Abcs of Quantum Mechanics by Rydnik PDF
Abcs of Quantum Mechanics by Rydnik PDF
Abcs of Quantum Mechanics by Rydnik PDF
Preface
by
V. Rydnik
ISBN: 0-89875-581-6
Copyright 2001 by University Press of the Pacific
Reprinted from the 1978 edition
University Press of the Pacific
Honolulu, Hawaii
http://www.universitypressofthepacific.com
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
-----------------new concepts. It will describe how the new theory deciphered the secrets of the structure of
atoms, molecules, crystals, atomic nuclei, and
how quantum mechanics is dealing with the problem of the most fundamental of all properties
of matter - the interaction of particles and the
relationships between fields and matter.
Contents
In Lieu of an Introducucn . . .
The Outlines of the New World
The Temple of Classical Mechanics
The Temple Collapses.
.
How the New Theory was Named
Physicists BUild Models .
.
Not Everything Can be Modelled
The Invisible, Untouchable World
Difficult but Interesting
II
12
15
17
18
20
23
25
26
29
31
32
34
35
36
38
40
43
44
46
48
SO
S3
57
59
61
7
II
A Remarkable Article
A Little about Ordmary Waves
Getting Acquainted with Mauer Waves
Why Can't We See de Broglie Waves?
The Wave IS Found
Two-Faced Parucles
Pilot Waves
Together or Separately?
A VISit to the'<Shootmg
Range
Waves of Probabrltty
Probability Enters Into PhySICS
Cauuous Predrcnons
Waves of Particles and Particles of Waves
On the Way to the Wave Law
Measurmg Instruments Take over
The Uncertainty Relation
What IS to Blame, the Instrument or the Electron?
An Attempt with Rather Faulty Tool,
Another Marvel
The Uncertainty Relation Once Agam
Matter Waves Again
The Wave Function
Waves and Quanta are United
65
66
67
68
71
75
76
78
80
83
84
87
90
91
95
98
101
103
106
109
112
114
116
120
124
125
128
130
132
136
140
142
147
149
155
158
162
164
165
On the Threshold
The First Step
The Second Step
The Search for the Mysterious Meson
The Strongest Forces of All
Once Again about the Stability of Nuclei
Tunnels III Nuclei
?
Does the Nucleus Consist of Shells?
Where do Gamma Rays Come fr~m
The Nucleus as a Liquid Drop
The Liquid-Drop Nucleus Splits
The Secrets of Nuclear FISSion
H
M'
Nuclei Can There Be?
ow Nu~f:u~ as Shells and Liquid Drop Together:
Partrcles Fly out of the Nucleus that Were Never There
The Electron Has an Accomplice
Electrons are Born in Nuclei
The Hungry Nucleus
171
173
176
180
181
185
187
191
193
196
198
200
203
204
207
209
212
215
219
221
224
226
228
231
::!35
237
240
242
245
246
249
251
254
256
259
::!64
265
268
270
9
274
276
279
281
283
287
290
292
295
297
299
302
306
308
310
312
MECHANICS TO
Indeterminable Determmacies .
.
The Biography of Quantum Mechanics .
Quantum Mechanics Gets Its Second Wmd
315
320
324
In Lieu of an Introduction
Atomic energy. Radioactive isotopes. Semiconductors.
Elementary particles. Masers. Lasers. All quite familiar
terms, yet the oldest IS hardly twenty-five years of age.
They are all children of twentieth-century
physics.
In this age, knowledge is advancing at a fantastic
rate, and every new step opens up fresh vistas.
The old sciences are going through a second youth.
PhySICS has pushed out ahead of all others and is
pioneering into the unknown. As the front broadens,
the attack slows up only to make renewed thrusts
forward.
To get at the secrets of nature, physics has had
to find powerful instruments, to devise precise and
convincing experiments. At the physics headquarters
are hundreds and thousands of theoreticians mapping
out the offensive and studying the trophies captured
in the experiments. This is no struggle in the dark.
The field of battle is lighted up with powerful physical
theories. The strongest searchlights of present-day
physics are the theory of relativity and quantum
mechanics.
Quantum mechamcs carne in with the twentieth
century. Date of birth: December 17, 1900. It was
II
F
on this day that the German physicist Max Planck
reported to a meeting of the Berlin Academy of
Sciences Physical Society on his attempt to overcome
one of the difficulties of the theory of thermal
radiation
Dlfnculhes are a common thmg in science. Every
day scientists come up against them. But Planck's
encounter had a very special significance, for it
foreshadowed the development of physics for many
years to come.
An enormous tree of new knowledge has grown
out of the seminal ideas expressed by Planck, which
served as a starung point for amazing discoveries
far beyond the unagmauon of the wildest sciencefiction writers. Out of Planck's concepts grew quantum
mechanics, which opened up an entirely new world the world of the ultrasmall, of atoms, atomic nuclei
and elementary parucles,
The Temple
of Classical
Mechanics
17
,.
19
IS
for us to
"
I[
of light as electromagnetic
In
waves b
We are accustomed
t
always
berng the mot 0
the water for ocean w Ion
ki
th
m~
In
of
visualized.
wave as
medium:
of a material
wa:e:es~ the air for sound waves
a e capable of propagauon In
But electromagnetic
an absolute void.
particles
are ermtted
Y mean
aenter
II d rrecnons,
and
th
. . stimulate thee
e eye. giving the sensation
no difficulty In'
in empty space. imaguung
how
In the model
d,g
particles These
escent bodies n
omi nerve when
Y
In
opuc
they
of Itght Th
.
.
ere
now
move
IS
particles
these
~ms~;I~
w
~~ddcorpuscular
. IS something
of th
the atom.
But developing
o~~:7~~
.t
science demanded
of conceptions
be worked
out.
no matter
how
unconventional
they might be It was hard to construct
quantum mechanics but It had to be done
It surely would have been easier to build theones
based on vlsuahzable
models
of the surroundwg
the
Syst~~w~~~~\~:'dtor
we ourselves
imensrons of the
serve?
~~~Ie~oar~: ;enera~ly
so 'unvisualizable',
yet so dear to phySICists that no one
wants to give them up. Which IS too bad, because
the time WIll come very soon - If we run ahead 10 our
matter.
IOcludmg
2S
24
________
phySICS in that
the world
of the
ultrasmall
is of
prime Importance.
II I
__b__
In
temperature.
and conditions
an which
thermal
radiation
15
Here's why.
they differ
10
colour
A careful examination
Will show that there are
differences. One has a faint tinge. another has a deep.
any.
30
Laws,
Not
Rough
our laws
Approximations
more
exactly,
In
the
language of phySICS.
The first states that the radiatmg capacity of a black
body, that is the energy It emits 10 the form of light
and heat every second, is proportional to the fourth
power of Its absolute
temperature. * This law was
Absolute temperature
degrees CelSIUS
32
IS
soon
as
have
11
phenomenon
laws. an attempt
15
Immediately
made to combine
them
all aspects at
once.
findings.
discovered
bound!
Of course. this doesn't occur. There can never be
an unbounded growth m wave intensity.
If a physical
law leads to 'unboundedness',
It IS doomed.
Nature
has large things. very large. even umrnagmably
large
thmgs, but there IS nothing without bounds. except the
universe
This
34
Itself.
CUriOUS
situation
that arose
in the theory
of
JS
].
and
.15
Quanta of Energy
What was It in classical physics that made it
Impossible to denve Planck's formula? Nothing less than
one of Its most fundamental premises: the statement, so
common and unshakable to the physicists of those days,
that energy is continuous.
At first glance thts would seem to contradict the
spirit of classical physics, which from the very start
recognized the discontmuity of thmgs as an underlying
principle. It appeared quite ObVlOUS.If we have empty
space In the world, all objects have to be separated
from one another and have boundanes. Objects do not
pass one into another in connnuous fashion, each one
ends at some point.
Maybe the situanon IS different inside thmgs. No,
there doesn't seem to be any continuity here either.
Classical physics, at the end of the 19th century. was
forced to recognize the existence of molecules and of
empty space between them. The molecules had clear-cut
boundaries, and only the void between was conunuous.
