Quantum Physics for Scientists and Technologists: Fundamental Principles and Applications for Biologists, Chemists, Computer Scientists, and Nanotechnologists

Quantum Physics for Scientists and Technologists: Fundamental Principles and Applications for Biologists, Chemists, Computer Scientists, and Nanotechnologists

by Paul Sanghera
Released April 2011
Publisher(s): Wiley-Interscience
ISBN: 9780470294529

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Making quantum physics accessible to the non-physicists, Quantum Physics for Scientists and Technologists is a self-contained, cohesive, concise, yet comprehensive story of quantum physics presented for students and professionals in biology, chemistry, material science, engineering, computer science, nanotechnology, and related fields. The fact that all these fields are dealing with the molecules and atoms underlines the increasing need of learning quantum mechanics even in non-physics majors because quantum physics is the science of the micro and nano world of molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, and their behavior in living and non-living systems. Most, if not all, books on quantum physics written for the science students use abstract mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics and leave its implications and connections to the real world often non-intuitive. This kind of framework may be necessary for physics students, but not that important but often is a learning hurdle for non-physics majors.

This book presents comprehensive coverage of quantum theory supported by experimental results and explained through applications and examples is presented without the use of abstract and complex mathematical tools and formalisms such as bra-ket vectors, Hilbert space, matrix algebra, or group theory. Throughout the book, concepts and principles of quantum physics are explained in the language of non-physics majors by presenting examples and applications from non-physics fields including chemistry, biology, nanotechnology, and related fields. The interfaces and connections between quantum physics and non-physics fields such as biology, chemistry, computing, and nanotechnology are exposed or introduced in an easy to understand fashion.

