Before 1900, scientists believed that. Scientists also used to believe that matter was solely made of particles and that energy was made of waves. Particles and waves were seen as two distinctly different things and did not behave alike.

These theories are fairly logical. However, more current and accurate laws of quantum physics prove that these theories are wrong. In the early 1900's we learnt that a scientific model could not precisely predict the position and velocity of every particle in the universe. This is because it is impossible to know the position and velocity of a particle at the same time. We also learnt that the distinction between particles and waves is incorrect; we now know that particles and waves behave very much alike.

These discoveries lead to the development of Quantum Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics studies the states of particles and waves. Using the laws of Quantum Mechanics, Scientists have been able to develop quantum teleportation.

So far we can teleport photons either one at a time or in a beam. Photons are basically light particles much smaller than atoms. Right now we have no idea how to teleport an atom or anything bigger than an atom.

Dictionary Definitions of Teleportation

The Old definition of teleportation is "the conveyance of persons, especially of oneself or things by psychic power." A more current definition is "in futuristic description, apparently instantaneous transportation of persons, etc. across space by advanced technological means".

The Physicist's definition of Teleportation

Quantum Physicist's define teleportation like this:

"Teleportation is the disembodied transportation of an object which involves:

• Thorough (complete and precise) Measurements of the Input
• Data (measurement results) transmission
• Perfect Reconstruction of the Input at a different location"

Why is Teleportation Difficult?

We have teleportation of sorts in everyday life:

• Voice by phones
• Paper by fax
• Objects by CADCAM
• Images by television

However, these end up being imperfect replicas of the original.

The Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty basically means that if you cannot measure precisely what you are sending it is impossible to make a perfect copy of it. This is called the "No-Cloning Theorem".

So in order have teleportation we have to find a loophole in the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty. In Star Trek they have a machine called the Heisenberg Compensator.