In physics, a quantum (pl.

: quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical

property) involved in an interaction. Quantum is a discrete quantity of energy proportional in
magnitude to the frequency of the radiation it represents. The fundamental notion that a chemical
property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization".[1] This means that
the magnitude of the physical property can take on only discrete values consisting of integer
multiples of one quantum. For example, a photon is a single quantum of light of a
specific frequency (or of any other form of electromagnetic radiation). Similarly, the energy of
an electron bound within an atom is quantized and can exist only in certain discrete values. (Atoms
and matter in general are stable because electrons can exist only at discrete energy levels within an
atom.) Quantization is one of the foundations of the much broader physics of quantum mechanics.
Quantization of energy and its influence on how energy and matter interact (quantum
electrodynamics) is part of the fundamental framework for understanding and describing nature.

Etymology and discovery[edit]

The word quantum is the neuter singular of the Latin interrogative adjective quantus, meaning "how
much". "Quanta", the neuter plural, short for "quanta of electricity" (electrons), was used in a 1902
article on the photoelectric effect by Philipp Lenard, who credited Hermann von Helmholtz for using
the word in the area of electricity. However, the word quantum in general was well known before
1900,[2] e.g. quantum was used in E. A. Poe's Loss of Breath. It was often used by physicians, such
as in the term quantum satis, "the amount which is enough". Both Helmholtz and Julius von
Mayer were physicians as well as physicists. Helmholtz used quantum with reference to heat in his
article[3] on Mayer's work, and the word quantum can be found in the formulation of the first law of
thermodynamics by Mayer in his letter[4] dated J

In physics, a quantum (pl.: quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical
property) involved in an interaction. Quantum is a discrete quantity of energy proportional in
magnitude to the frequency of the radiation it represents. The fundamental notion that a chemical
property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization".[1] This means that
the magnitude of the physical property can take on only discrete values consisting of integer
multiples of one quantum. For example, a photon is a single quantum of light of a
specific frequency (or of any other form of electromagnetic radiation). Similarly, the energy of
an electron bound within an atom is quantized and can exist only in certain discrete values. (Atoms
and matter in general are stable because electrons can exist only at discrete energy levels within an
atom.) Quantization is one of the foundations of the much broader physics of quantum mechanics.
Quantization of energy and its influence on how energy and matter interact (quantum
electrodynamics) is part of the fundamental framework for understanding and describing nature.

Etymology and discovery[edit]

The word quantum is the neuter singular of the Latin interrogative adjective quantus, meaning "how
much". "Quanta", the neuter plural, short for "quanta of electricity" (electrons), was used in a 1902
article on the photoelectric effect by Philipp Lenard, who credited Hermann von Helmholtz for using
the word in the area of electricity. However, the word quantum in general was well known before
1900,[2] e.g. quantum was used in E. A. Poe's Loss of Breath. It was often used by physicians, such
as in the term quantum satis, "the amount which is enough". Both Helmholtz and Julius von
Mayer were physicians as well as physicists. Helmholtz used quantum with reference to heat in his
article[3] on Mayer's work, and the word quantum can be found in the formulation of the first law of
thermodynamics by Mayer in his letter[4] dated J

Compact Cassette vs. RCA Tape Cartridge

After the Second World War, magnetic tape recording technology proliferated across the world. In
the United States, Ampex, using equipment obtained in Germany as a starting point, began
commercial production of tape recorders. First used in studios to record radio programs, tape
recorders quickly found their way into schools and homes. By 1953, 1 million US homes had tape
machines.[17]

In 1958, following four years of development, RCA Victor introduced the stereo, quarter-inch,
reversible, reel-to-reel RCA tape cartridge.[18][19]

Introduction of Mono Version[edit]

Operating instructions for the Philips/Norelco Cartridge Tape Carry-Corder 150 (1964)

One of the first cassette recorders from Philips, the Typ EL 3302 (1968)

