3.5.

2 Quantization of Energy
Physicist’s Profile: MAX PLANCK

Date and Location of Birth APRIL 23, 1858

KIEL, HOLESTEIN GERMANY

Max Planck is without doubt one of the greatest physicists ever and his
greatest work has to be the tenuous research that he conducted on quantum
Significant Achievements
physics that opened up an altogether new branch of study in the subject.

Max Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918 for establishing a
new branch of study in physics. Max Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1918 for establishing a new branch of study in physics.
Significant Awards
He was awarded the coveted Lorentz Medal in 1927 and the Copley Medal in
1929.

OCTOBER 4, 1947
89
Date, Age, and Location of Death GOTTINGEN GERMANY

References https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/max-planck-4977.php
Quantization of Energy: QUESTIONS
Questions
1. What is a black body?
2. What is blackbody radiation?
3. What is the conflict known as
the ultraviolet catastrophe?
4. How did Max Planck explain
the experimental data for
blackbody radiation?
5. What is a quantum?
6. What is a quantum state?
7. What is the relationship
between a joule and an electron
volt?
References
Your Answer
A black body or blackbody is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident
electromagnetic radiation, regardless of frequency or angle of incidence.
Black-body radiation is the thermal electromagnetic radiation within or surrounding a
body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, or emitted by a black body (an
opaque and non-reflective body). It has a specific spectrum and intensity that depends
only on the body's temperature, which is assumed for the sake of calculations and theory
to be uniform and constant.
The ultraviolet catastrophe, also called the Rayleigh–Jeans catastrophe, was the
prediction of late 19th century/early 20th century classical physics that an ideal black
body (also blackbody) at thermal equilibrium will emit radiation in all frequency ranges,
emitting more energy as the frequency increases.
At the time he proposed his radical hypothesis, Planck could not explain why energies
should be quantized. Initially, his hypothesis explained only one set of experimental
data—blackbody radiation. If quantization were observed for a large number of different
phenomena, then quantization would become a law. In time, a theory might be
developed to explain that law. As things turned out, Planck’s hypothesis was the seed
from which modern physics grew.
In physics, a quantum is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an
interaction.
In quantum physics, quantum state refers to the state of an isolated quantum system.
A quantum state provides a probability distribution for the value of each observable,
i.e. for the outcome of each possible measurement on the system.
One joule is the work done to move one coulomb of electric charge through an electric
field of one volt.
Mathematically - 1J = 1C X 1V
C. Photoelectric Effect
Physicist’s Profile: ALBERT EINSTEIN
Date and Location of Birth
Significant Achievements
Significant Awards
Date, Age, and Location of Death
References
March 14, 1879
Ulm, Württemberg, Germany
He provided powerful evidence that atoms and molecules actually exist, through his
analysis of Brownian motion. He explained the photoelectric effect, proposing that light
comes in bundles. Bundles of light (he called them quanta) with the correct amount of
energy can eject electrons from metals. He proved that everyone, whatever speed we
move at, measures the speed of light to be 300 million meters per second in a vacuum.
This led to the strange new reality that time passes more slowly for people traveling at
very high speeds compared with people moving more slowly. He discovered the hugely
important and iconic equation E = mc2, which shows that energy and matter can be
converted into one another. He rewrote the law of gravitation, which had been
unchallenged since Isaac Newton published it in 1687. In his General Theory of
Relativity, he showed that matter causes space to curve, which produces gravity.
Showed that light follows the path mapped out by the gravitational curve of space. He
showed that time passes more slowly when gravity becomes very strong. He became the
20th century’s most famous scientist when the strange predictions he made in
his General Theory of Relativity were verified by scientific observations. He spent his
later years trying to find equations to unite quantum physics with general relativity. This
was an incredibly hard task, and it has still not been achieved.
Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. People are sometimes
surprised to learn the award was not made for his work in special or general relativity,
but for his overall services to theoretical physics and one of the works from his miracle
year in 1905, specifically the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. The Royal
Society of London awarded him its prestigious Copley Medal in 1925 for his theory of
relativity and contributions to the quantum theory. The Franklin Institute awarded him
the Franklin medal in 1935 for his work on relativity and the photoelectric effect.
Universities around the world competed with one another to award him honorary
doctorates, and the press wrote more about him than any other scientist – Einstein
became a celebrity.
April 18, 1955
https://www.biography.com/people/albert-einstein-9285408
Photoelectric Effect: QUESTIONS
Questions
1. What effect did scientists
originally think that the intensity
of light shining on a
photosensitive surface would
have on electrons ejected from
that surface?
2. How do observations of the
photoelectric effect conflict with
the predictions of classical
physics?
3. How does Einstein’s theory
resolve this conflict?
4. What are some applications of
the photoelectric effect?
5. The year 1905 is considered a
“miracle year” in physics
because of what four papers
Albert Einstein published in this
year?
References
Your Answer
When light shines on a metal, electrons can be ejected from the surface of the metal in a
phenomenon known as the photoelectric effect.
the classical- light is a wave, light intensity determines e- ejection
photoelectric- light as a photon, frequency determines e- ejection
Albert Einstein applied the theory of quantized light to the photoelectric effect and
found that the energy of the photons, or quanta of light, did depend on the light's
frequency. ... Either the double-slit experiment was wrong, or else the photoelectric
effect and black-body radiation were wrong.
The photoelectric effect has many practical applications which include the photocell,
photoconductive devices and solar cells.
In 1905—seen by many as a "miracle year" for the theorist—Einstein had four papers
published in the Annalen der Physik, one of the best known physics journals of the era.
Two focused on photoelectric effect and Brownian motion. The two others, which
outlined E=MC2 and the special theory of relativity, were defining for Einstein’s career
and the course of the study of physics.
D. Early Models of the Atom
Physicist’s Profile: JOSEPH JOHN "J. J." THOMSON

