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. The wave functions each have different energies and symmetries which depend on the quantum numbers which lead to the different properties of atoms depending on which orbitals contain electrons (I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the Pauli exclusion principle is another quantum effect which prevents multiple electrons from existing in the same state). My intention was to list some of the basic features of quantum mechanics (i.e. what happens when things get really small), describe them a little, and then provide an example of their consequences. You asked what it is that causes quantum mechanics, i.e. why things behave the way they do in the quantum realm (as you put it, Stuff happens, but we don’t know why). This is a popular question, but the problem with it is that the asker is usually hoping for an explanation of quantum mechanics using classical mechanics. This, of course, is completely backwards- quantum mechanics explains classical mechanics, not the other way around. In a similar manner, if you can accept that the Earth is round, then you can explain the apparent flatness of the Earth in a small area by showing that the curvature can be better approximated by a straight line as you zoom in on it; however, you can’t explain the roundness of the Earth based on your worldview that the Earth is flat. Rather than seeking an explanation for quantum mechanics in terms of what you know, you must accept it as a more fundamental description of the world just as you accepted classical mechanics without any explanation before you discovered quantum mechanics (you may not have noticed yourself doing this, since your everyday experience with classical mechanics makes it intuitive, but without quantum mechanics, the classical laws of nature have to be taken as first principles) until a time comes when you discover a description of nature more fundamental than quantum mechanics.
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