Introductory quantum mechanics, special relativity, and atomic physics concepts for a college modern physics course. Front: the term or concept. Back: a plain-language definition.
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- Photon
- A discrete packet of electromagnetic energy, the smallest unit of light, behaving as a particle.
- Planck's constant
- A fundamental constant of nature (6.63 x 10^-34 J·s) that relates the energy of a photon to its frequency (E = hf).
- Wave-particle duality
- The principle that all matter and energy exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties depending on how they are observed.
- Photoelectric effect
- The emission of electrons from a material when light of sufficient frequency strikes it.
- Quantum superposition
- The state in which a quantum system exists in multiple possible states simultaneously until it is measured or observed.
- Uncertainty principle
- The principle that certain pairs of physical properties (like position and momentum) cannot be simultaneously known to arbitrary precision.
- Wave function
- A mathematical function that describes the quantum state of a particle and contains all information about that particle's system.
- Quantum tunneling
- The phenomenon where a particle passes through a potential energy barrier that, according to classical physics, it should not be able to overcome.
- Quantization
- The requirement that certain physical quantities (such as energy) take on only discrete, allowed values rather than any continuous value.
- Energy levels
- The discrete allowed energies that an electron can have while bound to an atom, corresponding to specific orbital shells.
- Bohr model
- An early model of the hydrogen atom in which electrons orbit the nucleus in fixed circular orbits with specific allowed radii and energies.
- De Broglie wavelength
- The wavelength associated with a moving particle, calculated as Planck's constant divided by the particle's momentum (wavelength = h/p).
- Ground state
- The lowest energy state of a quantum system, in which an electron in an atom has minimum energy.
- Excited state
- An energy state of a quantum system higher than the ground state, reached when energy is added to the system.
- Orbital
- A region in an atom where an electron is likely to be found, representing a solution to the Schrodinger equation for that atom.