When Schrödinger first discovered the correct laws of quantum mechanics, he wrote an equation which described the amplitude to find a particle in various places.This equation was very similar to the equations that were already known to classical physicists—equations that they had used in describing the motion of air in a sound wave, the transmission of light, and so on. We will begin in this chapter by dealing with some general quantum mechanical ideas. Some of the statements will be quite precise, others only partially precise. It will be hard to tell you as we go along which is which, but by the time you have finished the rest of the book, you will understand in looking back which parts hold up and which parts were only explained roughly.
When Schrödinger first discovered the correct laws of quantum mechanics, he wrote an equation which described the amplitude to find a particle in various places.This equation was very similar to the equations that were already known to classical physicists—equations that they had used in describing the motion of air in a sound wave, the transmission of light, and so on. We will begin in this chapter by dealing with some general quantum mechanical ideas. Some of the statements will be quite precise, others only partially precise.