Inside of a cassette

In the early 1960s Philips Eindhoven tasked two different teams to design a tape cartridge for thinner
and narrower tape compared to what was used in reel-to-reel tape recorders. By 1962, the Vienna
division of Philips developed a single-hole cassette, adapted from its German described
name Einloch-Kassette.[20]
Philips selected the two-spool cartridge as a winner and introduced the 2-track 2-direction mono
version in Europe on 28 August 1963 at the Berlin Radio Show,[28] and in the United States (under
the Norelco brand) in November 1964. The trademark name Compact Cassette came a year later.
The team of Dutch and Belgian origin at Philips was led by the Dutch Lou Ottens in Hasselt,
Belgium.[29][30][31]

Philips also offered a machine to play and record the cassettes, the Philips Typ EL 3300. An
updated model, Typ EL 3301 was offered in the US in November 1964 as Norelco Carry-Corder 150.
By 1966 over 250,000 recorders had been sold in the US alone and Japan soon became the major
source of recorders. By 1968, 85 manufacturers had sold over 2.4 million players.[27][32] By the end of
the 1960s, the cassette business was worth an estimated 150 million dollars.[27] By the early 1970s
the compact cassette machines were outselling other types of tape machines by a large margin.[33]

Philips was competing with Telefunken and Grundig (with their DC International format [34]) in a race
to establish its cassette tape as the worldwide standard, and it wanted support from Japanese
electronics manufacturers.[35] Philips' Compact Cassette became dominant as a result
of Sony pressuring Philips to license the format to them free of charge.[36]

In the early years sound quality was mediocre, but it improved dramatically by the early 1970s when
it caught up with the quality of 8-track tape and kept improving.[6] The Compact Cassette went on to
become a popular (and re-recordable) alternative to the 12-inch vinyl LP during the late 1970s.[6]

Stereo version[edit]
As with prerecorded reel-to-reel and 8-track, sales were slow to start, but picked up rapidly to tie with
the 8-track before superseding it by the early '70s. By 1968, 85 manufacturers had sold over 2.4
million mono and stereo players.[27][32] By the end of the 1960s, the cassette business was worth an
estimated 150 million dollars.[27] By the early 1970s the compact cassette machines were outselling
other types of tape machines by a large margin.[37]

Popularity of music cassettes[edit]

The mass production of "blank" (not yet recorded) Compact Cassettes began in 1964 in Hanover,
Germany.[27] Prerecorded music cassettes (also known as Music-Cassettes, and later
just Musicassettes; M.C. for short) were launched in Europe in late 1965. The Mercury Record
Company, a US affiliate of Philips, introduced M.C. to the US in July 1966. The initial offering
consisted of 49 titles.[38]

However, the system had been designed initially for dictation and portable use, with the audio quality
of early players not well suited for music. Some early models also had an unreliable mechanical
design. In 1971, the Advent Corporation introduced their Model 201 tape deck that combined Dolby
type B noise reduction and chromium(IV) oxide (CrO2) tape, with a commercial-grade tape transport
mechanism supplied by the Wollensak camera division of 3M Corporation. This resulted in the
format being taken more seriously for musical use, and started the era of high fidelity cassettes and
players.[5]

British record labels began releasing compact cassettes in October 1967, and they exploded as a
mass-market medium after the first Walkman, the TPS-L2, went on sale on July 1, 1979, as
cassettes provided portability, which vinyl records could not. While portable radios and boom boxes
had been around for some time, the Walkman was the first truly personal portable music player, one
that not only allowed users to listen to music away from home, but to do so in private. According to
the technology news website The Verge, "the world changed" on the day the TPS-L2 was released.
[39][40][41]
Stereo tape decks and boom boxes became some of the most highly sought-after consumer
products of both decades, as the ability of users to take their music with them anywhere with
ease[27] led to its popularity around the globe.[27][42]

