Chapter 12, Problem 22CR

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The postulates of the wave mechanical model of an atom should be summarized.

Concept Introduction:

Wave-particle duality of matter: In 1924, Prince Louis Victor de Broglie (1892-1987) -French physicist wave particle duality which is shown by the following equation.

$\text{λ}\text{ = }\frac{\text{ℏ}}{\text{ρ}}\text{ where }\text{ℏ}\text{=Planks' constant p= momentum }\text{λ}\text{=wavelength of wave}$

The quantum mechanical atom: Quantum mechanics was used in 1926 by Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961) -Austrian physicist to describe electrons of the atoms.

He used mathematical equations called “Schrodinger equations” of which the solutions were called the “eigen functions”.

Eigen functions do provide a measure of probability of finding an electron in a given volume of space (probable electron density).