Incidentally, molecules somehow managed to Interact
through this emptiness. Since the nme of Faraday,
classical physics had been trying to account for such
interaction by the existence of some sort of intermediate
medium, via which the mutual action effects of the
molecules were conveyed.
38
uninterrupted
stream of light. Or take the smooth
build-up of speed (and with it, energy) of a locomotive
moving downhill, of a falling stone.
Imagme for a moment that energy is acquired and
given up in httle portions. One calls to mind the
jerky movies of years ago. One pictures the candle
Oaring up and dying down, the sun shimng in bursts,
as it were, a nash of radiant energy, and then a lull
until the next flash. The train moving down a slope
10 Jerks, the stone bumping along through the air in its
plunge to earth.
"Sneer nonsense!" was the answer Planck most likely
got from his first suggestion that the energy of radiation
(like matter itself) IS atomistic and that It ts released
and acquired not continuously but III small portions,
quanta, as Planck called them, from the Latin 'quantum'
meaning quantity. If he had only known the quality that
would eventually grow out of such quantity!
For Planck's formula, quanta were vitally important.
Without them, ii would have failed miserably and would
have gone to the dusty archives of science along with
so many others that have found no substantiation.
These quanta of energy served as a firm foundation
for Planck's formula. But the foundation itself rested
on practically nothing since there was no place for It In
classical physics. That is exactly what troubled the
cautious Planck. It is no easy mailer to give up a lifetime
of habit.
40
Phenomenon
Photons
Einstein regarded the photoelectric effect from a
dilTerent angle. He attempted to picture the actual
process of the ejection of an electron from a metal
by hght.
44
The situation
changes
If the
waves
and
under
no
circumstances
What is Light?
Actually,
the
46
sodium.
49
51
r
Rutherford called this part of the atom the core
(nucleus). Then where are the electrons? The old view that
the electrons were bound to the posmve charge In the
atom by the electric forces of attraction was not In doubt.
But Since the electrons exist at a certain distance from the
core, there must be some force that counterbalances the
electric force of mutual attraction of electrons and
nucleus.
It was obvious that this force had to be operative
all the time. Atoms exist for a sufficiently long time,
and so the countering force would obviously have to be
Just as constant as the force of electrical attraction
between electrons and nucleus.
It seemed reasonable to thmk that this was a centnfugal
force. It appears tf electrons revolve about an atomic core.
It could be calculated whether the force IS sufficient to
keep the electrons from falhng into the nucleus.
Calculations showed that It IS quite sufficient If the
electrons revolving about the nucleus move at speeds
of many tens of thousands of kilometres per second
and at a distance from the nucleus of the order of
hundred millionths of a centimetre.
ThIS was the Rutherford model or the atom. A ball
swinging round at the end of a rope had mdirectly
suggested to Newton the Idea of planetary gravitation;
this same Idea now led Rutherford to the mgemous
and perfectly correct (as the future has shown) concept
of a planetary structure of the atom.
Now we can return to the problem of why bodies
ermt light and seek the answer m the new model of the
atom. The motion of electrons about the nucleus IS
accelerated motion (the electrons move along closed
curves). Hence, there must be electromagnetic radiation.
The classical laws are equally applicable to the Thomson
model and the Rutherford model of the atom. But,
5~
54
are, the blacker the line. The more photons, the brighter
the body that has emitted them.
What a simple and elegant explanation of spectra.
All the atoms of a certain substance are exactly
alike. Hence, the electrons all exist under the same conditions. And so the photons emitted during Jumps between two orbits are all the same. All transitions that
electrons make between two orbits yield, in the final
analysis. a smgle unique spectral line.
We have already mentioned that there
3fC
quite a
anyone
of them, in turn.
56
And conversely,
by examimng a spectrum, one can
draw all manner of conclusions
about the conditions
under which atomic electrons exist. This is very im-
put
another
one
on the ground
near the
hole.
IS,
If
we reckon the
57
farther
It IS
Its
total
Excited Atoms
Again we have to deal wrth our ball. Why doesn't
It fall? Which IS a silly quesuon, since there IS nowhere to fall.
We have a similar situation with an atomic electron
at low temperatures. There is nowhere to Jump to.
The electron is located In the orbit closest to the nucleus;
from here the only place to fall is onto the nucleus,
which is Just as impossible as for our ball to fall
through the earth.
The electron energy IS at ItS lowest. The electron has
nothing left to lose. Therefore, It cannot errut any light.
It IS evident that the electron must first be m an
orbit some distance from the nucleus so as to be able
to fall closer to the nucleus. The quesuon is: How
does the electron get into an outer orbit? The same
way that a ball can get to the top of a ladder, say:
by us puttmg It there, which IS to say, by giving It
some energy
The same thing goes for the electron. To put It IOta
a distant orbit, we must give It some energy More
specifically. we have to Impart to the electron a portion
of energy that IS at least as much as the energy dtfference between the two orbits.
There are different ways of del.vermg the energy. One
common way occurs 111 the thermal motion of atoms
when one atom with sufficient speed collides wuh another, giving up the fight amount of energy. At room
temperature, such collisions are common. but the energy
IStoo low. When the temperature reaches hundreds and
S9
A Remarkable Article
In \924, the September issue of the English "Philosophical Magazine" carried an article by an unknown
physicist, Louis de Broglie. The author described the
principal points of his dissertation, which was devoted
to the possible existence of matter waves.
Waves of matter? Weren't they the commonly known
sound, light and other such waves, which are qui te
material and which are perceived by our sense organs
or are recorded by instruments?
No, it turns out that de Broglie had in mind quite
different waves. The views expressed by de Broglie were
so unorthodox and paradoxical that they could easily
compete in originality with those put forward by Planck
a quarter of a century before concerning quanta of
energy. And not only as to their importance to physics, but also in the way they were received by very
many physicists: open incredulity.
What are these matter waves, anyway?
Before going into item, let us take a look at
'ordinary' waves, which had been thoroughly studied
hy that time.
5-70
65
Waves
Waves
67
Waves?
69
mv
66x
10-27
I00 x I00
= 6.6 x 10-
31
cm
pz---------------
Not much better than the earth's de Broglie wavelength. Absolutely hopeless of ever being detected. It IS
a million, rnilhon, million times smaller than the atomic
nucleus, which itself is far beyond the range of any
microscope.
Now let us take the electron. It has a mass of about
10-27 gram. If an electron begins to move in an
electric field with a potential difference of one volt, It
Will acquire a velocity of 6 x 101 centimetres per second.
Puttmg these figures into the de Broglie relanon gives
us
6.6 X 10-27
10-7
6 X 10' x 10 27 =
cm
This is something quite different. 10-7 em corresponds
approximately to the wavelengths of x-rays. which can
be detected. Thus, 10 principle, we should be able to
detect a de Broglie electron wave.
x -ray pal/ern
Fi g. t
Electron diffraction
pattern
Fig.2
P. Tartakovsky
verified
it
In
an experi-
or electrons by a crystal.
diffraction
only on atoms
in the outermost
plate
In
the same
74
Two-Faced Particles
Even before these decisive expenments,
trying
to get at the
real
meanmg
SCientists were
of the
de Broglie
small
and
very
lrghtwerght
particle
of matter
asked
what
curred Inside
It.
shape
this
particle
had
or what
oc-
different?
Pilot Waves
Let's go back to riding the surf. The rider gets on the
crest of a high wave that carries him to the shore. The
wave acts as a pilot.
De Broglie's idea is that matter waves pilot moving
particles of matter in a similar fashion. A particle,
as it were, sits on a wave and moves wherever the
matter wave carries it.
The length of this wave, de Broglie says, may be
very great. At small velocities of motion of an electron,
the length of the electron wave is many thousands of
times greater than the electron. As the velocity increases,
the particle, as it were, pulls the wave into itself, and
the wave becomes shorter. But even at high velocities
of motion the length of an electron wave is still greater
than the 'dimensions' of the electron itself.
