How did Bohr come up with his model before De Broglie?

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    Bohr De broglie Model
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SUMMARY

The Bohr model of the hydrogen atom, developed around 1915, did not initially incorporate wave mechanics or standing waves to describe electrons. Instead, Bohr explained the discrete energy levels by quantizing the orbital angular momentum, represented by the equation L = mvr = nħ. This approach was later expanded by the Bohr-Sommerfeld model, which introduced the quantization of the action integral. However, inconsistencies with experimental data led to limitations in this model, necessitating further developments in quantum mechanics.

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  • Understanding of Bohr's model of the hydrogen atom
  • Familiarity with angular momentum quantization
  • Basic knowledge of quantum mechanics principles
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  • Research the Bohr-Sommerfeld model and its implications for atomic structure
  • Study De Broglie's hypothesis on wave-particle duality
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  • Explore the textbook "Quantum Physics" by Eisberg & Resnick for deeper insights
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Doesn't the Bohr model use standing waves as a reference? Before De Broglie's hypothesis, how did Bohr manage to assume that electrons are waves?
 
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Lamarr said:
Doesn't the Bohr model use standing waves as a reference?

No.

Before De Broglie's hypothesis, how did Bohr manage to assume that electrons are waves?

He didn't. His original model of 1915 or thereabouts did not use waves at all in describing the hydrogen atom's electrons, as far as I know.

Bohr "explained" hydrogen's discrete energy levels by assuming that the electron's orbital angular momentum is quantized: ##L = mvr = n \hbar##. This of course begs the question, "why is L quantized?" The Bohr-Sommerfeld model generalized the quantization of L to the quantization of the "action integral", which allows for both circular and elliptical orbits. But this line of thought soon petered out because of inconsistency with various experiments. See the Wikipedia article on the Bohr model for a bit about this. For more, see for example the textbook by Eisberg & Resnick.
 
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ah makes perfect sense, and fits in very nicely with de broglie's equation, which is based on Planck's eqn and relativistic momentum.

Now i see how QM and Relativity come together. Thanks.
 

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