Pauli Was Such A Badass

The perfect encapsulation of quantum physics explanations! Wolfgang Pauli (namesake of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) would be proud of this beautifully confusing explanation of quantum spin. Unlike classical spin, quantum spin is an intrinsic property that has absolutely nothing to do with actual rotation—it's just mathematically similar. Physicists basically named it "spin" and then spent the next century explaining that it's not actually spinning. It's like naming your pet rock "Swimmer" and then getting frustrated when people ask why it can't do the backstroke. Quantum mechanics: where we use familiar words for completely unfamiliar concepts and then wonder why everyone's confused!