Schrodinger, Erwin quantum mechanics wave function

Quantum mechanics uses the same mathematical equations that describe the wave motion of a guitar string to characterize the motion of an electron around a nucleus. The version of quantum mechanics most useful to chemists was proposed by Erwin Schrodinger in 1926. According to Schrodinger, the behavior of each electron in an atom or a molecule can be described by a wave equation. The solutions to the Schrodinger equation are called wave functions or orbitals. They tell us the energy of the electron and the volume of space around the nucleus where an electron is most likely to be found. 

A theory of atomic and molecular structure was advanced independently and almost simultaneously by three people in 1926 Erwin Schrodinger, Werner Heisenberg, and Paul Dirac. This theory, called wave mechanics by Schrodinger and quantum mechanics by Heisenberg, has become the basis from which we derive our modern understanding of bonding in molecules. At the heart of quantum mechanics are equations called wave functions (denoted by the Greek letter psi, if/). 

In 1926 Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961), an Austrian physicist, made a major contribution to quantum mechanics. He wrote down a rather complex differential equation to express the wave properties of an electron in an atom. This equation can be solved, at least in principle, to find the amplitude (height) of the electron wave at various points in space. The quantity ip (psi) is known as the wave function. Although we will not use the Schrodinger wave equation in any calculations, you should realize that much of our discussion of electronic structure is based on solutions to that equation for the electron in the hydrogen atom. 

The quantum mechanical model proposed in 1926 by Erwin Schrodinger describes an atom by a mathematical equation similar to that used to describe wave motion. The behavior of each electron in an atom is characterized by a wave function, or orbital, the square of which defines the probability of finding the electron in a given volume of space. Each wave function has a set of three variables, called quantum numbers. The principal quantum number n defines the size of the orbital the angular-momentum quantum number l defines the shape of the orbital and the magnetic quantum number mj defines the spatial orientation of the orbital. In a hydrogen atom, which contains only one electron, the... 

Once the mathematical formalism of theoretical matrix mechanics had been established, all players who contributed to its development, continued their collaboration, under the leadership of Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, to unravel the physical implications of the mathematical theory. This endeavour gained urgent impetus when an independent solution to the mechanics of quantum systems, based on a wave model, was published soon after by Erwin Schrodinger. A real dilemma was created when Schrodinger demonstrated the equivalence of the two approaches when defined as eigenvalue problems, despite the different philosophies which guided the development of the respective theories. The treasured assumption of matrix mechanics that only experimentally measurable observables should feature as variables of the theory clearly disqualified the unobservable wave function, which appears at the heart of wave mechanics. 

In 1926, Erwin Schrodinger used de Broglie s idea that matter has wavelike properties. Schrodinger proposed what is now known as the quantum mechanical model of the atom. In this new model, he abandoned the notion of the electron as a small particle orbiting the nucleus. Instead, he took into account the particle s wavelike properties, and described the behaviour of electrons in terms of wave functions. 

The exact foundation of modem quantum mechanics was laid in 1925-1926, by Wemer Heisenberg, Max Bom and Pascual Jordan, and by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger. The latter s formulation in terms of wave functions has, in particular, proved well suited for the description of atoms, molecules and solids, and their interaction with light. Thus, the Schrodinger equation supplies the basis for our understanding of the chemical bond and for the description of, say, atomic and molecular spectra. 

Pauli s research would lead to his receipt of the 1945 Nobel Prize in physics. In 1925, physicist Friedrich Hund (1896-1997) explained atomic spectroscopic data with a rule of maximum multiplicity Electrons are added to build up an atom so that the maximum number of energy levels (of equal energy) is filled with one electron each before electrons are paired. In 1926, Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961), then at the University of Zurich, extended de Broglie s concept and treated electrons in atoms (and molecules) as standing waves and derived the new quantum mechanics. Electronic properties are determined by solving for the wave function, P, and energy for an atom or molecule. 

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