Salt water: simply vital

Abstract

A mathematical equation, just a string of symbols scribbled on a page, can be more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Newton’s equations of motion took us to the moon. Schrodinger’s equation, the foundation of quantum mechanics describes the chemical properties of everything around you. These equations are so useful because they are tools for making incredibly accurate predictions, leading to some of the greatest achievements of human kind. Unfortunately though, in many complex situations solving these equations is too hard. For instance, we would like to predict whether or not two molecules dissolved in water will bind together, but using Schrodinger’s equation to do this can be beyond the powers of even the hugest supercomputer.