MODELING ONE SIMPLE ATOM WOULD TAKE A CLASSICAL COMPUTER THE SIZE OF JUPITER
Why quantum computers can simulate nature and classical computers can't
Infleqtion CEO Matt Kinsella says nature at the atomic level runs on quantum mechanics, and quantum mechanics is probabilistic. Classical computers have to break everything down into zeros and ones.
To model how electrons come together when atoms combine into new molecules, you'd need so many zeros and ones that the computer would have to be the size of Jupiter.
Quantum computers behave the way atoms do, so they can simulate that process directly.
He says that's what could speed up drug discovery and the search for new materials, like better jet fuel for Starship or batteries that last years instead of days.