3 HN users recommended this explainer5 months2017–2021score 6.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters call it one of the best visual explanations of the wave, particle and measurement relationship, free of silly metaphors.
An animated visualization of basic quantum mechanics using a free particle, with simulations based on the actual equations. It covers waves, particles, and how measurement collapses the wavefunction.
“Highly recommended for anyone trying to grok the relationship between a wave, a particle, and an observation.” (HN, 2017)
Side note: I recently came across this YouTube video which did a fantastic job showing just the basics of waveform collapse, without straying into silly metaphors and cartoons, or getting bogged down by historical narratives: [this video] Highly recommended for anyone trying to grok the relationship between a wave, a particle, and an observation. I find I don't want to hear what quantum physics is "like" I just want to have things explained to me slowly and completely.
Clear basics of waveform collapse without silly metaphors or historical detours.
I really wanted to like PBS SpaceTime. So many interesting subjects and I love physics videos on YouTube. But there's something about Matt O'Dowd that makes them unwatchable for me. Something about the pacing, I just can't stay focused. Another great channel is looking Glass Universe - [link] And Udiprod doesn't have a habit of making physics vids, but this is my all time favorite physics videos on YouTube which explains quantum waves better than anything else I've seen - [this video]
Best explanation of quantum waves the commenter has seen.
Somewhat off topic, but one of my absolute favorite YouTube videos is this [this video] one by Udiprod that shows visualizations of wave function collapse, with bite sized, iterative explanation of all the concepts involved.
Visualizations of wave function collapse with bite-sized iterative explanations.
I found this video on quantum mechanics helpful. If you measure the qubit prematurely the function collapses. In classical computing it might be analogous to breaking out of a for loop before it has run its intended course and then you're left with an incorrect (or incomplete) answer. [this video]
Helpful explanation of measurement collapsing a quantum state.
Everything from 3 blue 1 brown: [link] Visualization of Quantum Physics (Quantum Mechanics): [this video] history of the entire world, i guess: [link] TIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time (4K): [link] Humanity was born way ahead of its time. The reason is grabby aliens. and Grabby aliens: when we'll meet them, how big they are, and other predictions [link] [link] Everyday Astronaut videos (he has 90 min documentary on Soviet rocket engine): [link] Cool Worlds - a lot of 25-35 min very nice astronomy explanations: [link] 'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss: [link]
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
5 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.