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As I understand it, Schrodinger's wave equation predicts the allowable energy states an electron can have under the electromagnetic forces of a given nucleus (and I assume other 'orbital' electrons). If I understand correctly the change of electron state therefore has a 'quantum' difference of energy that is released (if the electron changes to a lower energy state). Schrodinger's equation simply gives the quantity of the energy difference.

What causes this expressed energy to become/be electromagnetic? Has the electron or its charge been 'jerked' in space in some oscillatory fashion (congruent with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) by the energy loss, as is the method to create lower frequency electromagnetic emissions in an antenna? Has the electron spin fluctuated to initiate an electromagnetic emission? Is the 'orbital energy state' of the electron somehow a non-propagating (stationary) electromagnetic energy that lets some of its energy 'loose' when the electron changes state to another non-propagating electromagnetic energy state?

What is causing the conversion of the energy to be electromagnetic (a photon)?

To put it in a nutshell, when an electron changes energy states, why does it emit energy in the form of a photon as opposed to anything else?

Thank you for your time to respond and my apologies in advance if there is a commonly understood answer to this ... :-|

auden
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Sam Erlenbach
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2 Answers2

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The atomic model developed starting from the light spectrum emitted by the hydrogen atom. It was known that hydrogen was one proton and one electron.

The Balmer series or Balmer lines in atomic physics, is the designation of one of a set of six named series describing the spectral line emissions of the hydrogen atom. The Balmer series is calculated using the Balmer formula, an empirical equation discovered by Johann Balmer in 1885.

balmer

The visible hydrogen emission spectrum lines in the Balmer series. H-alpha is the red line at the right. The two leftmost lines are considered to be ultraviolet as they have wavelengths less than 400 nm.

Classical physics would predict a continuum emission of light for an electron falling on a proton. The Bohr atom was the first attempt at a quantization model giving the Balmer etc seires and the Schrodinger equation was the final theory, giving the series, using the electric potential, and stable orbitals.

You are putting the carriage in front of the horse when you start by the Schrodinger equation. The theory is driven by the data and not vice verso.

It is not a matter of "why there is radiation", but a matter of "why there is quantized radiation and not a continuum"

What is causing the conversion of the energy to be electromagnetic?

The problem is electromagnetic, both classically and per force quantum mechanically.

anna v
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Interesting question.

Electrons have electric charge and are therefore a source of electric field. An atom can be thought as a series of energy levels in which electrons can be in. When the electron transit between these levels, the energy will be emitted as electromagnetic radiation, since the fundamental interaction involved here is the electromagnetic interaction (we are dealing with EM charges) .

This is not because the electromagnetic interaction is 'special'. For example, if you have a massive object falling, such that it is losing gravitational potential energy, you are meant to observe a similar phenomenon (i.e. gravitational radiation emitted). It is just that these radiation cannot be observed using the apparatus we currently have.

PhysLab
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