Category Standard Model
How far is it around the earth?
How far is it around the earth? More specifically, if I was to set off from here in Wokingham following a great circle route, how far would I have to travel before I found myself back here in Wokingham? Well, if you look it up on Google the circumference of the earth is near enough […]
A Mechanistic Model for the Hydrogen Atom
Introduction The quantisation of matter and of electric charge are simple concepts to grasp since they involve merely the absence or presence of a integer number of discrete particles. Particles, like grains of sand, can simply be counted to give the total amount of matter in any given volume. Electric charge is only a […]
The Rydberg Constant and Rydberg Series
Here I take a look at the Rydberg formula in more detail and derive the Rydberg series, which is useful in calculating the change in energy level between any two states of the hydrogen atom and can be used to generate all of the other series: Lyman, Balmer, Paschen, Brackett, Pfund, Humphreys etc. I go […]
Louis de Broglie
Prince Louis Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie was born in Dieppe on August 15th 1892. De Broglie first studied history, but developed an interest in physics as a result of working with his older brother Maurice. Maurice had been a naval officer where he worked on early radio systems for ship to ship and ship […]
The Schrödinger Wave Equation
Following Bohr’s model for the hydrogen atom Louis de Broglie suggested that the electron could be considered as a wave rather than a particle and proposed that the wavelength of such a wave was Planck’s constant divided by the linear momentum of the orbiting electron. In effect he was restating Bohr’s adopted assumption that angular […]
The Stern-Gerlach Experiment
This experiment is often cited as demonstrating that angular momentum is quantised. In fact it does nothing of the sort, and indeed it clearly demonstrates that it is not, at least not in the way that physicists would have you believe. The Stern Gerlach experiment was first carried out by German physicists Otto Stern(1888-1969) and […]
The GUTs of the Matter
Scientists have long sought to show that various different forces of nature are in fact just different manifestations of a single common force. It is felt that by doing so it will offer insights into the way the universe works and produce a much simpler model. The pressure to simplify our understanding of the universe […]
Retrospective Predictions!
Modern scientific enquiry aims to be as objective as possible. The mechanism that has evolved to meet this requirement is called the Scientific Method. The Scientific Method is predicated on the idea that new theories are developed based on a set of assumptions or postulates. To be useful the theory must be capable of making […]
How is it possible to make nothing out of something?
There is a fundamental conflict between the currently accepted interpretation of Maxwell’s equations and the absence of an ether like medium. Maxwell’s equations purport to show that a changing magnetic field induces an electric field and a changing electric field induces a magnetic field. Taken together these two coupled fields oscillate and the whole propagates […]
