Both Uses
quantum
in
Gulliver's Travels
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- But the success has not hitherto been answerable, partly by some error in the quantum or composition, and partly by the perverseness of lads, to whom this bolus is so nauseous, that they generally steal aside, and discharge it upwards, before it can operate; neither have they been yet persuaded to use so long an abstinence, as the prescription requires.†
Chpt 3quantum = tiny, indivisible packet of energy or matter
- Wit, valour, and politeness, were likewise proposed to be largely taxed, and collected in the same manner, by every person's giving his own word for the quantum of what he possessed.†
Chpt 3 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(quantum) smallest “packet” or chunk of energy or matter that something can have in modern physicsIn quantum physics, energy and matter don't flow smoothly like water but come in tiny, indivisible chunks called quanta. An object can only gain or lose energy in specific amounts—just enough to jump from one allowed energy level to another. During a "quantum jump," the object doesn't gradually move between levels; it simply vanishes from one level and appears at another, as if teleporting.
Science has revealed that the universe behaves very differently at extreme scales than it does in our everyday lives. At incredibly small scales (atoms and smaller), quantum physics rules. At incredibly large scales (planets, stars, and galaxies) or extreme speeds, Einstein's theories of special and general relativity take over. - (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)