atom + wavelength concepts and quantum mechanics

the wave function for an electron in an atom does not describe a smeared out electron with a smooth charge density

The electron is either here or there or somewhere else but wherever it is it is a point charge

Even though a particle itself isn’t a wave what is

It’s properties are

Where it is what it’s doing how much energy it has ( all wave shaped waves of probability not in particular space )

Measuring a wave

Changes what the wave looks like

Still unknown position

The measurement of a wave doesn’t

Destroy the wave instead collapse it into a simpler shape

Some wave measurements can be made together such as

The energy, the magnitude of angular momentum, and its part of orientation

( allowed to be definite same time) but still a little spread this gives emission lines their thickness uncertain energy

Definiteness gives us info about

Electrons and this info can help us categorize them into shells and orbitals

Nucleus is made of

Protons, neutrons, and cloud of electrons surrounding it

The behavior of the protons neutrons and electrons surrounding nucleus is governed by

Wave functions

Waves are of

Probability (?)

What do we need if all particles are also waves?

A wave equation to predict their behavior.

What does the wave equation use?

The total energy of a particle

Hamiltonian (H)

What is the Hamiltonian (H)?

: It represents the total energy of a particle.

What is the wave function (Ψ)?

A function that describes the wave properties of a particle.

What does the equation involving H and Ψ contain?

It contains all the wave properties of a particle.

What problem does the wave model solve with the old orbit model?

: Instead of electrons continuously emitting light and collapsing into the nucleus, the electron is described as a wave.

What surrounds the nucleus in the wave model?

A cloud of electrons

What might the electron cloud represent?

A wave of probability

Electron = not a little particle following a fixed orbit → described by a wave/probability cloud around the nucleus

: What is quantum mechanics?

The study of how very small particles, like electrons, behave, including their wave-like behavior

Why is quantum mechanics needed to describe electrons?

Because electrons behave like waves as well as particles, so the old orbit model doesn’t accurately describe them.

What does quantum mechanics use to describe an electron?

A wave function

What does the wave function describe?

The wave properties/probability of a particle.

How is an electron represented in the quantum mechanical model?

As a cloud of probability surrounding the nucleus, rather than a particle following a fixed orbit