Quantum physics

Thursday, February 15, 2024 11:21 AM

Haugen's principle
wave undergoes diffraction producing a circular wavefront. Each and every point of the circular
wavefront acts a secondary source for the formation of new smaller circular wavefronts called wavelets
that travels to the same direction as the original wavefront. These wavelets undergoes superposition
constructively and destructively. The envelope of the resultant displacement from the constructive
superposition of the wavelets is the next new position of the original wavefront. This principle can be
used to predict the future position of waves in reflection, refraction and diffraction.

Wave particle duality

Waves can also behave as particles in certain instances while particles can behave as waves in certain
instances. Examples of these 2 are light and electrons.

Light can behave as waves as it can undergo reflection, refraction, diffraction and polarization. Light
behaves as particles as it undergoes photoelectric effect. It was demonstrated after the observations of
light behaving as waves. So initially it was thought that light waves a wave. But discovery of
photoelectric effect proved otherwise. So this shows that light can behave as both waves and particles.
This shows the wave-particle duality of light.

Electrons can behave as waves as it can undergo diffraction as they are accelerated through a diffraction
grating to produce a diffraction pattern of maxima and minima just as seen in light. Electrons can
behave as particles as it can undergo ionization where a lump of mass and charge is removed by an
atom to form cations. The ionization was first deduced by the oil drop experiment. So this shows that
electrons can behave as both waves and particles. This shows the wave particle duality of electrons.

Quantization and plank constant

When light behaves as an particles the particles are said to be photons. This was first suggested by max
plank. Photons are quantized packed of discrete energy. Quantization is when something exhibits the
minimum which it is theoretically able to possess in very small quantum scale. Below this threshold it is
not possible. Photons can have varying energies. The minimum possible energy that a photon can have
is the plank constant. So it is said that the photons are quantized to plank constant. The frequency of the
light when it is behaving as wave is directly proportional to the energy of the photons when light
behaves as particles. Greater the frequency of the wave greater the energy of the photon. The plank
constant links the theories of light behaving as wave and as particle and derive the equation for
calculating the energy of a photon.

E =hf

Where : -

E = energy of the photon

h = the plank constant
f = frequency of the wave

The photoelectric effect

It is done by shining light such as UV light to a negatively charged metal. Then what happens is that the
metal loses its charge and becomes positively charged.

When UV light is shine into a negatively charged metal surface the photons of light interacts with the
delocalized electrons on the surface of the metal. The delocalized electrons are metallically bonded to

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delocalized electrons on the surface of the metal. The delocalized electrons are metallically bonded to
cations. A single photon interacts with a single electron. The photon transfers it energy to the electron
In which it is interacting with. The electron gains the energy and breaks its forces of attraction and is
released from the metals surface as photoelectrons. There is a minimum limit of energy and that the
electron should gain minimum of energy beyond this limit in order for it to escape the metal surface.
This limit is called the work function. Represented by Φ. Different metals has different work functions.
As photoelectrons emitted from metal surface as it looses its electrons it looses its negative charge and
gains a positive charge. If the energy transferred to the photoelectron being released by photon is much
greater that the work function then this means that the extra energy will be transferred to the kinetic
energy of the photoelectron being released. As mentioned before the frequency of the photon is
directly proportional to its energy. So the frequency of a photon in order for its energy to be equal to
work function this frequency is called the threshold frequency.

According to wave theory it says that the energy of a wave is directly proportional to the amplitude of
the wave. The amplitude of a light wave in physical observations represents the brightness of the wave.
So as directly proportional according to wave theory greater the amplitude greater the brightness this
means must be greater the energy of the photon. The intensity is a measure of brightness. Greater the
intensity greater the brightness. So if we shine a light into the metal surface and if it is not releasing
photoelectrons then according to wave theory this must mean that if we increase the intensity by
increasing the brightness this must mean that the energy of the photons must increase. So that
overtime slowly the metal surface must release photoelectrons. But in reality this is not the case. The
actually observation is that despite how much the intensity of the light is increased the metal surface
will never release photoelectrons. The reason is because this might be true if light is acting as a wave.
But here wave is acting as photons. So increase in intensity means that the number of photons increases
but their energy does not and as each photon interacts with one electrons only and as energy remain
same the photoelectron emission never occurs.