Date and Location of Birth December 18, 1856, in Cheetham Hill, England

Discovery of the Electron – The first subatomic particle

The Atom as a Plum Pudding

Significant Achievements Invention of the Mass Spectrometer

Discovery that every Hydrogen Atom has only one Electron

Discovery of Isotopes of Stable Elements

Thomson won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics

recipient of the Order of Merit, was knighted in 1908
Significant Awards

August 30, 1940

83
Date, Age, and Location of Death Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England

https://www.thoughtco.com/j-j-thomson-biography-607780

References
Physicist’s Profile: ERNEST RUTHERFORD
Date and Location of Birth
Significant Achievements
Significant Awards
Date, Age, and Location of Death
References
August 30, 1871, in Spring Grove, New Zealand
In 1895, as the first research student at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish
Laboratory in London, Rutherford identified a simpler and more commercially viable
means of detecting radio waves than had been previously established by German physicist
Heinrich Hertz. Also while at Cavendish Laboratory, Rutherford was invited by Professor
J.J. Thomson to collaborate on a study of X-rays. German physicist Wilhelm Conrad
Rontgen had discovered X-rays just months before Rutherford arrived at Cavendish, and
X-rays were a hot topic among research scientists. Together, Rutherford and Thomson
studied the effects of X-rays on the conductivity of gases, resulting in a paper about
dividing atoms and molecules into ions. While Thomson went on to examine what would
later be called an electron, Rutherford took a closer look at ion-producing radiations.
Focusing on uranium, Rutherford discovered that placing it near foil resulted in one type
of radiation being easily soaked up or blocked, while a different type had no trouble
penetrating the same foil. He labeled the two radiation types “alpha” and “beta.” As it
turns out, the alpha particle was identical to the nucleus of a helium atom. The beta particle
was, in fact, the same as an electron or positron. Rutherford left Cambridge in 1902 and
took up a professorship at McGill University in Montreal. At McGill in 1903, Rutherford
and has colleague Frederick Soddy introduced their disintegration theory of radioactivity,
which claimed radioactive energy was emitted from within an atom and that when alpha
and beta particles were emitted at the same time, they caused a chemical change across
elements. Rutherford and Yale Professor Bertram Borden Boltwood went on to categorize
radioactive elements into what they called a “decay series.” Rutherford was also credited
with discovering the radioactive gas radon while at McGill. Achieving fame for his
contributions to the understanding of radioelements, Rutherford became an active public
speaker, published numerous magazine articles and wrote the most highly regarded
textbook of the time on radioactivity. In 1907 Rutherford returned to England, transferring
to a professorship at the University of Manchester. Through further experimentation
involving firing alpha particles at foil, Rutherford made the groundbreaking discovery that
nearly the total mass of an atom is concentrated in a nucleus. In so doing, he gave birth to
the nuclear model, a discovery that marked the inception of nuclear physics and ultimately
paved the way to the invention of the atom bomb. Aptly dubbed the “Father of the Nuclear
Age,” Rutherford received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908
awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his theory of atomic structure
Rutherford was awarded with countless honors during his career, including several
honorary degrees and fellowships from organizations such as the Institution of Electrical
Engineers. In 1914 he was knighted. In 1931, he was elevated to the peerage, and granted
the title Baron Rutherford of Nelson. He was also elected president of the Institute of
Physics that same year.
October 19, 1937
Cambridge, England
https://www.famousscientists.org/ernest-rutherford/
Early Models of the Atom: QUESTIONS
Questions
1. What was the Newtonian
model of the atom?
2. What was the Thompson model