The Sony Walkman

Like the transistor radio in the 1950s and 1960s, the portable CD player in the 1990s, and the MP3
player in the 2000s, the Walkman defined the portable music market for the decade of the '80s, with
cassette sales overtaking those of LPs.[6][43] Total vinyl record sales remained higher well into the
1980s due to greater sales of singles, although cassette singles achieved popularity for a period in
the 1990s.[43] Another barrier to cassettes overtaking vinyl in sales was shoplifting; compact cassettes
were small enough that a thief could easily place one inside a pocket and walk out of a shop without
being noticed. To prevent this, retailers in the US would place cassettes inside oversized "spaghetti
box" containers or locked display cases, either of which would significantly inhibit browsing, thus
reducing cassette sales.[44] During the early 1980s some record labels sought to solve this problem
by introducing new, larger packages for cassettes which would allow them to be displayed alongside
vinyl records and compact discs, or giving them a further market advantage over vinyl by
adding bonus tracks.[44] Willem Andriessen wrote that the development in technology allowed
"hardware designers to discover and satisfy one of the collective desires of human beings all over
the world, independent of region, climate, religion, culture, race, sex, age and education: the desire
to enjoy music at any time, at any place, in any desired sound quality and almost at any wanted
price".[45] Critic Robert Palmer, writing in The New York Times in 1981, cited the proliferation of
personal stereos as well as extra tracks not available on LP as reasons for the surge in popularity of
cassettes.[46]

Cassettes' ability to allow users to record content in public also led to a boom in bootleg cassettes
made at live shows in the 1980s.[47] The Walkman dominated the decade, selling up to 350 million
units. So synonymous did the name "Walkman" become with all portable music players—with a
German dictionary at one point defining the term as such without reference to Sony—that the
Austrian Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that Sony, which had not sought to have the publisher of that
dictionary retract that definition, could not prevent other companies from using that name, as it had
now become genericized.[48][49][50] As a result of this, a number of Sony's competitors produced their
own version of the Walkman. Others made their own branded tape players, like JVC, Panasonic,
Sharp, and Aiwa, the second-largest producer of the devices.[51]

Between 1985, when cassettes overtook vinyl, and 1992, when they were overtaken by
CDs[41] (introduced in 1983 as a format that offered greater storage capacity and more accurate
sound),[52] the cassette tape was the most popular format in the United States[41] and the UK. Record
labels experimented with innovative packaging designs. A designer during the era explained: "There
was so much money in the industry at the time, we could try anything with design." The introduction
of the cassette single, called a "cassingle", was also part of this era and featured a music single in
Compact Cassette form. Until 2005, cassettes remained the dominant medium for purchasing and
listening to music in some developing countries, but compact disc (CD) technology had superseded
the Compact Cassette in the vast majority of music markets throughout the world by this time.[53][54]

Cassette culture[edit]
Further information: Cassette culture
Compact cassettes served as catalysts for social change. Their small size, durability and ease of
copying helped bring underground rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain, creating a foothold
for Western culture among the younger generations.[55] Likewise, in Egypt cassettes empowered an
unprecedented number of people to create culture, circulate information, and challenge ruling
regimes before the internet became publicly accessible.[56]

A 2015 picture of Cassettes at a Cairo Kiosk [57]

One of the most famous political uses of cassette tapes was the dissemination of sermons by the
exiled Ayatollah Khomeini throughout Iran before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, in which Khomeini
urged the overthrow of the regime of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[58] During the military
dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990) a "cassette culture" emerged where blacklisted music or music
that was by other reasons not available as records was shared.[59][60][61] Some pirate cassette
producers created brands such as Cumbre y Cuatro that have in retrospect received praise for their
contributions to popular music.[61] Armed groups such as Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR)
and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) made use of cassettes to spread their messages.[60]

In 1970s India, cassettes were blamed for bringing unwanted Christian and Islamic influences into
traditionally Sikh and Hindu areas. Cassette technology was a booming market for pop music in
India, drawing criticism from conservatives while at the same time creating a huge market for
legitimate recording companies, as well as pirated tapes.[62] Some sales channels were associated
with cassettes: in Spain filling stations often featured a display selling cassettes. While offering also
mainstream music these cassettes became associated with genres such as Gipsy rhumba, light
music and joke tapes that were very popular in the 1970s and 1980s.[63]
Decline[edit]
Despite sales of CDs overtaking those of prerecorded cassettes in the early 1990s in the U.S.,[64] the
format remained popular for specific applications, such as car audio, personal
stereos, boomboxes, telephone answering machines, dictation, field recording, home recording,
and mixtapes well into the decade. Cassette players were typically more resistant to shocks than CD
players, and their lower fidelity was not considered a serious drawback in mobile use. With the
introduction of electronic skip protection it became possible to use portable CD players on the go,
and automotive CD players became viable. CD-R drives and media also became affordable for
consumers around the same time.[65]

