Advanced Computers - Lakelands Computing

They are used for really complex arithmetic jobs, for example predicting the weather - it sounds simple but when you start thinking about all the calculations needed - changes in temperature, changes in wind direction, changes in amount of water in atmosphere, and many more changes in thousands and thousands of locations, suddenly it looks a lot more complex and needs a lot of fast processing power.

Other uses are genetic analysis, code breaking - tyring to break encryption, military scenarios (war games), simulating nuclear tests, and searching through vast databases.

Quantum computer don't exist yet, they are still being developed in science labs. The idea is that if they can be created they will provide huge leaps forward in processing speed - in theory millions of times faster..

Rather than using bits, a quantum computer would use qubits. A bit can store either a 1 or a 0. A qubit can store a 1, and zero or both at the same time. It can also store multiple values at the same time. (Yes it is confusing.)  A quantum computer would be able to do multiple calculations at the same time.

At the moment, we can't make this but scientists are working on it. If you want to know more I suggest starting here (explain that stuff.com) as it is understandable (sort of.)