Quantum mechanics

Question 1

What is black-body radiation?

Answer 1

A term used to describe the relationship between an object’s temperature and the radiation it emits.

Question 2

What is the photoelectric effect?

Answer 2

The emission of electrons when electromagnetic radiation is incident upon that material.

Question 3

What is quantum theory?

Answer 3

`The basis of modern physics in which the nature and behaviour of matter and energy are explained at the atomic and subatomic level.

Question 4

Explain Bohr’s model of the atom?

Answer 4

1. Electron move in a circular orbit around the nucleus
2. Only certain stable electron orbits are allowed and no energy is emitted while in these orbits
3. Radiation is emitted when electrons move between energy levels
4. The circumference of the orbit is a whole number (n) of wavelengths (de Broglie wavelengths)
5. The angular momentum of the electron in orbit is quantised

Question 5

What is the uncertainty principle?

Answer 5

Our knowledge of a particles position and momentum are related. If the uncertainty in its position is small then the uncertainty of its momentum is large and vice versa.

Question 6

What is quantum tunneling?

Answer 6

A phenomenon in which a quantum particle can exist in a position that according to classical physics it has insufficient energy to occupy.