Chapters 6 and 7

Interesting tidbits from The Music of the Atoms:

• Standing waves are waves whose peaks and troughs are always in the same place. They rise and fall, but they always stay in the same place

An electron can have many different energies at the same time

Electrons do not constantly emit photons of light because they can't. Electrons are only able to release energy (in the form of photons) in "large chunks".

Coulomb's potential well depicts the different energy levels an electron can be at

Interesting tidbits from The Universe in a Pin-Head (and Why We Don't Fall Through the Floor):

• It is possible that the entire universe was once the size of the head of a pin
• Yet another flashback to sophomore chemistry: quantum numbers n, l, and m
• Spin quantum number is based on the idea that electrons spin and are therefore affected by magnetic fields (a subject interestingly enough discussed in physics last week) depending on how they are oriented in relation to the field
• Fermions vs bosons: the difference is in the spin (a measure of amgular momentum of a particle)