Schrodinger

At the beginning of the twentieth century, quantum mechanical evidence suggested that atomic particles had wave like qualities. Erwin Schrodinger, discovered that when frequency and de Broglie wavelength were substituted into the general wave equations energy and momentum can be expressed as wave functions. This made it possible to describe an electron with known energy and momentum with a certain wave function, known as Schrodinger's wave equation. From this equation, it was determined that only certain frequency wave frequencies were allowed to exist which corresponded to certain energy states. Schrodinger discovered that standing waves are scalar quantities that describe only magnitude of the energy, as opposed to vector electromagnetic waves that describe magnitude and direction. Schrodinger's equation is as follows: http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae329.cfm?CFID=22924445&CFTOKEN=97720751
 * ==**Schrodinger's Wave Equation**==

The solution to Schrodinger's wave equation yields a set of wave functions and corresponding energies. These wave functions are called orbitals and Schrodinger also discovered each orbital describes a specific density, and therefore each orbital has a characteristic energy and shape. This discovery of probability orbitals where an electron may reside is the discovery that led away from the Bohr model of and led to the quantum mechanical model.


 * =**Schrodinger's Cat**=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Schroedingerscat2.jpg

Schrodinger's cat is a theoretical experiment attempting to explain the differences between how the quantum theory describes matter and how matter's nature is observed on a macroscopic level. Here is his proposed experiment:

A living cat is placed into a steel chamber, along with a device containing a vial of hydrocyanic acid. There is, in the chamber, a very small amount of a radioactive substance. If even a single atom of the radioactive substance decays during the test period, a relay mechanism will trip a hammer, which will, in turn, break the vial and kill the cat. However, since this experiment is performed in a steel box, the observer cannot know whether or not the cat is dead.

Therefore, according to quantum theory, the cat is both dead and alive by the law of superposition. Only when the observer opens the box, disrupts the experiment, does the cat become dead or alive. But the act of observing the cat disrupts the experiment and therefore the outcome does not exist unless observation is made and therefore experimentation disrupted. This implies that all measurements made in quantum mechanics have implied error and therefore do not always follow the predicted theoretical outcome.