Quantum Mechanics of the atom Flashcards
what is electromagnetic radiation?
electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to eachtother propogating through space
what are the properties of EMR?
- has a frequency/wavelength
- requires no medium to propogate
- intensity decreases with square of the distance
- phase: where the wave i starting from
- amplitude: determines the intensity of the light
- wave-particle duality
what is the equaion for the speed of light?
c= frequency*Wavelength
what are the things which can happen to light?
it can undergo rarefraction
it can undergo reflection
it can undergo interference
what is the photoelectric effect?
the emission of electrons from a material emitted from a material surface as a result of being exposed to electromagnetic radiation
what was einsteins proposal regarding the nature of light?
he proposed that light consisted of quantised packets of energy called quanta or photons
what characteristic of electrons within the atom?
their energies are non-continuous, but their energies are quantised
what does classical mechanics aim to describe?
describes objects in terms of their posiiton and velocity and works accuraely for large objects(those we can percieve directly)
what does quantum mechanics aim to desribe?
accurately describe objects at the atomic level
what does schrodinger’s wave equation aim to describe?
used to define the probability of an electron being in space based on its energy
what is an atomic orbital?
the region where an electron is calculated to be present
what are the set of quantum numbers which characterise each atomic orbital and what do they regard?
-Azimuthal Q No. –>
identifies the shape of the electron distribution within the orbital, while also denoting the nuber of axes that the electron density is focused around
-Magnetic Q No. –>
Indexes the restricted number of possible orientations of each orbital
-Spin Q No.–>
each electron occupying an orbital can have a spin of either up( +1/2) or down (-1/2).
state heisenbergs uncertainty principle
the more certainty there is in a particles position, less certainty there is in its momentum
state pauli’s exclusion principle
no two electrons can have the same set of four quantum numbers
