The potential of matter to compute is also governed by a very small number, Planck’s constant: 6.6 X 10−34 joule-seconds (a joule is a measure of energy). This is the smallest scale at which we can apply energy for computation. We obtain the theoretical limit of an object to perform computation by dividing the total energy (the average energy of each atom or particle times the number of such particles) by Planck’s constant.
