I How does the Franck-Hertz experiment demonstrate energy quantization in atoms?

  • I
  • Thread starter Thread starter Pushoam
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Experiment Hertz
Pushoam
Messages
961
Reaction score
53
upload_2018-9-18_10-10-1.png


In the experiment, it is observed that the minimum value of anode current occurs periodically and its period multiplied with e is known as excitation potential energy.

I don't see the link between this periodicity and quantisation of energy levels of atom.
Could anyone please make this clear?
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-9-18_10-10-1.png
    upload_2018-9-18_10-10-1.png
    7.6 KB · Views: 760
Physics news on Phys.org
Pushoam said:
View attachment 230823

In the experiment, it is observed that the minimum value of anode current occurs periodically and its period multiplied with e is known as excitation potential energy.

I don't see the link between this periodicity and quantisation of energy levels of atom.
Could anyone please make this clear?
From the wiki article.
It seems the periodicity is a resonance.When the KE is near a multiple of the 4.9eV energy then absorption is more likely.

They discovered that, when an electron collided with a mercury atom, it could lose only a specific quantity (4.9 electron volts) of its kinetic energy before flying away.[4] This energy loss corresponds to decelerating the electron from a speed of about 1.3 million meters per second to zero.[5] A faster electron does not decelerate completely after a collision, but loses precisely the same amount of its kinetic energy. Slower electrons merely bounce off mercury atoms without losing any significant speed or kinetic energy.
 
Not an expert in QM. AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is quite different from the classical wave equation. The former is an equation for the dynamics of the state of a (quantum?) system, the latter is an equation for the dynamics of a (classical) degree of freedom. As a matter of fact, Schrödinger's equation is first order in time derivatives, while the classical wave equation is second order. But, AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is a wave equation; only its interpretation makes it non-classical...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
Is it possible, and fruitful, to use certain conceptual and technical tools from effective field theory (coarse-graining/integrating-out, power-counting, matching, RG) to think about the relationship between the fundamental (quantum) and the emergent (classical), both to account for the quasi-autonomy of the classical level and to quantify residual quantum corrections? By “emergent,” I mean the following: after integrating out fast/irrelevant quantum degrees of freedom (high-energy modes...
Back
Top