It doesn't exactly matter who leads whom, the
electron the wave or the wave the electron. The important thing is that the wave is connected with
the electron intimately and for all time. The electron
wave disappears only when the electron stops. At this
76
are, they cannot form a particle. Thrs IS fundamentally impossible. The point is that these packets
rapidly dismtegrate 10 time, even in a total vacuum
In negligible intervals of ume, a packet becomes so
smeared out 10 space that the formerly compact
particle IS diluted to homeopathic proportions. Yet we
know that particles are definitely stable, there is not
a trace of any kmd of spreading out In time.
ThIS model too had to be given up The mechameal combmmg
of two such mutually exclusive
entities as waves and particles IOta a stogie Image
was not a success, And It couldn't be But that came
later De Broglie, however, did not want to give up
hIS 'centaur' with the head of a particle and the body
of a wave.
Two years passed. In the summer of 1927, phYSICISts
from all over the world arnved 10 Brussels at the
Solvay Congress at which de Broglie's representauon
on the relauonship between waves and particles was
resoundingly rejected. For many years to come, a completely different representation of this relauonship led
the way It was presented at the congress by two
young German physicists, Werner Heisenberg and
Erwm Schrodmger
Together or Separately?
Heisenberg and Schrodrnger buned the de Broglie
concepnons. but spoke to doing so that this deterrruned the whole subsequent development of quantum
mechanics.
The prmcipal idea of de Broglie concerning waves
associated with the motion of bodies was quickly
taken up by scientists 10 a number of countries.
Hardly a year passed after de Broglie's first paper
78
appeared when the German phYSICIStMax Born proposed hIS own idea of the de Broglie waves.
Heisenberg, Born's pupil, who was Just begmnmg
his career In science, got interested m the problem.
De Broghe's research was heatedly discussed by another
group of physicists that included Schrodmger,
And then ... but we won't keep to the chronological order of events The concluding episodes of
a film shown at the begmnmg help to understand
what IS gomg on and heighten the dramatic effect.
Recall the expenrnent that proved the diffraction of
electrons. In it an electron beam impmged on a crystal
(or a very thin metal foil). The electrons of the beam
experienced diffraction on the atoms of the crystal and
impinged on a photographic
plate foggmg It and
leaving diffraction rings.
We may now add that the electron beam produced
by an Incandescent metallic filament was specially
formed. A diaphragm with a small Circular aperture
was inserted between the source and the crystal.
As a result, after the electron beam had passed
through the diaphragm It had definite cross-sectional
dimensions.
What would have happened If we had stopped the
expenment at the very start when there were only,
say, several tens of electrons? When the photographic pia te was developed we would see sornethmg hke
a target peppered Withshot by an mexperienced nfleman
The dark dots correspond to the hits of separate
electrons distributed over the plate quite at random.
Conunumg the experiment. we would see a gradually
emerging regularity In places where the electrons strike
the target After several thousand shots, the plate would
reveal c1earcut dark and light rings, which were actually
detected by SCientists.
79
on the plate
utterly at random.
But there IS one thing that attracts our attention.
81
Fig. 3
Waves of Probability
True enough, the wave-like curve is never encountered
in shootmg. Electrons are not bullets. A bullet has
too big a mass for it to exhibit wave properties.
It was this distribution curve of electron tracks
on a photographic
plate after their reflection from
the crystal that Born proposed calling the de Broglie
wave.
83
It stated: "It is hopeless to think that all the molecules of a gas have the same velocity at every
instant of time. On the contrary, they have different velocites and, what is more, the velocrues are constantly
undergoing change due to collisions. However, despite
the random nature of these changes in velocity, there
exists, at every instant of time, some mean, stable
molecular velocity under the given conditions. What
is random as concerns one molecule becomes a regulanty when applied to a large number of molecules.
Such IS the probabihty law of large numbers. And
the number of molecules 10 our volumes of gas is
indeed large, m fact so large that the law can be
apphed WIthout the slightest hesrtation or doubt."
Physicists began to calculate the behaviour of large
assembhes of molecules statistically. according to the
laws of probabihty theory. But in one respect they
did not want to agree with the theory of probability. They maintained that there was no randomness In molecular monon, that every collision, every
individual motion of a molecule could be descnbed
by Newtonian laws and that If one desired to solve
millions of millions of equations, he could express these
motions with absolute precision and without any
kind of mean values. We don't do that, of course;
but m pnnciple it could be done! We describe the
motion of a gas by means of probability laws, by the
laws of stausucs, but underlying them all are the
exact laws of Newtonian mechanics.
Classical physics was Just a little too sure of Itself;
there were simply no grounds for generalizing Newton's
laws to the monon of individual molecules. The subsequent development of phySICS proved this. Molecules are not billiard balls. They move and collide
and m doing so obey quite different laws.
86
Cautious Predictions
These were new laws, laws obeyed by electrons,
atoms, and molecules. The first to 'rebel' were the
electrons. They did not want to fit into the framework
of behaviour of classical phySICS. Instead of huung
the photographic plates where they should. they
"used their own free will and did what they wanted
to!" shouted some SCientists
shocked by the disobedience of electrons.
Physicists weak 10 philosophy were easily led astray.
Since the electron had a 'wnl of Its own', there were
no laws that it obeyed. a real anarchist. And If
that's the case, why do we need SCience, which seeks
laws, if there are no laws? God. they reasoned, had
made the electron (and hence all thmgs in the world)
free to behave as It wished, exempt from all laws except
one - the divme law of its existence. But science does not
investigate this law, 11 grasps It by sheer faith. QUIte
a simple matter, you see - from the 'free wtll" of the
electron to out-and-out idealism.
Matenahsts countered by saying that the new laws
hold where the laws of classical physics fall
ThIS was predicted by Lerun. Twenty years before
the time we are now describing he said that no matter
what unusual electron properties might be discovered.
they would mean only one thmg - a deeper and more
correct understanding of the surrounding world.
Electrons refused to follow the laws of classical
phYSICS.but they obeyed the laws of the new. quantum,
mecharucs.
What kmd of laws were they? First of all. they
were probability laws. What did the light nngs on
photographic plates (negatives) m the expenrnent with
the diffraction of electrons sigrnfy? Simply that electrons
87
this
our
curve of hits
In
of overcautious.
And
It
89
90
to the Wave
Law
of electrons
Now how IS
91
In phySICSthe construction of new and large theones often begins With the search for a single Important
formula It is called the law of mollon. A farmhar
case IS Newton's second law. which connects the
acceleration of a body WIth the magnitude and direcnon of the force acting on the body. But we don't
actually see the force and accelerations. all we observe
is the translation of bodies in space and time under
the acuon of forces. It IS this motion that Newton's
92
Measuring
Now let's get back to the de Broglie waves. According to the interpretation of Born and the final form
of the Schrodmger equation, these waves mamfest
themselves, for example, In the wave-like distribution
of electron Impacts on a photographic
plate. But,
as we have seen. one needs a lot of electrons to
produce a clear pattern.
But of what significance is a de Broglie wave for a single
electron? We know that too' It deflects the electron
from the classical trajectory. Without this deflection
there would not be any diffraction pattern at all.
That would seem to be clear. Yet there is sornethmg
not quite satisfactory.
After so much talk about
the strange world of the ultrasmall, one rather wants
the wave properties of the particles to be unusual
10 some way or another.
Well, let's see what the microworld has to say.
Suppose we want to take a measurement. We are not
interested in the specific type of measuring Instrument.
All it has to do IS to keep tabs on the electrons, measure
their velocities and' positions in space at every instant
of time.
The electron is a very small particle. It requires an
ultrastrong microscope. Imagine we have created a
microscope of the right power. Question number one:
How are we gomg to carry out the measurement?
To see an object, we have to illuminate it in some way.
95
It?
Luckily,
there
are
gamma
rays
with
mv
m=
Ie
p=mc=1:
its momentum
and bounces
ofT into
the
its direction
of motion.
of light.
electron,
When
a gamma
forget about
images
photon
collides
or diffraction
with
an
rings. The
97
into a baby-carriage.
By now It should
of
measuring instruments
In the world of the ultrasmall
are limited, to say the least. They cannot measure
particle mouons WIth any degree of accuracy,
What are these inaccuracies, or, better still, uncertainties of measurement?
