Schrodinger's Cat
Bibliography
Erwin Schr?dinger. Retrieved September, 22, 2014, from http:// chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/schrodinger.html
Louis de Broglie. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from https://the-history-of-the-atom.wikispaces.com/Louis+de+Broglie
Free Particle Approach to the Schrodinger Equation. Retrieved September, 22, 2014, from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/schr2.html#c1
Nobel Media AB 2014. Louis de Broglie- Biographical. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1929/broglie-bio.html
Jeremy Bernstein. Erwin Schrodinger. Retrieved September 22, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/528287/Erwin-Schrodinger
Louis de Broglie. Retrieved September, 22, 2014, from http://www.famousscientists.org/louis-de-broglie/#
Thank You :)
Erwin Schrodinger. Retrieved September, 22, 2014, from http://www.famousscientists.org/erwin-schrodinger-2/
Bibliography
- A cat is in a box with a source of poison gas that could be triggered by the decay of an electron. Because of the uncertainty of the electron’s behavior, there exists a moment in time when the observer is unsure whether the cat is alive or dead, and in some phenomena, both until the experimental observation is confirmed. This is a well-known superposition of the quantum theory that describes the concept of nature, behavior of matter, and forces at the sub-atomic level.
Interesting Ideas
The Schrodinger Equation
"The wave equation of non relativistic quantum mechanics".
- He showed, through math, that waves can be used to describe electrons in atoms.
Background:
Erwin Schrodinger
- Schrodinger was born into an Austrian, educated, Protestant family with scientific connections. In 1914, at the age of 27, he achieved the highest possible academic degree called Habilitation.
- Around this time, his studies were interrupted by WW I which ruined his family financially. He began doing experimental work in color and light, collaborating with prominent scholars. Most of his significant work was done while he was suffering from tuberculosis.
Background: Erwin Schrodinger Continued
- In some of the papers he wrote, he explained how different energy states of an atom's electrons could be described and predicted by using waves through math.
- This included the Schrodinger Equation, which is one of his greatest contribution to quantum mechanics.
Quantum Model
Background:
Louis de Broglie
The Quantum Model explains that as electrons are moving along the atom, they are making a wave.
Louis de Broglie
and
Erwin Schrodinger:
Quantum Model
- He chose to study history in 1909. Broglie soon gained an interest in science and got a degree in physics in 1913.
- During World War I, he was enlisted in the French Army. He was posted in the Eiffel Tower, where he had plenty of time to carry out experiments in radio communications and engineering.
- After the war, Broglie started working with his brother, Maurice in his lab.
Background:
Louis de Broglie Continued
- Most of his work in his brother's lab involved X-rays, which made him think about wave particle duality.
- Wave particle duality is a theory that proposes that every elementary particle exhibits the properties of not only particles, but also waves.
- In 1924 he further discovered the wave nature of electrons.
By: Charlye Bly,
Alli Jones, and Savannah Larkin
Conclusions and Contributions to
Atomic Theory:
Louis de Broglie
- Along with his thesis that electrons are like waves, de Broglie helped explain the functions of electrons and further explained Bohr's model.
- This then helped other scientists further their studies, like Albert Einstein and universities. This has enabled quantum physics to be applied in life with lasers, computers, and microscopes.
Conclusions and Contributions
to Atomic Theory:
Erwin Schrodinger
- The Bohr model was a one-dimensional model that used one quantum number to describe the distribution of electrons in the atom.
- His equation enabled the electron to be interpreted in a three-dimensional space, requiring three coordinates, principal (n), angular (l), and magnetic (m) quantum numbers.
- These quantum numbers describe the size, shape, and orientation of the orbitals in an atom.
Experimental Design/Data Collection
- Around the same time, British scientist, George Paget Thomson carried out experiments on helium atoms and hydrogen molecules that also supported the claim that complex particles, not just electrons, exhibit properties similar to waves.
- In 1924, he suggested that all electrons have wave properties and don't move around in a straight orbital.
- At first, there was no experimental data to support de Broglie’s theory that electrons behave like waves. However, the theory did help explain many phenomena.
- Broglie's theory offered an explanation to calculations of the motion of electrons within the atom.
- In 1927, Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer demonstrated an experiment with the diffraction of electrons from the surface of a solid crystal.
Aspects of Experiment
- They built a vacuum apparatus to measure the energies of electrons that scattered from a metal surface.
- The electrons were heated which added voltage that allowed it to hit the surface of the metal.
- They had an electron detector known as the Faraday box that was able to be rotated so that electrons at different angles could be measured.
- At certain angles there was a peak with the scattered electron beam. This indicated wave behavior for electrons.
- This proved that matter actually could show wave-like characteristics.