Oh, my... You're listening to the Science of Everything podcast with your host James Fodor.

This is episode 14, Principles of Quantum Mechanics.

In this episode, we're going to look at, well, the basic principles of quantum theory,

including the development of a quantum mechanical theory of the atom through

Broy's explanation of quantization, the Schrodinger equation and quantum orbitals.

And then after that we're going to have a look at some additional principles of quantum mechanics,

including the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the Pali Exclusion principle, Quantum Tunneling, Entanglement, and Decoherence.

And then if we have time, we might just take a quick look at different interpretations of what quantum theory actually means.

So this episode continues on from episode 8, which was the history of the atom.

In that episode I outlined some early investigations into explaining how atoms work,

which was based mostly on classical theory. This episode

will examine how scientific discoveries after that built upon earlier classical theories of the atom,

developing what we now call the quantum mechanical theory of the atom. Before we start with that,

however, I just want to define a basic term, that is, what does quantum mechanics mean?

The term quantum basically just refers to the smallest distinct elements of matter or energy that you can have.

And the word mechanics, of course, just refers to motion. So quantum mechanics is just basically the study of the motion and interactions

of very, very small particles of energy and matter. And before proceeding further, I'd just like to

note that it is recommended that you listen to episode 8 before listening to this one, because it

will give you some of the background information that will help you get more out of this episode.

Okay, so from the end of episode

A, do you recall that we presented Bohr's model of the atom whereby electrons orbited around

the nucleus because of the electromagnetic attraction between electrons and protons in the nucleus.

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