The answer IS given by the
uncertainty
.1x
x ~v.:c ~-
h
m
h/2T< stands
In
place of
n,
but
.6.vx
7'
h/m
h/m
.6.x = -O-~00
99
IS for: to translate
In
the
Other
electron
has wave
properties,
what
does
that
mean?
frequency of a pendulum:
105
Another Marvel
Kids will Jump over fences to get Into a cherry orchard.
I'~-""\
"
"'''
~
Q,)
.....
t:::::
0()
I"
I
I.:J...
'"
,......
Patentwl,'
well
-------_...
,/
t: \
I
_~ '"
.Sl
.... \
.~
II
\
\
\
~
~
\
' ....
--------
Fig.4
Fi g. 5
Fig.6
mv2
-2-
Fig. 7
location; make
sure
that
It IS located
t 13
115
of
Fig,8
an electron
10
an atom can
exist
only
10
energy quanta and that of de Broglie on matter waves and demonstrated their intimate interrelationship.
Without the de Broglie waves there would be no Planck
quanta!
Thus it was that these two rivulets merged into
a mighty stream of new knowledge. Let us follow
this broadening river and see what new landscapes
open up.
Atoms, molecules,
crystals
Clouds
in Place of Orbits
Fi g. 9
in Diversity
Another Marvel-But
as Yet Unexplained
Ne
Oxygen
Fig.
Exhibition
10
of projects of an atomic
architect
129
Crazy Atoms
So far we have dealt with two basic principles
of the structure and filhng-m of atomic buildings:
the Pauli principle and the pnnciple of best energy
distribution.
How does
2112.
131
a result,
we
don't
get
an
exact
and
simple
correspondence
between the shells and the penods.
But the capacuy of any period does not exceed the
capacity of its corresponding shells. Thus the quantum
picture
gives a good
account
of one important
feature
we were
taught
that
valence
represents
- more
correctly,
valence
with
respect
to
I]]
all contacts with the ordinary rank and file atoms. Whence
their name: noble, or inert. They make up the last
column 10 the Periodic Table.
The 'aristocrats' of the atomic world move about
among the 'common people', who try to copy them
in every way. The 'common' atoms make every attempt
to fill up their outermost shell to the eight-electron
set.
Since they are not able to do that by themselves,
they are on the constant look-out for partners This
results In what chemists call a reaction. Really,
it is a kmd of self-sacrifice: one gives up his attire to
the other and remains stark naked. Though not exactly,
and what is more, It refers only to atoms that come
after neon.
By way of
illustration,
let
us
take
reaction
electron
has a handsome
in its
set
of seven electrons
in its outer shell. The sodium
graciously
sacrifices
Its sole
electron
and chlorine
then achieves a 'noble' eight-electron outer shell.
But sodium has gained as well. It now exhibits
a full complement
neon.
Two
'aristocrats'
of
'common
people'
become
two
as a smgle molecule.
Atoms can, as we see, be divided into givers and
takers. Those with less than four electrons
in their
outer shell are givers. Those with more than four are
takers. Naturally, It IS easier to acquire two electrons,
say, than to give up six (that, by the way, is the situatron
10
detail.
IS
If the energy
dmumshes,
a photon
IS
born.
If the
of energy
to and after the Jump. In this situation, the probability of a jump is, roughly speaking, greater for a stronger overlapping
or a deeper interpenetration
of these
clouds.
Figuratively speaking, an electron can jump into
another state like a passenger can cross from one moving
train to another when one comes up alongside the
other. So, to push the analogy fight to the end, the
passenger must have energy enough for the jump,
the trams must be side by side, the longer the trains
(that is, the greater the range of space they will
be together) and the closer they are together, the
easier it will be for the passenger to make the transition.
Something quite similar occurs In the atom. Here,
the 'trams' are in the form of electron clouds, which,
we know, can be in diverse shapes. sphencal, cigarlike and others.
Studies of the shapes of electron clouds yield rather
simple (simple as far as words are concerned) relauonships. Two spherical clouds with a common centre
(the atomic nucleus) yield a very slight Interpenetration;
IS
now
of photon
energy:
h
tJ.E-~
81
Fig.
And the underdressed
11
term ionic
molecule.
The adhesive forces In such molecules
are
mainly the forces of ordinary electric attraction between
ions with different charges. So far quantum mechanics
to do.
is a great diversity
of Ionic
molecules.
Here,
retorts
proudly,
"Then
are exactly
the same."
Meanwhile,
our atomic architect
who has been
listening to the conversation steps In with a suggestion
(he is now hurldmg
molecules Instead of atoms):
"You might as well pool your resources, since you'll
of his partner
same."
they cry
10
unison.
"we've
electrons"
electrons?"
sixth orbit
to go over
the electron
of one atom would
to the other. We'd get something
Fig,
12
Fig,
13
up anything
like that.
All of which
quite different
made up or.
are so great
that
arttfictnl
tnatertnls
are
147
Structures of Crystals
Forbidden band
lblence
band
Fi g. 14
::::i:.:.:i::::I.,:.:
..:f.::::.::.:.:.:~::::[.:.::.:~.:.::::i:.:.:::~.::.i:::::1:::.::.;:.,::'::':'::::~:":;~::.:::.:.:;[
Fig.
15
molecule.
completely.
It would
seem
therefore
that
an
an electron
sequence.
Fi g. 16
Fi g. 17
current:
the probability
of penetration
in a hot-plate.
This
heating,
In
turn,
adds
fresh
currents
In
Insulators.
These
currents
are very
applications.
157
158
161
current
at room
temperature,
and
is applied to a semiconductor,
a directed flow of
electrons IS set up In the conduction band. Now let us
see what is happening In the basement.
Things are developing there too. The point IS that
when an electron moves out of the basement into
the ground floor it leaves behind a vacant room.
The densely populated basement Immediately begms
a redivision of hving quarters. Now only one electron
is permitted to move mto the room; this is straightway done by one of the electrons close at hand.
But it In turn leaves behind an empty room, which
again, in turn, IS occupied by a fresh electron.
In Jumping from room to room, the basement
electrons imitate the freely moving electron on the
ground floor Something like a kangaroo copying
a human runner The runner takes small and fast
jumps, but from a distance it looks as if he were
smoothly building up speed; the kangaroo takes only
a few long Jumps.
If we take It that the first electron room W<.lS
vacated in the centre of the city, the resettlement of
electrons results In the room moving out to the city
limits
ThIS travelling electron room was given the rather
derogatory name of 'hole'. Its behaviour IS Just the
converse of that of the electron whtch left the holein an electric field It moves in the opposite direction,
like a posuively charged particle. Another difference
IS that It moves In slower and larger Jumps.
At low temperatures all the electrons are securely
trapped III the basement. As the temperature nses,
however, more and more of them are released, the
current increases and the resistance of the semiconductor diminishes -It is Just the other way around
for a metal conductor.
163
So far we have
conductors.
been
talking
about
The
pure
current mechanism
here
conductivity, Pure semiconductors,
intrinsic
are of little interest to technologists.
that semiconductors
IS called Impurities.
are capable
Useful
senu-
IS called
however.
of come
with
what
'Dirt'
IS
not always
sauce
know
the reason:
impurity
atoms
get
Increases.
Yet these very lattice imperfections are the key to
the success of semiconductors.
The fact of the matter
In the forbidden
band that separates the valence band
from the conduction band. These levels originate only
where there are Impurity atoms. To distinguish them
from levels exrstmg In the whole crystal of the semiconductor, they are called local levels.
The amount of rrnpunues
In a metal also affects
the conducuvrty, but always In only one direction - the
more Impurities, the lower the conductivity. And the
range of variation IS relatively small. Now in semiconductors, the elect neal conductivity may be vaned
not only by the number of Impurity atoms but also
by the type of impurity atom, and the changes may
be thousandfold and nullionfold I
most
common
impunty
semiconductors
are
Fig.
18
Fig.
19
Acceplorl--
----J
Level
Fig. 20
The interior
of the atomic nucleus
On the Threshold
Atoms, molecules, crystals, now what?