By 1993, annual shipments of CD players had reached 5 million, up 21% from the year before; while
cassette player shipments had dropped 7% to approximately 3.4 million.[66] Sales of pre-recorded
music cassettes in the US dropped from 442 million in 1990 to 274,000 by 2007.[67] For audiobooks,
the final year that cassettes represented greater than 50% of total market sales was 2002 when they
were replaced by CDs as the dominant media.[68]

The last new car with an available cassette player was a 2014 TagAZ AQUiLA.[69] Four years prior,
Sony had stopped the production of personal cassette players.[70] In 2011, the Oxford English
Dictionary removed the phrase "cassette player" from its 12th edition Concise version,[71] which
prompted some media sources to mistakenly report that the term "cassette tape" was being
removed.[72]

In India, music continued to be released on the cassette format due to its low cost until 2009.[73]

21st century[edit]

Burmese music cassette tapes for

sale, Yangon, Myanmar (2006)
Although portable digital recorders are most common today, analog tape remains a desirable option
for certain artists and consumers.[39][74] Artists and listeners of older genres like "dansband" may favor
the format most familiar to their fans.[75] Some musicians and DJs in the independent
music community maintain a tradition of using and releasing cassettes due to its low cost and ease
of use.[39][74] Underground and DIY communities release regularly, and sometimes exclusively, on
cassette format, particularly in experimental music circles and to a lesser extent in hardcore
punk, death metal, and black metal circles, out of a fondness for the format. Even among major-label
stars, the form has at least one devotee: Thurston Moore stated in 2009, "I only listen to
cassettes."[76] By 2019, few companies still made cassettes. Among those are National Audio
Company, from the US, and Mulann, also known as Recording The Masters, from France.[77][78]

Sony announced the end of cassette Walkman production on October 22, 2010,[79] a result of the
emergence of MP3 players such as Apple's iPod.[80] Today Sony uses the Walkman brand solely for
its line of digital media players,[81] such as the NW-WM1ZM2, a high-end device released in 2022 for
the niche audiophile market, which is manufactured with high quality components.[82][83]
In 2010, Botswana-based Diamond Studios announced plans[84] for establishing a plant to mass-
produce cassettes in a bid to combat piracy. It opened in 2011.[85]

In South Korea, the early English education boom for toddlers encourages a continuous demand for
English language cassettes, as of 2011, due to the affordable cost.[86]

National Audio Company in Missouri, the largest of the few remaining manufacturers of audio
cassettes in the US, oversaw the mass production of the "Awesome Mix #1" cassette from the
film Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014.[87] They reported that they had produced more than 10 million
tapes in 2014 and that sales were up 20 percent the following year, their best year since they
opened in 1969.[88] In 2016, cassette sales in the United States rose by 74% to 129,000.[89] In 2018,
following several years of shortage, National Audio Company began producing their own magnetic
tape, becoming the world's first known manufacturer of an all-new tape stock.[90] Mulann, a company
which acquired Pyral/RMGI in 2015 and originates from BASF, also started production of its new
cassette tape stock in 2018, basing on reel tape formula.[91]

In Japan and South Korea, the pop acts Matsuda Seiko,[92] SHINee,[93] and NCT 127 released their
material on limited-run cassettes.[94]

In the mid-to-late 2010s, cassette sales saw a modest resurgence concurrent with the vinyl revival.
As early as 2015, the retail chain Urban Outfitters, which had long sold LPs, started selling new pre-
recorded cassettes (both new and old albums), blank cassettes, and players.[95] In 2016, cassette
sales increased,[96] a trend that continued in 2017[97] and 2018.[98] In the UK, sales of cassette tapes in
2021 reached its highest number since 2003.[99]