of the atom?
3. Based on the Thomson model
of the atom, what did Rutherford
expect to happen when he
projected positively charged
alpha particles against a metal
foil?
4. Why did Rutherford conclude
that an atom’s positive charge and
most of its mass are concentrated
in the center of the atom?
5. What was the Rutherford
model of the atom?
6. What are two problems with
Rutherford’s model of the atom?
References
Your Answer
 -----
The plum pudding model is one of several scientific models of the atom. First proposed
by J. J. Thomson in 1904 soon after the discovery of the electron
Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom had negatively-charged electrons
embedded within a positively-charged "soup." Rutherford's gold foil experiment
showed that the atom is mostly empty space with a tiny, dense, positively-charged
nucleus. Based on these results, Rutherford proposed the nuclear model of the atom.
Because the vast majority of the alpha particles had passed through the gold, he reasoned
that most of the atom was empty space. ... He concluded that all of the positive charge
and the majority of the mass of the atom must be concentrated in a very small space in
the atom's interior, which he called the nucleus.
Rutherford overturned Thomson's model in 1911 with his well-known gold
foil experiment in which he demonstrated that the atom has a tiny and heavy
nucleus. Rutherford designed an experiment to use the alpha particles emitted by a
radioactive element as probes to the unseen world of atomic structure.
The main problem with Rutherford's model was that he could not explain why
negatively charged electrons remain in orbit, when they should instantly fall into the
positively charged nucleus. This problem would be solved by Danish physicist Niels Bohr
in 1913
The second flaw to his model was the fact that electrons orbit the nucleus in a circular
fashion.
E. Bohr’s Hydrogen Atom
Physicist’s Profile: NIELS BOHR
Date and Location of Birth
Significant Achievements
Significant Awards
Date, Age, and Location of Death
References
October 7, 1885, in Copenhagen, Denmark
Bohr's greatest contribution to modern physics was the atomic model. The Bohr model
shows the atom as a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons.
Liquid droplet theory
Quantum theory
Bohr received the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on atomic structures, and he
would continue to come up with revolutionary theories. He worked with Werner
Heisenberg and other scientists on a new quantum mechanics principle connected to Bohr's
concept of complementarity, which was initially presented at an Italian conference in
1927.
November 18, 1962, Copenhagen
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1922/bohr/biographical/
Bohr’s Hydrogen Atom: QUESTIONS
Questions
1. What was the Bohr model of
the atom?
2. Bohr’s model of the atom
follows classical physics in
some respects and quantum
mechanics in others. Which
assumptions of the Bohr model
correspond to classical physics
and which correspond to
quantum mechanics?
3. How does Bohr’s model of the
atom account for the emission and
absorption spectra of an element?
References
Your Answer
The Bohr Model. in 1913 Neils Bohr suggested putting the quantum theory to the
Rutherford model. Nelis Bohr's new model suggested that electrons are in fixed energy
levels he called orbits. The energy of these orbits are multiples and the electrons absorb
or release energy (which are protons) at certain wavelengths to move between energy
levels.
Bohr’s model of the hydrogen atom started from the planetary model, but he added one
assumption regarding the electrons. What if the electronic structure of the atom was
quantized? Bohr suggested that perhaps the electrons could only orbit the nucleus in
specific orbits or shells with a fixed radius. Only shells with a radius given by the
equation below would be allowed, and the electron could not exist in between these
shells.
As the photons of light are absorbed by electrons, the electrons move into higher energy
levels. This is the opposite process of emission. The dark lines, absorption lines,
correspond to the frequencies of the emission spectrum of the same element.
G. Dual Nature of Light