Quantum mechanics will now take us on a trip
deep into the interior of the atomic nucleus itself
There are still marvels to be uncovered.
In the twenties, no one could even Imagine what
this would lead to. the physicist was simply cuneus.
The atomic nucleus had much to offer. At that
time, quantum
mechanics was celebrating its first
victories in atomic combat, and hardly anything at
all was known about the deep inner core of the
atom.
We shall begin with what httle was known at
that time. At the very end of the nineteenth century, the Frenchman
Becquerel quite accidentally
noticed that some substances are capable of clouding
a photographic
plate. Following up this discovery,
Marie Sklodowska and Pierre Curie found that thrs
property is possessed by three chemical elements at
the end of the Periodic Table - radium. polonium
and uranium.
The phenomenon was called radioactivity. Theoreticians 10 those days were very embarrassed by the
171
radiation on-
t77
,,'
179
energy that must be Imparted to an assembly of particles III order to break it up 1010 its constituents
Naturally, the more particles there are in a system,
the greater this energy must be. To describe stability,
we usually take the binding energy per particle. ThIS
energy IS measured III special units called electronvolts. One electron-volt IS the energy acquired by an
electron when passing through a potential difference
of one volt III an electric field. In our world of big
things. this Unit is very small, but for the atomic
world it is quite appreciable.
The bonds between molecules of many substances
break up even at room temperature so that such substances exist as gases under ordinary conditions. The
binding energy between such molecules IS of the order
of hundredths of an electron-volt per molecule.
To break down these molecules into mdividual
atoms, a much bigger energy IS needed, roughly ten
electron-volts per atom. This corresponds to Impressive
temperatures ranging up to thousands and tens of thousands of degrees.
To decompose atoms into their constituent electrons
and bare core (nucleus) IS still more difficult. We know
that atomic electrons have different energies corresponding to their couphng with the nuclei. The energy
range IS from tens to thousands of electron-volts.
Nuclear particles have binding energies in the milhans of electron-volts! Now It is clear why nuclei are
unaffected by even the very strongest of nonnuclear
forces. Even If two nuclei collide With speeds of thermal
motion at thousand-degree temperatures, the ellect will
be hardly more than that of a rubber ball bouncing
against a wall of granite.
Studying the work of the nuclear architect. phYSICiStS
determined the stability of the various nuclei and
182
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'"
""
'"::z
"0
-a'
""C:;~
'"
""~"
:t '"
<::> "
t:!
"''''
~~
~n~
C;:) .~
::::1:=
15~
~ .....
".i'l
i5'"
"c::: ~
~.C::lIOL
..
'" ..
~ V>
'<nx~~
"'"
~~
< ::,
~~
ce
.., l:l'~
~~
",,;s.
5;;;
",'"
'- 't
~\~~
"'-!\"E
~"
~ ~
S; .~
~
(,j~;:s;
,,~
III'-
'"
Vi
...
""~
""
~.~
" ....:t
..
.....
ll;
Sl]
0>
~
x
~.,
li'l S5
/felatiYe
-..
N
s~
~"
.... c:::"t:j
184
.s
~"'"
tl'"
""~
~.. x
SO>
~ ~
'"
abundance ;nZ
Tunnels in Nuclei
Very complex laws govern the stability of nuclei. They
have been under study by SCientists for over thirty years
187
into the conduction band in semiconductors and Insulators. At all times, wave properties are in operation;
in one case, for electrons, in the other, for alpha
particles.
Now we understand this 'double-deal' conduct of the
tetrads. Actually, there IS no double deal at all: everything is due to quantum probabilities. Theorencally, an
alpha particle can even fly out of an oxygen nucleus,
but the probability is negligible. In light nuclei the
height of the barrier for ejection of alpha particles IS
very great (a large binding energy), while In heavy nuclei
the barner is low (a considerably smaller binding energy).
Now the probability of the tunnel effect IS very largely
dependent on the height of the barrier, and falls off
rapidly as It Increases m height. Therein lies the whole
secret.
On the other hand, the barner height for ejection of
alpha particles in heavy nuclei IS much lower than that
190
193
195
Particles
209
]1 J
them
[0
of
electrons
electrons
the
mirror
features
do not
images
of
In
electnc
charge;
they are
A proton
a proton
IS
absolutely
bela dismtegration.
And agam we come up against the question:
How
can particles that were never in the nucleus come out
of It? The situanon now seems to be even more difficult. We can understand where electrons come from from the nuclear neutron. But where do the posiuve
electrons - positrons - come from?
The answer has been found, but we will have to put
this drscussion off till our next chapter. Just a little
more pauence. If
It
IS
ture'.
::!IS
no
Heisenberg
cesses of quantum
mechanics
not slow!
mechanics
partrcles. But how?
quantum
these
fast
motions
of
atomic
concluded
that
the
way
10 extend
quantum
mechamcs
to the fast motions of rmcroparucres
was
by comblnlllg
It with the special theory of relativity.
But take a long look at a fast tram 10 the dIStance - how slow It moves Or a Jet plane far off In
the sky, again slow. Even an artificial satellite doesn't
seem to move fast. Fast and slow are relauve concepts,
very much so. In fact.
Physrcists were not satisfied
with such notions.
They needed some kind of constant measure of
velocity not connected with human beings. so that It
could be used to evaluate all other velociues of motion.
Maybe take the speed of the earth 10 Its orbital
progress about the sun? Not so bad, generally speaking.
But since man has penetrated telescopically deep into
space, It would be better to lind a measure not connected
In
mo
-:r===~""
V I - v'le'
Here, II~V) is the mass the body has when moving with
a velocny of v; nto IS the so-called rest mass which the
body has when It IS not In motIOn, and C IS the velocity of light
From thrs relatJOnshlp It is clear thai as v approaches
c, the denommator diminishes, lirst slowly and then
faster and faster. Accordmgjy, m{v) Increases, Since mo
IS a constant quantny independent of the velocity. Finally,
when v equals r', the mass of the body m(e) becomes
mhnitely great. In other words, the body should have
an mfinltely great mass.
It is obvIOUS thai only an mfinllely great force could
do such a thmg. But nature knows no such mfimte mass
Orinfinae force. The urnverse as such is infimte, but there
are no other infimtles In a.
We have already said that this formula cannot be
applied to photons. Rather, II doesn't YIeld anything.
Photons cannot be at rest. We can say thrs differently:
the rest mass of a photon IS zero. Putting thrs value
for mo into Our relatIon, we find thai for a photon
223
ses.
224
"How fast time IS Ilying", or "How lime drags on"that is OUf own time we are talking about, OUf subjective
tune geared to OUf bodily functions. Yet there IS an
objective side to this too. The faster the rhythm,
the
VieWS
flowed
time
more slowly
What
Here, I(V)
IS
V I - v'le'
watch,
to IS the time
theory
go.
has other
paradoxes.
but we shan't
225
will playa
Eo
moc2
(If,
IS
the
'"
227
Eo =
ntoe2
uniform.
All the motions of bodies in a spaceship moving With
a velocity close to that of light should not differ from
those on the earth (If, of course, the gravrtatron
IS the
same, that is, if it has been artificially produced In
some way on the spaceship). And since the motions of
bodies do not depend on the velocity of the reference
system used to reckon their positions in space and time,
whether it IS the earth or a spaceship, the laws of motion
of these bodies must also be independent of the system
of reference.
In all reference systems, no matter with what velocity
they are moving uniformly relative to one another, the
equations of the laws of motion must be the same. In
other words, these equations must be mvanable relative
to different velocities.
These words 'invariable relative to' are translated into
the language of physics as 'relativistically mvanant'.
IS'
227
An Unexpected Discovery
In his search for a way out, DIrac proposed an
unusual thing - he introduced into the Schrodinger
equatIOn four wave function in place of one. The resultmg equation was quite unlike the anginal one. But
the new equation yielded excellent relativIStIcally mvariant solutions.
There were four solutions, according to the number
of wave functions in the equation. But how are we to
comprehend four 'probabilIties' for an electron m place
of one?