The work function is required for the photoelectron to break the bonds in the metal and the kinetic
energy is required for the to have a motion and move out of the metal surface and result in emission.

So in reality the threshold frequency must not cause photoelectric emission as energy is exactly
equal to work function. This is theoretically only. In reality frequency must be at least even a little
greater that threshold frequency for there for photoelectron to have kinetic energy for emission.

The photoelectric equation shows that the energy of the photon minus the work function is equal to the
kinetic energy of the photoelectron being emitted : -

1/2mv2 = hf - Φ

Then we can say that the energy of the photon is equal to the maximum kinetic energy of the
photoelectron plus the work function assuming that energy is conserved and ignoring energy lost by
other processes as work is done on the electron by the photon to cause the photoelectron : -

hf = Φ + 1/2mv2 max

Photoelectric cell experiment

Used to observe the photoelectric effect and calculate the plank constant and the work function for
different metals. Done by using a photoelectric cell. Calculations done by using photoelectric equation.

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The above is a photelectric cell. In this experiment a known frequency of light is shine into the metal
surface. The metal here is acting as the anode and there is a cathode with a curvature to capture the
released photoelectrons. As the anode is negatively charged it has many electrons on its surface. So as
light shorn into metal surface photoelectric emission will occur by photoelectric effect. The released
photoelectrons taken up by the cathode as it has a positive charge as opposite charged attracts and
produces a current which is the photoelectric current.

The anode is connected to positive terminal of the external variable power source the electrons travels
from the anode to the negative terminal of the external cell according to conventional current. So less
electrons in anode if we increase pd. This means that all remaining electrons will be lost by light shorn to
it making it overall positive. But as its overall positive the released photoelectron attracted back to the
anode preventing any from reaching to the cathode. So this means that current around circuit stops.
This voltage (pd) that causes current to stop by making the anode overall positive is called the stopping
voltage, vs.

We can derive equation for maximum kinetic energy of photoelectrons during stopping voltage by
multiplying the charge of an electron by the stopping voltage as : -

Voltage = energy/ charge passed ; -

where as voltage is stopping voltage vs and energy is 1/2mv2max and e is the charge of electron : -

1/2mv2max = e x vs

Can determine the stopping voltage for a range of light frequencies. Then use results to plot a straight
line graph.

1/2mv2 = hf - Φ

Where y axis is the maximum kinetic energy, 1/2mv2 , gradient is plant constant h, x axis is frequency
and the C or y intercept is work function but - Φ showing that the work function is a negative kinetic
energy value. So graph is a straight line originating from the negative side.

As stopping voltage the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons is 0 as they are attracted back to the

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As stopping voltage the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons is 0 as they are attracted back to the
overall positive anode and held there. So cannot move. So this must mean that the photon energy is
equal to the work function as

1/2mv2 = hf - Φ

0 = hf - Φ

Φ = hf

The point where the gradient crosses the y axis incoming from negative side is the threshold frequency.

The graph produced is something like this : -

Electron diffraction

Electrons can undergo diffraction and reflection showing that it behaves as a wave and not a particle.
For this an experiment was conducted by shooting high energy electrons from a filament to a nickel
crystal. The detector is movable. So the electron beam can be shot at the crystal from various angles.
The reflected high energy electrons are applied with a potential difference voltage at varying voltage

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The reflected high energy electrons are applied with a potential difference voltage at varying voltage
values to make the electrons undergo diffraction and produce a diffraction pattern. Then plotted a
graph of the scattering intensity of the bright fringe produced by against the angle of the beam in which
is striking to the nickel crystal surface. Produced graph is similar to the graph which shows how the
intensity of the bright fringes varies with the distance from the screen. In this the atoms of the nickel
crystal acts as a surface of reflection of the electron beam. This experiment has provided advancements
in atomic structure analysis by using electron beam crystallography.