Dual Nature of Light: QUESTIONS

Questions Your Answer

Frequency is the number of cycles of a wave to pass some point in a second. The basic
unit of frequency is cycles per second, or Hertz (Hzv Low-energy photons (i.e. radio)
1. How does light behave at radio
tend to behave more like waves, while higher energy photons (i.e. X-rays) behave more
wavelengths and frequencies?
like particles.

One of the characteristics of light is that it behaves like a wave.

2. How does light behave at
... Frequency and wavelength are inversely related, meaning that a low frequency wave
visible wavelengths and
has a long wavelength and vice versa. We can only see light within a certain range
frequencies?
of wavelengths and frequency. This range is called the visible spectrum.

3. How does light behave at high Waves with higher frequency (and thus, shorter wavelengths) generally have
frequencies and very short higher energy. For a review of wavelength and wave frequency, see Wave and Wave
wavelengths? Properties. Electromagnetic radiation occurs in packets of energy called photons.

References
H. Uncertainty Principle
Physicist’s Profile: WERNER HEISENBERG
Date and Location of Birth
Significant Achievements
Significant Awards
Date, Age, and Location of Death
References
5th December, 1901
Werner Heisenberg ranks alongside Niels Bohr, Paul Dirac and Richard Feynmanas far as
his influence on contemporary physics is concerned. He was one of the most important
figures in the development of quantum mechanics, and its modern interpretation.
Heisenberg formulated the quantum theory of ferromagnetism, the neutron-proton model
of the nucleus, the S-matrix theory in particle scattering, and various other significant
breakthroughs in quantum field theory and high-energy particle physics are associated
with him. As a prolific author, Heisenberg wrote more than 600 original research papers,
philosophical essays and explanations for general audiences. His work is still available in
the nine volumes of the “Gesammelte Werke” (Collected Works).
Heisenberg is synonymous with the so-called uncertainty, or indeterminacy, principle of
1927, for one of the earliest breakthroughs to quantum mechanics in 1925, and for his
suggestion of a unified field theory, the so-called “world formula”
He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1932 at the young age of 31.
February 1, 1976
74
Munich
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/werner-heisenberg-5202.php
Uncertainty Principle: QUESTIONS
Questions Your Answer

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: The Equation. ... In a single statement, Heisenberg's

Uncertainty Principle points out that both the position and momentum of a particle cannot
1. What does Heisenberg’s be known at the same time. The more certain you are of one, the more uncertain you are
uncertainty principle claim? of the other.

Mathematically we describe the uncertainty principle as the following, where `x' is

position and `p' is momentum:

2. How is this principle

expressed mathematically?

References
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/21st_century_science/lectures/lec14.html