Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that deals with the description of the behavior and interaction of the particles that compose matter. It was Max Planck who started the idea of quantum mechanics when he hypothesized in 1900 that everything around us is composed of packets called quanta. The word quanta is the plural form for quantum. Quantum mechanics is also known as a mathematical mechanism that is used to describe the behavior of particles of matter in the microscopic and macroscopic level.

The basic principle of quantum mechanics is that it describes the behavior of matter particles as that both of a wave and of a particle and this is more commonly known as wave-particle duality. This simply states that particles behave like waves as they move from one point to another. Quantum mechanics is associated not only with matter but also with light, that is, quantum mechanics also describes light as both a particle and a wave.

The difference between waves and particles is that waves carry energy and mass as they move from one point to another while particles carry only energy as they move from one point to another.

Waves are characterized by repeating regular vibrations. The highest point of a wave is called its crest and the lowest point of a wave is called its trough. A trough is followed by a crest, or a crest is followed by a trough, in a periodic sequence. A wavelength is the distance between one crest and the trough after it or the distance between one trough and the crest after it. The wave frequency is the number of wavelengths passing through one point at a certain time.

Particles that compose matter fall into two categories: fermions or real particles and bosons or force particles. Quantum mechanics deals on the small scale of describing matter. Electrons, neutrons, and protons that compose an atom, which is the basic unit of matter, are all fermions. A photon, which is the basic unit of light, is a boson.

Max Planck stated in his quantum theory that the energy that is emitted by the radiating black-body is an integer multiple of the product of Planck’s constant and the frequency of light and this product is associated with the fundamental frequency of each of the radiating body’s oscillators. This is described by the formula E = nhf where E is the emitted energy, h is Planck’s constant, f is the frequency of light, and n = 1, 2, 3, …

There were many scientists after Max Planck who discovered and did great works that contributed to the development of quantum mechanics. It was Albert Einstein in 1905 who hypothesized that light also consists of quanta after he studied Max Planck’s quantum theory. Their theories led other scientists such as Niels Bohr, Johann Balmer, Johannes Rydberg, and many others to study, analyze, and experiment on the behavior of light and atomic and subatomic particles of matter and the principles that comprise the whole of quantum mechanics were theorized and confirmed with high accuracy.

Quantum mechanics is an important area in physics as it is applied today. In comparison to classical physics, quantum mechanics gives an accurate description of the behavior of matter and energy in different systems and classical physics is an approximation of the laws and principles set in quantum mechanics.

Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that deals with the description of the behavior and interaction of the particles that compose matter. It was Max Planck who started the idea of quantum mechanics when he hypothesized in 1900 that everything around us is composed of packets called quanta.

The word quanta is the plural form for quantum. Quantum mechanics is also known as a mathematical mechanism that is used to describe the behavior of particles of matter in the microscopic and macroscopic level.

The basic principle of quantum mechanics is that it describes the behavior of matter particles as that both of a wave and of a particle and this is more commonly known as wave-particle duality. This simply states that particles behave like waves as they move from one point to another. Quantum mechanics is associated not only with matter but also with light, that is, quantum mechanics also describes light as both a particle and a wave.  

The difference between waves and particles is that waves carry energy and mass as they move from one point to another while particles carry only energy as they move from one point to another. 

Waves are characterized by repeating regular vibrations. The highest point of a wave is called its crest and the lowest point of a wave is called its trough. A trough is followed by a crest, or a crest is followed by a trough, in a periodic sequence. A wavelength is the distance between one crest and the trough after it or the distance between one trough and the crest after it. The wave frequency is the number of wavelengths passing through one point at a certain time. 

Particles that compose matter fall into two categories: fermions or real particles and bosons or force particles. Quantum mechanics deals on the small scale of describing matter. Electrons, neutrons, and protons that compose an atom, which is the basic unit of matter, are all fermions. A photon, which is the basic unit of light, is a boson. 

Max Planck stated in his quantum theory that the energy that is emitted by the radiating black-body is an integer multiple of the product of Planck’s constant and the frequency of light and this product is associated with the fundamental frequency of each of the radiating body’s oscillators. This is described by the formula E = nhf where E is the emitted energy, h is Planck’s constant, f is the frequency of light, and n = 1, 2, 3, … 

There were many scientists after Max Planck who discovered and did great works that contributed to the development of quantum mechanics. It was Albert Einstein in 1905 who hypothesized that light also consists of quanta after he studied Max Planck’s quantum theory. Their theories led other scientists such as Niels Bohr, Johann Balmer, Johannes Rydberg, and many others to study, analyze, and experiment on the behavior of light and atomic and subatomic particles of matter and the principles that comprise the whole of quantum mechanics were theorized and confirmed with high accuracy. 

Quantum mechanics is an important area in physics as it is applied today. In comparison to classical physics, quantum mechanics gives an accurate description of the behavior of matter and energy in different systems and classical physics is an approximation of the laws and principles set in quantum mechanics.