Cassettes are favored by some artists and listeners, including those of older genres of music such
as dansband,[100] as well as independent[39] and underground artists,[101] some of whom were releasing
new music on tape by the 2020s, including Britney Spears and Busta Rhymes.[102] Reasons cited for
this include tradition, low cost,[39] the DIY ease of use,[103] and a nostalgic fondness for how the
format's imperfections lend greater vibrancy to low-fi, experimental music, despite the lack of the
"full-bodied richness" of vinyl.[39][101][103]

Features[edit]

Visualization of the magnetic field on a stereo cassette

containing a 1kHz audio tone.
The cassette was a great step forward in convenience from reel-to-reel audio tape recording,
although, because of the limitations of the cassette's size and speed, it initially compared poorly in
quality. Unlike the 4-track stereo open-reel format, the two stereo tracks of each side lie adjacent to
each other, rather than being interleaved with the tracks of the other side. This permitted monaural
cassette players to play stereo recordings "summed" as mono tracks and permitted stereo players to
play mono recordings through both speakers. The tape is 0.15 in (3.81 mm) wide, with each mono
track 1.5 millimetres (0.059 in) wide, plus an unrecorded guard band between each track. In stereo,
each track is further divided into a left and a right channel of 0.6 mm (0.024 in) each, with a gap of
0.3 mm (0.012 in).[104] The tape moves past the playback head at 1+7⁄8 inches per second (4.76 cm/s),
the speed being a continuation of the increasingly slower speed series in open-reel machines
operating at 30, 15, 7+1⁄2, or 3+3⁄4 inches per second.[15] For comparison, the typical open-reel 1⁄4-inch
4-track consumer format used tape that is 0.248 inches (6.3 mm) wide, each track .043 in (1.1 mm)
wide, and running at either twice or four times the speed of a cassette.[citation needed]
Cassette types[edit]

Notches on the top surface of the Compact Cassette indicate

its type. The rear-most cassette at the top of this picture, with only write-protect notches (here
covered by write-protect tabs), is Type I, its tape consisting of iron oxide. The next cassette
down, with additional notches adjacent to the write-protect tabs, is Type II, its tape consisting
of chrome and cobalt. The bottom two cassettes, featuring the Type II notches plus an
additional pair in the middle of the cassette, are Type IV (metal); note the removal of the tabs on
the second of these, meaning the tape is write-protected. Type III was a combination of Types I
and II but never gained the popularity of the other three types and was made obsolete by Type
IV.
Further information: Compact Cassette tape types and formulations
Cassette tapes are made of a polyester-type plastic film with a magnetic coating. The original
magnetic material was based on gamma ferric oxide (Fe2O3). Circa 1970, 3M Company developed
a cobalt volume-doping process combined with a double-coating technique to enhance overall tape
output levels. This product was marketed as "High Energy" under its Scotch brand of recording
tapes.[105] Inexpensive cassettes commonly are labeled "low-noise", but typically are not optimized for
high frequency response. For this reason, some low-grade IEC Type I tapes have been marketed
specifically as better suited for data storage than for sound recording.[citation needed]

In 1968,[106] DuPont, the inventor of a chromium dioxide (CrO2) manufacturing process, began
commercialization of CrO2 media. The first CrO2 cassette was introduced in 1970 by Advent,[107] and
later strongly backed by BASF, the inventor and longtime manufacturer of magnetic recording tape.
[108]
Next, coatings using magnetite (Fe3O4) such as TDK's Audua were produced in an attempt to
approach or exceed the sound quality of vinyl records. Cobalt-adsorbed iron oxide (Avilyn) was
introduced by TDK in 1974 and proved very successful. "Type IV" tapes using pure metal particles
(as opposed to oxide formulations) were introduced in 1979 by 3M under the trade name Metafine.
The tape coating on most cassettes sold today as either "normal" or "chrome" consists of ferric oxide
and cobalt mixed in varying ratios (and using various processes); there are very few cassettes on
the market that use a pure (CrO2) coating.[6]