The graph produced by the process : -

Electron wavelength
Also called as de Broglie's wavelength. This is the wavelength of the electrons when they are behaving
as waves. The wavelength of the electrons when behaving as waves is inversely proportional to the
momentum of the electrons when they were behaving as particles. A equation can be derived by the
plank constant linking the two : -

electron wavelength (m) = plank constant ɻ = h/p

particle momentum (kgms-1)

Electron double slit diffraction

The electrons has wave particle duality. As it has wave nature it must behave as waves. So it must be
able to undergo diffraction. This is observed by passing beams of high energy electrons through a gap in
a slit. Just like diffraction of light results in a formation of series of bright spots on the screen. This
showed that the electrons showed wave nature. Up on further inspection into the results scientists
discovered that in this process the electrons acts as both light and particles. They acts as particles as
they collides with the screen. Then acts as waves after colliding with the screen to produce a diffraction
pattern. This can be seen as the diffraction pattern gets more darker and detailed over time.
So this practical instead of showing the overall wave natures shows the wave particle duality of
electrons.

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Electron microscopy
It uses beams of high energy electrons that are directed at the specimen. These electrons of the high
energy electron beam is applied with a voltage (p.d) that is variable. This helps for the wavelength of the
electrons to be altered and reduced to very low wavelengths. The wavelength Is De Broglie's wavelength
and can be calculated by ɻ = h/p. the wavelength is reduced to very low wavelengths of about in the
range of 10-10m. This means that in microscopes lower the wavelength greater the detail of the
microscopes.

Atomic electron energy levels

Different atoms has different energy levels. The energy levels are exact values of energy in which an
electron of an atom can exist in. an energy band is very wide and made of many energy levels. Each
energy level has its own energy that the electron occupies when it is in that energy level and is defined
by a quantum number n. lowest energy level has the least energy and has a quantum number of n=1. as
we go up the energy level from n=2, n=3, n=4, and so on the energy from energy level to energy level
increases. The difference in energy level between 2 adjacent energy levels decreases higher the energy
level from n=1. the highest energy level is n=ꚙ. If an electron has moved to n=ꚙ this means that the
electron has left the atom altogether. The last highest energy level of n=ꚙ most of the time has an
energy of 0J or 1J. All other energy levels beforehand will have negative energy values. If an electron is
occupying the energy level then the electron energy = energy of energy level.

Electrons can move from energy level to energy level by absorbing energy or releasing energy. The
electrons when they are in a neutral atom they are always present In the lowest energy level of n=1 so
has the least energy and so most stable. So when an electron is in the lowest energy level of n=1 then
this means that the electron is in its ground state.
In order for electron to move to a higher energy level it should absorb energy. This movement of an
electron from ground state (/or from a higher energy level already being occupied) to a (/even) higher
energy level by absorbing energy is called excitation. As it moves to the higher energy level the electron
has more energy. So it's very unstable. After a random amount of time automatically the electron will
fall back to a lower/ intermediate energy level (if present in between the energy level already being
occupied of and ground level) or directly to the ground level. In deexcitation the electron always
releases its energy.

In order for the excitation to occur the electrons must collide and interact with a particle or a photon
that will transfer it energy for excitation. There Is a condition for this. The particle or photon it is
colliding and interacting with should have an energy that is equal to the energy difference between the
ground level and any of the higher energy levels. If then only will the collided particle or photon will

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ground level and any of the higher energy levels. If then only will the collided particle or photon will
interact with the electron and transfer it energy causing for the electron to excite to the corresponding
energy level. If the particle or photon does not possess energy equal to the energy difference between
the ground level and higher energy level then they will just collide and not interact at all. So if a photon
collides and interacts with an electron and its energy is absorbed for electrons excitation to a higher
energy level then the photon is used up. The photon no longer exists.

After excitation it will most definitely deexcite back to a lower/ intermediate energy level (if any present
in between its original energy level or (/ ground level(if it was initially present in it)) releasing energy
which is equal to the energy difference between the original energy level which it was present in as it
was excited to the lower energy level it is being deexcited to. The released energy is released in the form
of photons. These transitions and energy levels can be shown in a energy level diagram. Can calculate
the energy of the photon being absorbed during excitation or being released during deexcitation
according to the law of conservation of momentum by the photon model E = hf

So if a gaseous atom is excited it will emit light if the frequency of the photon released during
deexcitation is with in the visible color frequency range. By simple observations such as seeing if light is
emitted or not we will not be able to tell if a gaseous atom is being excited or not because sometimes
excitation might occur but frequency of the energy released is sometimes out of the frequency of the
visible light spectrum. So will not be able to see any color.
Excitation can be done by processes such as heating or increasing the pressure which causes collisions
between the photons and gaseous atoms in the molecules.

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