (like foam) act as insulators.
How phonons carry sound
In air, sound happens because molecules get pushed together and pulled apart. This creates a pressure wave that moves from one molecule to the next, and that’s how sound travels through air.
In a solid (like metal or crystal), atoms are packed tightly. When you make a sound, like by tapping the solid, you cause the atoms to vibrate. These vibrations move through the material as organized patterns called phonons. Phonons are like tiny packets of vibrational energy.
When the phonons reach the surface of the solid and push the air nearby, you hear it as sound.
Thinking of vibrations as if they were tiny particles (phonons) makes it easier for scientists to do calculations. It helps them predict things like how heat moves through a material, how materials expand when heated, or how electricity flows.
Also, phonons are important in new technologies. They are being used to create better insulators and to help develop quantum computers, where phonons can even carry information.
When we think this way, we realize that even in a perfect crystal at absolute zero (the coldest possible temperature), there is still tiny movement. And that leftover motion is what helps explain everyday things, like how a mug warms your hand or why a tuning fork rings when struck.
Molecular Vibrations and Infrared Light
A molecule can be thought of as balls (atoms) connected by springs (bonds).
Each spring can vibrate in a few basic ways:
Stretching: Balls move away from each other and then come back together.
Bending: The angle between three balls becomes wider or narrower.
Twisting: Balls rotate around the spring.
Each type of vibration happens at a certain frequency.
In infrared spectroscopy, invisible infrared light shines on the material.
If a frequency of the light matches the vibration of a bond, the molecule absorbs that part of the light.
Scientists then look at which frequencies are missing after the light passes through.
This missing pattern shows what types of bonds are present in the material.
Infrared spectroscopy gives us a simple way to see the secret dances of atoms by matching their vibrations to the colors they absorb.
Instead of jumping straight to brain waves, we stay focused on how vibration shows up at every level, from atoms to materials to potentially even biological systems. The same principles of fixed frequency motion, energy packets, and resonance apply whether we’re talking phonons in a crystal or the collective vibrations in larger structures.
From the endless vibration of a quantum spring to the waves of phonons in solids and the movements inside molecules seen with infrared light, vibration is present everywhere in nature.
At Neurahz, we study this directly, focusing only on energy, frequency, and vibration.
Our goal is to understand the rules that connect the smallest quantum scales to the materials and systems we use today.
