What is a (quantum) computer?

Computers work because of bits: 0s and 1s. Computers use these bits for many different things; so we can write letters or play games, for example. If you look at a picture on a screen, all colours and shapes are converted into a long series of 0s and 1s that the computer understands.

A quantum computer works differently: it uses qubits instead of bits. Qubits can be both 0 and 1 at the same time. This allows these computers to do calculations much faster than the computers you are used to. For example, quantum computers could calculate something in seconds that would take a regular computer thousands of years to complete…

But, we are not there yet. These quantum computers are still in the development stage and do not have any practical applications at this time. You probably will not be using a quantum computer at home in the future. These machines will most likely be used to solve complex scientific problems.