Quantum physics stands at the base of all existence. It implies matter, space, energy and possibly vibration and maybe even time and reality. Until some hundred years ago life was simple and all matter was supposed to be build out of atoms. They were thought to be the smallest undividable parts of matter as if they were tiny marbles.
Now (since the beginning of the 20th century) the atom itself is known to consist of quarks. And quarks at their turn might consist of even smaller and more weird stuff called strings, which would be no more than just a kind of vibrational substance that might present itself as matter or energy or even "nothing". At these tiny levels normal, intuitive and understandable (Newtonian) laws of physics do not apply anymore. Everything at this level is 'weird', a mistery and frequently incomprehensible.
Some of these weird characteristics of subatomic particles:
- they can be at two or more places at the same time
- they can go through solid objects
- they can, seemingly, go backwards in time and change the past
- they react to conscious observation
- they can be linked and "communicate" instantly over any distance (entanglement)
All these caracteristics were first theorized through mathematical equations and then confirmed over and over again in scientific experiments.