Quantum mechanics started when it was discovered that if a particle has a certain frequency, it must also have a certain amount of energy. Energy is proportional to frequency (E ∝ f). The higher the frequency, the more energy a photon has, and the more damage it can do. Quantum mechanics later grew to explain the internal structure of atoms. Quantum mechanics also explains the way that a photon can interfere with itself, and many other things never imagined in classical physics.