The meaning of the first two solutions would probably
have remained obscure for many years If electron spm
had not been discovered three years before
So the first two solutions of the Dirac equatIOn correspond to the two possible senses of electron spm
relative to the direcuon of motion of the electron. The
spin was calculated from this solution and It proved
to be In excellent agreement with expenment!
Now we'll have to talk a little more about spin.
First of all, spin corresponds to some sort of monon
of the electron wrth a velocity close to that of light.
Indeed, if for a moment we try to mterpret spm as
the result of an electrOnIc "rotation on 11s own axis'
(we have already said that such a nonon IS completely
228
An Unexpected Discovery
In his search for a way out, Dirac proposed an
unusual thing - he introduced into the Schrodinger
equation four wave function in place of one. The resultmg equation was quite unlike the onginal one. But
the new equation yielded excellent relativistically Invariant solutions.
There were four solutions, according to the number
of wave functions in the equation. But how are we to
comprehend four 'probabrhttes' for an electron In place
of one?
The meaning of the first two solutions would probably
have remained obscure for many years If electron spin
had not been discovered three years before
So the first two solutions of the Dirac equation correspond to the two possible senses of electron spin
relative to the direction of motion of the electron. The
spin was calculated from this solution and It proved
to be 10 excellent agreement with experiment!
Now we'll have to talk a little more about spin.
First of all, Spin corresponds to some sort of motion
of the electron with a velocity close to that of light.
Indeed, if for a moment we try to Interpret spin as
the result of an electronic 'rotation on Its own axis'
(we have already said that such a notion IS completely
228
the ordinary
motion
of an electron
in
IS
electron!
"Hhm!" So the DIrac electron is free and bound
at the same time. Nonsense!
Dirac himself realized that this was nonsense.
The sImplest thmg, of course. would be to discard
what you don't need, Just like one does when he gets
20 square metres plus or mlOUS for the area of a room.
The negative value runs counter to common sense.
So we could reject the negative energy of a free
electron as bemg physically meamngless.
However, DIrac did not hurry to do this. Like
the Enghshman that he was, he may have been full
of common sense. But as a screnust he went to look
[or the ongin of the nonsense. For It might be that
even nonsense has some meamng.
Dirac finally came up With an excumg Idea. It might
be that the 'crazy' solution belongs not to an electron
but to some other particle with charge opposite to that
of the electron. The electron charge is negative, so this
particle should have a positive charge. Both should be
equal, however, III absolute value. Dirac thought that
the proton rmght do, but It was soon found that
the negative energy had to belong to a particle WIth
mass exactly equal to that o[ the electron. The proton
would definitely not do, [or It was nearly two thousand
times more massrve than the electron. The only
POSSibility was a mirror image of the electron.
However, this picture doesn't explam the negative
total energy of such a positive particle. H the energy
IS negative, that means the particle 15 bound to
something. The electron IS absolutely free, all other
particles, upon solution of the equation. are removed
so far away that electrical interaction can be disregarded.
The electron is alone in motion m a boundless and
232
t///
e
~
,"
Observable
particles
"'"loC2.
--
~I
- ---~~
P05lrrvn
,/
__________
L.
_.
,1
-==;~~t::;
=0-"-_
2111oC2
-h7oC2
Vacuum
,--3
Fi g. ~~
while III vacuu.n
rr.etars? Again
In
ot wnat happens
gives tne answer.
In 1.1e
vacuum,
be detected.
interact with
acqu.res
enough
energy
to jump
OUL
Now
235
,-r'
Gamma
Gamma
proton
photon
Fig.
23
the Dirac
theory
considered
appear
In its original
both
equally
only
form,
possible.
Strange!
Still stranger
IS
number
of
the same.
be
our world
they go to?
One might think that nature did her best to keep
the positrons
and electrons as far apart as possible.
This is a popular idea among science-fiction
writers
and certain scientists. They maintain that somewhere
in the universe are worlds made of antiparticles, so-called
mirror worlds. In those worlds, the positron is boss
and electrons are occasional
guests.
The next question
IS:
If the electron
has its
antiparticle,
why shouldn't the proton have an antiparticle as well? But then we should have a vacuum
of protons! And, generally, every particle should have
its antiparticle
and, hence, Its own vacuum.
Then
the vacuum
should
be filled (cornoletely
filled l) wrth
239
Fig.
24
Impressive,
but
somewhat
too
unwieldy.
It with
more elegant
conceptions.
which
should
the particle,
It is to get out of
the vacuum.
Complete Emptiness?
When an electron-positron
pair vanishes we know
that energetic photons of gamma rays are born. But
else? That
241
theory of relativity
had demon-
the
interact
a person
who
not only
became
the general
theory
of relanvity.
We have
So unusual,
paradoxical
was Lobachevsky's
16
243
matter.
A field is different
respect:
matter
from
is tangible,
matter
in one
Important
It existed
mass.
These
two remarkable
of the photon
expenments
inevitably
the electromagnetic
that field quanta can have the characteristics
of particles
of matter.
This was the first span III the bridge across the
gap between matter and fields. The de Broglie
hypothesis meanwhile was building the bndge from
the other end. Electrons could have wave properties.
Which meant that matter could behave in a field-like
manner.
and Imponderable,
could
have
In
IS
IS rna Her.
There is No Emptiness!
The
photographically
detected
Joint
birth
of an
246
talking about
ter.
of the chap-
the Whales
Rest on
We thus have
decay of free neutron
neutron ......proton + electron
decay of 'nuclear'
neutron
-+
proton
+ neutnno
neutron
+ pi-meson
neutron
--+
proton
+ electron + 2neutnnos +
+ antmeutrmo
nuclear
then, pi-mesons
a rest mass,
of ultrasmall
which
IS
rather
things, for It
these quanta
substantial
IS
of the
have
tn the world
nearly three
hundred
253
The Two-Faced
Pi-Meson
it
Maybe
Let's try to
out.
the neutron
IS Simply
a compressed
combi-
way It does.
IS
pulls
256
257
\\e
oW
et\c
\a'~
,VI"g
259
how far away the electrons are from each other, there
will always be some kind of interaction between them.
Still and all, this explanation is not exactly satisfying.
The field is somehow attached to its creator, yet we
know that photons are extremely independent-acting
entities.
Of course, we can, for greater satisfaction, introduce
yet another virtual process. We have already mentIOned
this process, which is actually encountered. A sufficiently
energetic photon emitted by an electron can, during the
time of its very short permiued life, convert into an
electron-positron pair.
This way, in place of one electron we will for an
instant have two electrons and a positron. In another
instant, the electron will again be by itself. But
which one of the two electrons will vanish, merging
with the positron? That is impossible to say, since
the two electrons are identical.
Extremely interesting, yet too bad that we can't
observe this 'bouquet' of particles emergmg from a single
electron: everything takes place in too short a time.
But let's check, anyway. A simple calculation with
the 21Heisenberg relation shows that our instant lasts about
10second. During this time, the photon was able
to give birth to a pair consisting of a second electron
and a positron at a distance of about 10- II centimetre
from the first electron.
This is exactly the magnitude that is characteristic of
the smallest smearedness of an electron in space.
IO~ 11 em is the length of a de Broglie electron wave
moving with a velocity close to that of light.
A truly remarkable circumstance! It shows that at
the very heart of the wave properties of an electron
(and, naturally, of all other particles as well) is
interaction - the field of the electron. The electron is
263
the second floor to the now real interstorey flat, and from
there into the fi rst storey.
True, It was possible actually to detect only the
transition from the second floor to the interstorey flat.
But that was enough since the rest goes by Itself.
What was the vacuum addition to the energy of the
hydrogen electron? If we use the Planck relation and
convert it into frequency, then It will come out not
among the gamma rays or even those of visible light,
but in the high-frequency radiowave band.
That was why this remarkable phenomena could not
be discovered by conventional spectral methods. But
when high-frequency radio oscillators were built after
World War II and hydrogen atoms were irradiated with
high frequencies, they immediately responded to the
frequency that fits the vacuum addition. A deep dip
appeared at the site of this frequency in the 'radiospectrum' of hydrogen - the hydrogen electron was
actively absorbing quanta on this frequency.
