By Ryan Deetscreek and Greg Goettner Quantum Mechanics By Ryan Deetscreek and Greg Goettner

What is it? “a mathematical machine for predicting the behaviors of microscopic particles” Behavior/ Interaction of matter and energy at submicroscopic levels

How did it begin? 1900 - Max Planck, a physicist in Berlin, studied the "ultraviolet catastrophe. Using math, he discovered light wasn’t a continuous wave but, light could only exist with quanta of energy.

Outcomes of Planck’s Discovery Based off Planck’s finding Albert Einstein thought it of it as light can be thought of as discrete particles, just like electrons or protons. In 1926, Berkeley physicist Gilbert Lewis named them photons. 

Significance? This concept of particles having lumps of energy led Niels Bohr to discover atoms can’t have any random amount of energy but instead multiple of a standard quantum of energy.

Quantum Theory A theory in physics based on the principle that matter and energy have the properties of both particles and waves. Ex: Light

Quantum Theory: Five Main Ideas Energy is not continuous, but comes in small but discrete units.  The elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves.  The movement of these particles is inherently random.  It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is. The atomic world is nothing like the world we live in. 

Werner Karl Heisenberg December 5th ,1901 – February 1st ,1976 German theoretical physicist 1925 – Developed Matrix mechanics, also know as the first version of Quantum Mechanics.

Werner Karl Heisenberg Worked with Nuclear and particle physics but most well known for Quantum Mechanics. Created the uncertainty principle - Properties of atoms/ particles cannot be determined simultaneously, such as position and momentum, with accuracy.

Erwin Schrodinger August 12th ,1887 – January 4th ,1961 Austrian physicist Developed Wave Mechanics 1935 – “Schrodinger’s cat” Theoretical experiment took place to explain how nothing has a certain conclusion until observed/ scientifically proven.

Schrodinger’s Equation  Fundamental equation of physics for describing quantum mechanical behavior. It is also often called the Schrödinger wave equation, and is a partial differential equation that describes how the wave function of a physical system evolves over time.

Wave Mechanics “A theory that interprets the behavior of matter (especially subatomic or other small particles) in terms of the properties of waves.”

Max Born December 11th ,1882 – January 5th ,1970 German-British physicist and mathematician Around 1925, showed Schrödinger's wave equation could be thought of as statistical predictions of variables instead of exact.

The “Observer Effect” Knowing that matter can act as particles or waves what would it look like if you observed? Scientists have conducted experiments with electrons on if they would act as a particle or wave. Strange enough, without observing closely it acted as a wave in certain situations but as soon as the electron or electrons were observed it was only a particle.

Double Slit Experiment Used a light source on one end and shined it through two slits Light acted as a wave however when observed it was a particle.