Evaluation of General Chemistry Textbooks Results and Discussion

Evaluation of General Chemistry Textbooks Results and Discussion 

Energy, prior to 1900, was not considered to consist of particles. It was noncorpuscular in nature, and therefore continuous. It was this distinction between matter and energy that had been abandoned by Planck in 1900, by Einstein in 1905, and again by Bohr in 1913. .. 

The Erench physicist Louis de Broglie proposed in 1924 that not only light but all matter has a dual nature and possesses both wave and corpuscular properties. He reasoned that there should be symmetry in nature If a radiant corpuscle—-that is, a photon—has a frequency and a wavelength and therefore has wave properties, why should not a material particle also have wave properties (p. 429, original italics). .. When de Broglie first published his wave theory of matter, there was no experimental evidence to support his bold hypothesis. Within three years, however, two different experiments had been performed that demonstrated the diffraction of a beam of electrons. Clinton J. Davisson, assisted by L. H. Germer,. .. observed the diffraction of electrons when a beam of electrons was directed at a nickel crystal (Segal 1989, p. 431, underlined added). 

Forty-eight (38%) textbooks were classified as Mention (M) as they described either the theoretical contributions of Einstein and de Broglie or experimental contribution of Davisson and Germer. Following are two examples of textbooks that were classified as Mention (M)  

The presentation by McMurry and Fay (2001) ignores the role played by the experiments conducted by Davisson, Germer, Thomson and Reid. On the other hand, the presentation by Umland and Bellama (1999) ignores the importance of Einstein s contribution which helped de Broglie to postulate wave-particle duality. This clearly shows that a historical reconstruction must emphasize at least the contributions of Einstein, de Broglie, Davisson and Germer. 

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