A little while later a second vacuum effect was
discovered. We have already spoken about the two
electron magnets. One of them was due to the motion
of the electron about the atomic nucleus, the other
was caused by the spin monon of the electron. In
a magnetic field, these two magnets combine into a sort
of unified magnet of a definite magnitude.
Physicists measured the force of this elementary
magnet with great exactitude. And it was found to be
Just a little bn greater than the sum of the two
together. Again that 'just a little bit'. The only thing
left for physicists was to acknowledge that this addition
in the magnitude of the magnet is due to the interaction
of electron and vacuum.
The explanation is again similar to what we have
already given. An electron moving in an atom repulses
267
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.-
Antiparticles
275
Particles Disintegrate
How do particles originate and vamsh? Photographic
plates are the first to witness these events of the microworld which mean so much to scientists.
276
Here 10 the Corner of the plate is a thick mummus-meson track. Before even reaching the middle
of the plate it 'breaks' and goes off in a dashed line.
This portion of the track belongs to an electron. At the
breaking pomt, two particles Were born which carried
otT the energy and momentum of the mu-meson that
was not Imparted to the electron. These two particles
are a neutnno and an antineutrino.
As a rule, pi-mesons do not decay IOta electrons
directly. They first generate mu-mesons. Here, too, we
see that the nuclear field and the electromagnetic field
are not completely separate. A particle of nuclear origin
converts into a particle of electromagnetiC nature.
Why do pi-mesons disintegrate into two particles,
and mu-mesons decay into three? The answer ISsimple:
It'S a/l due to the spin. The sum of the spins of the
daughter particles must equal the spin of the parent
particle.
The mu-meson has half,splll, the electron also. But
since the electron cannot carry off the entire mass of
the mu-meson, a neutrino IS needed. which takes up
the residue of mass m the form of energy of motion.
But the neutrino SPIn is also one half, so that now
the total spin of the newly born particles is greater
than the spin of the parent. The neutnno must now
get rid of the extra spin. ThIS is the antineutnno with
opposite spin. The result: three particles.
In the decay of a pi-meson, one neutrino (or antineutnno) is enough with spin counter to that of the
parent mu-meson. These spins cancel, yielding zero,
whrch IS equal to the spin of the original pi-meson.
In the case of hyperons, the ultimate stable product
of their decay IS frequently the proton. In addnion,
hyperons emit pi-mesons, Two worlds and two limitmg
types of transformatIOns: the electron III the light par277
Fig. 25
mteracuon.
279
teraction that affects particles in all groups is 10-10 second and more.
An interesting thing was noticed in these studies of
groups of particles. The K-mesons and hyperons grouped together in a different way from that of the other
particles.
These two groups did not want to fit into the classificauon of the other particles. "Strange," said physicists, and, chagrined, they, called these unruly objects
'strange particles'. They even introduced a special quantity to describe quantitatively the degree to which they
deviated from the properties that they should have had.
The quantity is known as 'strangeness'.
It was found that strange particles cannot decay into
ordinary particles other than by the slow weak interaction. In collisions of ordinary particles, strange particles
are born only in pairs, and only 10 such pairs whose
sum of strangenesses is equal to zero, like the original,
ordinary particles.
In other words, In strong and electromagnetic interactions the strangeness does not change. This became
known as the law of conservation of strangeness. But
in weak interactions this law does not hold.
Too many laws? Where is that single general law?
And how do we account for them all, anyway?
Unfortunately, the regulanties we have been talking
about do not as yet have any cogent explanation. Physicists cornbme the rules this way and that, but the deep
underlying essence is stili obscure. True. the arithmetic
of the conservation laws has enabled us to solve the
problem that we started out with. All the rules taken
together leave the particles actually only one, at most
two, schemes of decay.
Studies of the decay of K-mesons made possible one
of the biggest discoverres m the physics of micro280
Fig. 26
In a double reflection
In
mirror,
the
'mmuses'
of
,,
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Fig.
28
287
tions.
You remember how we reflected an electron in a rmrror and obtained a nonexistent electron with reversed
Spin. Now, it turns out, this particle does indeed exist,
but we have to 'reflect' (reverse) its electric charge as
well. Then we get an exact reflection of the electron _
the familiar positron!
Nature's mirror is all right, after all. But It is a sort
of a dual mirror: when a particle is reflected in it we
always get its antiparticle! The electron gives rise to
the positron, the neutral K-meson gives birth to the
neutral, but anti-K-meson.
The neutral K-mesons that were experimentally observed proved to be a mixture of two kinds. the K-zeromeson and Its antiparticle. But the K-zero-meson IS
odd, while Its antiparticle is even. That is the 'tautheta' mystery cleared up.
Credit for the discovery of this double type of reflection, called 'combined inversion' In scientific parlonce,
goes to Lee and Yang The same discovery was made
independently by Landau.
Thus It was defimnvely established that the spm of
a particle could be onented relative to the direction
of motion of the particle only In some definite way,
and It must be opposite to that of the antiparticle.
If we assume, for a moment, that the spin IS actual
self-rotation of the particle, then the picture IS hke
this. Tag the surface of the electron and follow It
during the monon of the particle by means of high-speed
mental cmematography. We Will see that the label describes a spiral: In the case of the electron, there Will
be a leftward twist, In the case of the positron. a nghtward tWISt.
Actually, the difference m 'sprralness'. or hehcuy,
is what drstingurshes
particles from their antiparticles.
Bear 10 mind, however, that the notion of right and
19-10
289
Spin
@
- ------------------------------=-=-=..
_---::zz:
----- ---=--=- --- ---t
~-=-@l--=
,=---
Spin
Fig.
29
as that of positive
and negative.
hehcity
mentioned
m our
suggest
that
hand hehcity.
ThIS should not be surpnsmg. Just take a closer look
at the world of big things The snail has left-hand he290
licity more often, the shell spirals leftwards. In chemistry we have stereoisomeric molecules, which are the
mirror Images of one another. And In their world, too.
we find either more left-hand or right-hand Isomers
Fmaily. In human beings the heart IS on the left,
though very occasionalty we find 'rmrror ' people with all
the Internal organs SWitched around Lefties arc rather
common, yet most people are fight-handed.
We shouldn't be sarpnsed, then, that In the bigger
world of space we might find anuworlds, In which everythmg IS reversed There, anuatoms would have annnuclei made up of antiprotons and antmeutrons surrounded by positrons. J 'here. hvmg organisms, If there
are any, would be the mirror Image of our earthly
beings
If both worlds hve under Identical condruons, the
laws of the anti world should nOI differ in any way
from those of our Own world but In each case the
sign would be reversed. That IS why we would never
know of the existence of an anuworld, even if It were
right next to us.
The only thing we could find out about would be
the boundary line between the ordinary world and the
antrworld Here the two meet, and there would never
be more hostIle encounters, for the particles would vanish into energetic gamma photons flyrng out In all drrecuons from the point of clash With the speed of light
or they would convert Into pr- and K-mesons that
would sort of belt off the two worlds indicating the
danger zone for any particle that mrghr be thinking of
dartmg over to the opposite world So far. SCientists
have no indications of any such boundary hne in our
solar system or In the much vaster stellar system, for
that matter.
'"
:29/
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297
Resonances
Get Citizenship
The new view played an important part in the classification of microworId residents. The Current census
of micropartrcles includes resonance entities as well
as conventional structures.
Their decay products? Again novelties. The resonance
particles had a way of decaying in many different ways.
Well, said physicists, that's good, we can interrogate
20'
299
By
groups
know about
IS what
to do with them.
301
Triplets, OctetsThey form a very interesting group, these eight quantiunitary group for
ties. Mathematicians
call it a special
arrays of size 3 x 3.
hides a most
make up the
other words,
to a certain
mathematicians
are very familiar with number
including the special unitary group of unitary
symmetry.