Simple voice recorders and earlier cassette decks are designed to work with standard ferric
formulations. Newer tape decks usually are built with switches and later detectors for the
different bias and equalization requirements for higher grade tapes. The most common are iron
oxide tapes (defined by the IEC 60094 standard.[16]
Notches on top of the cassette shell indicate the type of tape. Type I cassettes have only write-
protect notches, Type II have an additional pair next to the write protection ones, and Type IV
(metal) have a third set near the middle of the top of the cassette shell. These allow later cassette
decks to detect the tape type automatically and select the proper bias and equalization.[109]

Locating Write-Protect Notches[edit]

If the cassette is held with one of the labels facing the user and the tape opening at the bottom, the
write-protect notch for the corresponding side is at the top-left.

Tape length[edit]

Maxell compact cassettes, C60 (90m) and C90 (135m)

Tape length usually is measured in minutes of total playing time. The most popular varieties of blank
tape were C60 (30 minutes per side), C90 (45 minutes per side) and C120 (60 minutes per side).
[1]
The C46 and C60 lengths typically are 15 to 16 micrometers (0.59 to 0.63 mils) thick, but C90s are
10 to 11 μm (0.39 to 0.43 mils)[110] and (the less common) C120s are just 6 μm (0.24 mils) thick,
[111]
rendering them more susceptible to stretching or breakage. Even C180 tapes were available at
one point.[112]

Other lengths are (or were) also available from some vendors, including C10, C12 and C15 (useful
for saving data from early home computers and in telephone answering machines), C30, C40, C50,
C54, C64, C70, C74, C80, C84, C94, C100, C105, and C110. As late as 2010, Thomann still offered
C10, C20, C30 and C40 IEC Type II tape cassettes for use with 4- and 8-track portastudios.[113]

Track width[edit]
The full tape width is 3.8 mm. For mono recording the track width is 1.5 mm. In stereo mode each
channel has width of 0.6 mm with a 0.3 mm separation to avoid crosstalk.[114]

Head gap[edit]
The head-gap width[clarification needed] is 2 µm[according to whom?] which gives a theoretical maximum frequency[citation
needed]
of about 12 kHz (at the standard speed of 1 7/8 ips or 4.76 cm/s). A narrower gap would give a
higher frequency limit but also weaker magnetization.[114]

Cassette tape adapter[edit]

Cassette tape adapters allow external audio sources to be played back from any tape player, but
were typically used for car audio systems. An attached audio cable with a phone connector converts
the electrical signals to be read by the tape head, while mechanical gears simulate reel to reel
movement without actual tapes when driven by the player mechanism.[115]
Optional mechanical elements[edit]

Tape Guide via Security Mechanism (SM)

In order to wind up the tape more reliably, the former BASF (from 1998 EMTEC) patented the
Special Mechanism or Security Mechanism advertised with the abbreviation SM in the early 1970s,
which was temporarily used under license by Agfa. This feature each includes a rail to guide the
tape to the spool and prevent an unclean roll from forming.[116]

Flaws[edit]
Magnetic tape is not an ideal medium for long-term archival storage, as it begins to degrade after 10
– 20 years, with some experts estimating its lifespan to be no more than 30 years.[117][118]

A common mechanical problem occurs when a defective player or resistance in the tap

A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger,
combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. The original hero type of classical
epics did such things for the sake of glory and honor. Post-classical and modern heroes, on the
other hand, perform great deeds or selfless acts for the common good instead of the classical goal
of wealth, pride, and fame. The antonym of hero is villain.[1] Other terms associated with the concept
of hero may include good guy or white hat.

In classical literature, the hero is the main or revered character in heroic epic poetry celebrated
through ancient legends of a people, often striving for military conquest and living by a continually
flawed personal honor code.[2] The definition of a hero has changed throughout time. Merriam
Webster dictionary defines a hero as "a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine
qualities".[3]