Question

What did Schrodinger and Heisenberg discover about the atom?

Answer 1

Schrodinger's discovery about the atom:-

• According to Schrodinger, electrons were made up of waves.
• Electrons were smudged waves that extended throughout space and time, instead of just a single point in space and time.
• Schrödinger's model of the atom was not physical, but rather it was mathematical.
• The new equation was not quite effective for describing the objects or atoms, but he then realized that it might be used to predict their attributes.

$\stackrel{\wedge }{\mathrm{H}}\mathrm{\psi }=\mathrm{E\psi }$, where $\stackrel{\wedge }{\mathrm{H}}=$Hamilton operator(Energy operator), $\mathrm{E}=$Energy eigenvalue

Heisenberg's discovery about the atom:-

• Werner Heisenberg described atoms using a matrix-based mathematical model. His atomic model backed up Bohr's atomic model, where the electron exists as a particle.
• Heisenberg realised that the only way of finding the electrons is by looking at them.
• In order to see it we would need to cast light on it, but this would excite the electron which will cause it to travel.
• Just staring at an electron will shift its location. Due to this, he understood that the uncertainty that was in his atomic model was a very necessary part of it.
• Hence, there was no such experiment that could determine the momentum as well as the position of an electron simultaneously.
• As a result of this, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle exists, where the momentum and the position of an electron cannot be simultaneously determined.