So here we have eight quantities or eight particles
in each group. What particles are they? This can be
established quite definitely. For instance the group of
mesons. Up until recently it contained three pi-mesons
and four K-mesons,
Theoreticians
experimenters
detected
the lacking
meson.
lal
AfUQn$ (tArl&o11y pntIutMJ
fY
I
I
(6'
Fig. 31
Baryons (spin %)
I
I
I
I
If
Fig.
31. (continued)
K'
K~
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, .."r
20
:JI,--=-----:n;;:-- -~
__
Path of omega-minus
particle
Fig. 32
photographs taken in the bubble chamber of the Brookhaven National Laboratory accelerator in the United
States. One of them revealed the long-awaited event!
Take a look at the diagram: It WIll enable you to make
some sense out of the bewildering maze of tracks on
the photographIc plate.
Quarks
Playing around with the members of groups proved
to be a great success. The omega hyperon that was
discovered "at the point of a pencil" constitutes a whole;
era in particle physics.
For the first time we have a convincing system of
new particles. and for the first time the particle census
is beginning to make sense. It should play no less a
role than Mendeleyev's discovery of the periodic law of
the chemical elements.
Today, particle physics IS experiencing something very
similar. First singlets, doublets and triplets of isotopic
multiplets. Then the octets of supermultiplets.
What
next?
There is no need to ascribe any special sigOlficance
to the magic of numbers. From the fact that eight is
the key number in the periodic system of chemical
elements (eight types of valence) it does not at all follow that eight is Just as "magic" a number In the
world of particles.
It will be recalled that it was quantum mechanics
that explained the chemical significance of the eight.
It proved that no more than eight electrons can occupy
the outermost electron shell of the atom. And these
electrons are responsible for the chemical behaviour of
atoms. In the particle world quantum mechanics finds
it more difficult. The laws are utterly ditTerent from
306
one another and mto field quanta, and also the reverse
conversion of quanta into partic1es of matter. The
problem now was to determine the actual course of
transformation. But this required a radical change in
the mode of description.
Quantum mechanics did this by introducing the virtual processes that we' have spoken about. They too
fail and do not yield a final solution to the problem.
A still more profound approach is needed in which
the classical conceptions of space and time will probably
undergo fundamental change.
dimensions
We touch
the world
around
us are actually
instruments.
are 'averaged'
.!
313
,
extent. Such limits become a dual matter-field aspect
of microparticles. And yet these very same limits are
the quanta of space and time that we have been talking
about.
Then is there any sense in introducing such cells or
quanta of time? For don't they continue to reflect our
everyday conceptions about space and time?
That is true enough. We have mentioned otT and on
that each new layer of knowledge makes its appearance
not in a void but on the foundation of earlier layers.
The extremely exacting process of developing new concepuons does not take place overnight, it is slow and
the new notions will always bear traces of their predecessors. The birth of new concepts is always a
travail.
So it was in the first years of quantum mechanics,
and so it continues to be now when quantum mechanics
is confronted with still greater barriers. Will it be victorious, or will it succumb, supplanted by a new and
more powerful theory?
From quantum
Indeterminable
mechanics to .. ,?
Determinacies
and repulsion.
Indeed, what
IS
",
3t5
This is all the easier since the world of the ultrasmall cannot be observed directly, one cannot see it
so as to be convinced of ItS existence. And - still more
important - the properties of the microworJd ditTer radically from those of the customary world about us.
This difference IS so great that OUf everyday conceptions do not reflect the real essence of the microworld.
Science develops in such a way that new conceptions originate very slowly. After all, human beings live
In the world of ordinary things, common notions, and
their minds hold tenaciously to these notions. It IS very
difficult to make the transition to the 'unconceivable'
conceptions that make for a correct picture of the
microworld. But one has to. It IS so inconvement to
speak and think about a 'microparncle'
that is not
simply a particle, and to talk about a 'field' that is
something more than a field. The trouble here is not so
much In the words used, but rather in Imagery. in conceptions and notions .
.Quantum mechanics was able to combine the old
positron-hole
and me-
Biography
of Quantum
Mechanics
spreads out encompassing ever broader spheres of phenomena, moving into technology and industry and establishmg contacts with other disciplines, and finally old
age when it is powerless against the onslaught of fresh
facts, facts discovered by the theory itself.
Then a penod of stagna lion sets m, At least It would
seem so, yet that isn't the situation at all. New Ideas
are all the time cropping up that find the framework
of the old theory too narrow. One fine day these new
ideas will break the shell in which they have been confined, and science will then make a big Jump forward.
On the age scale we have just descnbed, quantum
mechanics today has reached Its peak of maturity and
old age is creeping up. It IS connected with numerous
important technical achievements, it has handled problems ranging from the structure of stellar systems to
that of atomic nuclei and the elementary particles,
Today quantum mechanics IS the strongest physical
theory of the rrucroworld.
There is no theory that can compete with It. but
322
323
science.
Every new discovery IS an addition to the storehouse
of human knowledge. But it IS not only that. Man
becomes stronger in his struggle with nature. If one
traces discovery throughout history, he will see that in
each later period the gap between a big discovery and
its application to human needs becomes shorter and
shorter.
Science perceives future problems before human practice gets to them. This foresight is not a favour of the
gods or of gem uses, tt is objective reality, at the heart
of which lie the laws of development of society.
Science does not wait for a vitally important problem to mature. Whether scientists reahze it or not. they
attack fresh problems long before they have become
of vital importance.
Science is the most forward outpost of human society, the scout of the future and the most reliable defender of the present.
324
The discovery and development of quantum mechanics may serve as a good illustration. Let us take a look
at the second lifetime of quantum mechanics.
Atomic nuclei were conceived round about J912.
Twenty years later, that conception took on clear-cut
outlines. The particles that make up the nucleus
were defined and the forces operative between nuclear
particles were discovered and explained. The 'inaccessibility' of the atomic nucleus, both physrcajiy and conceptually, did not deter physicists. Thirteen years later
saw the advent of the atomic age. True, in the form
of ghastly atomic bombs which the Americans dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki bringing death and destruction instead of abundance. Then just a few more
years passed, and in 1954 the Soviet Union put into
operation the world's first atomic power station. The
Soviet scientists diverted the power of the atom from
war and destruction to peace and construction.
Quantum mechanics found its first technical application in the inferno of the atomic reactor, where
streams of neutrons split up the nuclei of heavy atoms
and generate heat and electricity.
Scientists then turned to the light nuclei, the isotopes
of hydrogen, in attempts to extract more energy. The
Soviet Union aims at the utilization of thermonuclear
reactions for peace, for generating electricity. This is
the noble aim of the Soviet scientists - to supply humamty with power for thousands of years to come.
Here, too, quantum mechanics has important things
to say. It calculates the course of fusion reactions
and predicts the energy that will be generated.
What next? Fresh problems. Problems that WIll be
much more difficult than what we know today. But then
scientists of the future will be better equipped than they
are today.
325
'~-------------""I'J
Up unttl recent times, researchers rarely gave thought
to the consequences of their discoveries. Young A. lotTe
who at the beginning of this century became interested
in so-called waste materials could hardly have imagined
the future of semiconductors.
But without quantum mechanics semiconductors
would be dead. Quantum mechanics not only explained
their remarkable properties, it suggested radical ways
of improving them. Today, the department of quantum
mechanics known as the band theory of solids has become the guiding star for many thousands of research
workers and engineers in electronics.
These minute yet powerful electronic devices have
wrought fundamental changes in industry and technology. Not a single factory or vehicle or communication
facility does without them. There is hardly a single
sphere of human activity that has not experienced the
effects of electronics.
Scientists are already working on one of the boldest
projects of all: the use of semiconductors to extract
electricity from the solar energy that falls so generously
on the earth, and thus take over from the nearly exhausted fossil-fuel sources of energy. The first semiconductor solar batteries are already functioning generating
electric energy out of the sun's rays. Designers are
workmg on projects for solar batteries to power the
first settlements on the moon and the planets of the
solar system.
An interesting feature in this respect IS that on the
earth semiconductor facilities covering huge areas (this
is necessary to catch a large enough portion of the
sun's rays) would interfere with plant growth and
livestock forming. On the moon there would be no such
problem
Then how would we transmit these enormous quan326