My posts on quantum mechanics have made a number of statements that not everyone would agree with: That particles, like electrons, can behave as particles or waves (wave-particle duality, post 19.25) That we cannot simultaneously know the position and the energy of a particle, like an electron (Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, post 19.26) That a wavefunction… Continue reading 19.29 Interpreting quantum mechanics

Before you read this, I suggest you read post 19.27. Schrödinger’s equation, above, describes the motion of a particle (like an electron) in terms of its wavefunction, ψ (post 18.10), and energy, E. Here ∇ is the Laplacian operator (post 19.12), m is the mass of the particle, h is Planck’s constant (post 19.19) and… Continue reading 19.28 Solving Schrödinger’s equation

Before you read this, I suggest you read posts 19.12 and 19.24. If you’ve heard of “Schrödinger’s cat”, and didn’t understand what it was about, I suggest that you forget it – it won’t help you to understand how quantum theory (post 16.2) is used to explain things. But Schrödinger’s equation is very important –… Continue reading 19.27 Schrödinger’s equation