Questions tagged [quantum-mechanics]
The branch of physics that relates to the behavior of objects, typically particles, on small scales. Probability is very important in quantum mechanics.
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Original paper for Young's double slit experiments [duplicate]
I'm trying to find the original papers describing Young's double slit experiments including his experimental set-ups and findings. I've tried looking and all I can find is http://www....
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Was Dirac really trying to take the square root of the Klein-Gordon operator?
As a student of physics one will, on several occasions, indubitably hear professors or other physicists (here is an example, from Physics.SE's highest-rep user John Rennie) tell the famous story that ...
Danu♦
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Did Einstein propose a perpetual motion machine to try to disprove quantum mechanics?
In response to quantum mechanics, so the story goes, Einstein proposed a machine, that, based on the uncertainty principle, was a perpetual motion. This showed that quantum mechanics was at odds with ...
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How did quantum mechanics operators come into being?
Now I am starting to learn Quantum Mechanics. In the class I am taught about operators, postulates and all other basic stuff.
I understand operators to be +, -, /, etc; but quantum mechanical ...
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History of the delta potential barrier in Quantum Mechanics [closed]
I'm interested in finding something out about the history of the problem of the delta potential barrier in QM. Who was the first to propose this problem, and perhaps any particular motivation for it. ...
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History of delta barrier in quantum mechanics
I'm interested in finding something out about the history of the problem of the delta potential barrier in quantum mechanics.
Which was the first study to propose this problem, and perhaps any ...
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How did quantum mechanics become well known by (non)-scientific community.
Today it is well known even by the non-scientific community that there is a part of physics that deals with the very small called quantum physics. My question is how this became "common knowledge". I ...
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Did classical physicists feel ill-at-ease about point charges?
The point charge concept is clearly a very useful mathematical fiction, but it is also problematic from the point of view of "physical intuition". Even a layperson would feel that an explanation is ...
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Were there serious attempts to model the photoelectric effect classically?
Today we see the photoelectric effect as one of the simplest pieces of empirical evidence that leads to quantum physics. The historical development of the subject, however, seems to have involved much ...
user466
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What was different about Planck's quantization of light compared to Einstein's?
In describing black body radiation Planck assumed that the energy that can be absorbed or emitted by charges is quantized, i.e., they can only absorb or emit certain quantities of energy. But it was ...
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Why did the "old quantum theory" start off considering circular electron orbits?
It seems that both Bohr and Rutherford assumed circular orbits of electrons around the atom. But why did they do so, instead of assuming e.g. elliptical orbits?
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Why were 20th Century German scientists so impressive?
German (and Austrian) scientists of the late 19th - early 20th centuries seem to have been the backbone of most of modern physics - namely quantum theory/mechanics. The following are a few predominant ...
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Why isn't Feynman's path integral taught more widely and earlier in today's academic physics curricula?
Anyone who has studied Feynman's path integral will know that it makes quantum mechanics more like classical mechanics. A student who has learned about the Lagrangian will easily understand the ...
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How did group theory enter quantum mechanics?
How did the physicists in the 1920s become aware of the importance of group theory in quantum mechanics? Was group theory already part of the physics curriculum at that time, perhaps in connection to ...
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Why did Einstein help in the development of the Quantum theory if he didn't agree with it?
I read the book "A Brief History of Time" By Stephan Hawking. It states that Einstein helped scientists like Pauli etc. in the development of the quantum theory and even shared the Nobel Prize with ...
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What theories preceded the wave, particles and duality models of light?
Currently, the wave-particle duality model for light is the accepted model. From HyperPhysics:
The evidence for the description of light as waves was well established at the turn of the century ...
user22