Quantum Mechanics
Explaining the behavior of nature
at or below the atomic level
Einstein, Planck, Heisenberg, Bohr , Compton, de Broglie,
and many others contribute to the
development of a quantum
theory.
Beginning where we left off with Bohr's description of the atom
Compton shows that light is a particle (compton scattering)
Louis de Broglie (1892-1987)- postulates (1924) that
not only photons, but perhaps all forms of
matter have
both particle and wave properties using the relation
λ = h/mv
Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961)- Uses
de Broglie's suggestion to develop a wave mechanics
formulation of quantum
physics. In 1926 he publishes the Hamiltonian formulation of
quantum theory.
Hiesenberg -
tells us that we can’t know both the exact position (x) and momentum (p)
of a particle
simultaneously.
From this he forms
the Heisenberg uncertainty principal
(1) Δx*Δpx ≥ h/ 4π. This equation has a few cousins, the Heisenberg uncertainty
principal for energy and time (2)( ΔE*Δt =h/2π) which when considering ΔE=Δm
* c2 can be rearranged to: (3) Δm*Δt = h/ 2π c2 [2 p672]. Which leads to
the implication that for a Δt we cannot be sure of how much matter is in
a location in space, so matter can appear and then disappear into nothingness.
No particle can appear spontaneously by itself. For each particle created
an equal mass and opposite charged antiparticle is created, so equal amounts
of matter and antimatter are created and then disappear (pair production).
Dirac -discovers a relativistic equation for the electron
(1928) . He found that solutions of this
equation exist for negative
energies as well an positive and had the idea to interpret these
solutions as antiparticles.
In 1932 Carl Anderson experimentally observes the antimatter brother of
the electron, the positron
This is where matter and antimatter symmetry is born.
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