Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Particle-wave duality—the fact that all particles have wave properties—is one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics. We first came across it in the treatment of photons, those…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Probability Distribution Matter and photons are waves, implying they are spread out over some distance. What is the position of a particle, such as an electron? Is…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: De Broglie Wavelength In 1923 a French physics graduate student named Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie (1892–1987) made a radical proposal based on the hope that nature is…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: We have long known that EM radiation is a wave, capable of interference and diffraction. We now see that light can be modeled as photons, which are…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Measuring Photon Momentum The quantum of EM radiation we call a photon has properties analogous to those of particles we can see, such as grains of sand. A photon…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Ionizing Radiation A photon is a quantum of EM radiation. Its energy is given by E=hf and is related to the frequency f and wavelength λ of the radiation by E=hf=hcλ(energy of a…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: When light strikes materials, it can eject electrons from them. This is called the photoelectric effect, meaning that light (photo) produces electricity. One common use of the photoelectric…

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Planck’s Contribution Energy is quantized in some systems, meaning that the system can have only certain energies and not a continuum of energies, unlike the classical case.…

Figure 29.1 A black fly imaged by an electron microscope is as monstrous as any science-fiction creature. (credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons) Chapter Outline 29.1 Quantization of Energy 29.2 The Photoelectric Effect 29.3 Photon Energies and the Electromagnetic Spectrum 29.4 Photon Momentum 29.5 The…