to quantum tunnel
- phrasal verb
- Specialized
:
túnel cuántico
- If the barrier is thin enough, particles might quantum tunnel instead of being blocked.
Examples
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Electrons can quantum tunnel through insulators, allowing current to flow.
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Scientists observed atoms quantum tunnel across the gap between the two barriers.
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Electrons can quantum tunnel through barriers.
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How does a particle quantum tunnel?
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Electrons can quantum tunnel through insulators, allowing current to flow.
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If the barrier is thin enough, particles might quantum tunnel instead of being blocked.
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Scientists observed atoms quantum tunnel across the gap between the two barriers.
Surface Forms
Morphology
quantum + tunnel
The compound transparently evokes the idea of 'tunnelling' (passing through) modified by 'quantum' (relating to quantum mechanics), so a learner who knows both words would likely infer that something passes through a barrier in a quantum/physics sense. However, the specific, non-classical notion that particles can cross energy barriers they classically could not is a technical extension not fully predictable at B1, making the expression partially but not fully transparent.
Etymology
Quantum tunnel gives a simple picture: a tiny particle finds an invisible tunnel through a wall it should not cross. The word quantum points to the tiny particle world, so the phrase helps you remember it means 'to pass through a barrier that would normally block it'.
