Question #060e3

1 Answer
Mar 11, 2016

Bohr actually utilized a quantum hypothesis when he developed his model of the H-atom. Schrodinger expanded upon Bohr's discoveries with wave equations for particles (electrons)

Explanation:

He expanded on Planck, who discovered that blackbody radiation was emitted in specific "allowed" energies and not others. He proposed that electrons in H-atoms were allowed to be in certain "orbits" (almost like planets revolving around the sun) but not other distances or energies. His brilliance was that this hypothesis was not classical in nature, but was very consistent with experimental evidence. The consistency with known H-atom transitions was not refutable, so Planck's ideas had to be taken seriously.

Schrodinger expanded on this concept when he used the idea that electrons were wave-like (a De Broglie idea) and arrived at a wave equation that was consistent with Bohr, but could only exactly be solved for 1 electron atoms. His equation gives us an idea of where an electron is likely to be.