Furthermore, this book takes advantage of the amazing story of how quantum mechanics was developed. The concepts and principles that make the foundation of the quantum theory are developed in context of the history of the gradual development of quantum mechanics, which some of us find as amazing as quantum mechanics itself. This facilitates to introduce the key concepts and principles of quantum physics as explanations to the results of those historic experiments which could not be explained with the classical physics. In doing so, the book illustrates in an interesting way the process of scientific discoveries and advances.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. About the Author
  7. About the Tech Editor
  8. Periodic Table of the Elements
  9. Fundamental Physical Constants
  10. Important Combinations of Physical Constants
  11. Preface
  12. 1 FIRST, THERE WAS CLASSICAL PHYSICS
    1. 1.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 1.2 PHYSICS AND CLASSICAL PHYSICS
    3. 1.3 THE CLASSICAL WORLD OF PARTICLES
    4. 1.4 PHYSICAL QUANTITIES
    5. 1.5 NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION
    6. 1.6 ROTATIONAL MOTION
    7. 1.7 SUPERPOSITION AND COLLISION OF PARTICLES
    8. 1.8 CLASSICAL WORLD OF WAVES
    9. 1.9 REFLECTION, REFRACTION, AND SCATTERING
    10. 1.10 DIFFRACTION AND INTERFERENCE
    11. 1.11 EQUATION OF WAVE MOTION
    12. 1.12 LIGHT: PARTICLE OR WAVE?
    13. 1.13 UNDERSTANDING ELECTRICITY
    14. 1.14 UNDERSTANDING MAGNETISM
    15. 1.15 UNDERSTANDING ELECTROMAGNETISM
    16. 1.16 MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS
    17. 1.17 CONFINEMENT, STANDING WAVES, AND WAVEGROUPS
    18. 1.18 PARTICLES AND WAVES: THE BIG PICTURE
    19. 1.19 THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE
    20. 1.20 UNIFICATION: A SECRET TO SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS
    21. 1.21 SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY
    22. 1.22 CLASSICAL APPROACH
    23. 1.23 SUMMARY
    24. 1.24 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  13. 2 PARTICLE BEHAVIOR OF WAVES
    1. 2.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 2.2 THE NATURE OF LIGHT: THE BIG PICTURE
    3. 2.3 BLACK-BODY RADIATION
    4. 2.4 THE PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT
    5. 2.5 X-RAY DIFFRACTION
    6. 2.6 THE COMPTON EFFECT
    7. 2.7 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    8. 2.8 SUMMARY
    9. 2.9 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  14. 3 WAVE BEHAVIOR OF PARTICLES
    1. 3.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 3.2 PARTICLES AND WAVES: THE BIG PICTURE
    3. 3.3 THE DE BROGLIE HYPOTHESIS
    4. 3.4 MEASURING THE WAVELENGTH OF ELECTRONS
    5. 3.5 QUANTUM CONFINEMENT
    6. 3.6 THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
    7. 3.7 WAVE-PARTICLE DUALITY OF NATURE
    8. 3.8 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    9. 3.9 SUMMARY
    10. 3.10 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  15. 4 ANATOMY OF AN ATOM
    1. 4.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 4.2 QUANTUM MECHANICS OF AN ATOM: THE BIG PICTURE
    3. 4.3 DALTON’S ATOMIC THEORY
    4. 4.4 THE STRUCTURE OF AN ATOM
    5. 4.5 THE CLASSICAL COLLAPSE OF AN ATOM
    6. 4.6 THE QUANTUM RESCUE
    7. 4.7 QUANTUM MECHANICS OF AN ATOMIC STRUCTURE
    8. 4.8 CLASSICAL PHYSICS OR QUANTUM PHYSICS: WHICH ONE IS THE TRUE PHYSICS?
    9. 4.9 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    10. 4.10 SUMMARY
    11. 4.11 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  16. 5 PRINCIPLES AND FORMALISM OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
    1. 5.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 5.2 HERE COMES QUANTUM MECHANICS
    3. 5.3 WAVE FUNCTION: THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCK OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
    4. 5.4 OPERATORS: THE INFORMATION EXTRACTORS
    5. 5.5 PREDICTING THE MEASUREMENTS
    6. 5.6 PUT IT ALL INTO AN EQUATION
    7. 5.7 EIGENFUNCTIONS AND EIGENVALUES
    8. 5.8 DOUBLE SLIT EXPERIMENT REVISITED
    9. 5.9 THE QUANTUM REALITY
    10. 5.10 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    11. 5.11 SUMMARY
    12. 5.12 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  17. 6 THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF AN EQUATION
    1. 6.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 6.2 THE SCHRÖDINGER WAVE EQUATION
    3. 6.3 THE SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION FOR A FREE PARTICLE
    4. 6.4 SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION FOR A PARTICLE IN A BOX
    5. 6.5 A PARTICLE IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL BOX
    6. 6.6 HARMONIC OSCILLATOR
    7. 6.7 UNDERSTANDING THE WAVE FUNCTIONS OF A HARMONIC OSCILLATOR
    8. 6.8 COMPARING QUANTUM MECHANICAL OSCILLATOR WITH CLASSICAL OSCILLATOR
    9. 6.9 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    10. 6.10 SUMMARY
    11. 6.11 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  18. 7 QUANTUM MECHANICS OF AN ATOM
    1. 7.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 7.2 APPLYING THE SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION TO THE HYDROGEN ATOM
    3. 7.3 SOLVING THE SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION FOR THE HYDROGEN ATOM
    4. 7.4 FINDING THE ELECTRON
    5. 7.5 UNDERSTANDING THE QUANTUM NUMBERS
    6. 7.6 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HYDROGEN
    7. 7.7 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    8. 7.8 SUMMARY
    9. 7.9 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  19. 8 QUANTUM MECHANICS OF MANY-ELECTRON ATOMS
    1. 8.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 8.2 TWO CHALLENGES TO QUANTUM MECHANICS: THE PERIODIC TABLE AND THE ZEEMAN EFFECT
    3. 8.3 INTRODUCING THE ELECTRON SPIN
    4. 8.4 EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE
    5. 8.5 UNDERSTANDING THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE
    6. 8.6 UNDERSTANDING THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF THE PERIODIC TABLE
    7. 8.7 COMPLETING THE STORY OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM
    8. 8.8 UNDERSTANDING THE ZEEMAN EFFECT
    9. 8.9 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    10. 8.10 SUMMARY
    11. 8.11 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  20. 9 QUANTUM MECHANICS OF MOLECULES
    1. 9.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 9.2 A SYSTEM OF MOLECULES IN MOTION
    3. 9.3 BOND: THE ATOMIC BOND
    4. 9.4 DIATOMIC MOLECULES
    5. 9.5 ROTATIONAL STATES OF MOLECULES
    6. 9.6 VIBRATIONAL STATES OF MOLECULES
    7. 9.7 COMBINATION OF ROTATIONS AND VIBRATIONS
    8. 9.8 ELECTRONIC STATES OF MOLECULES
    9. 9.9 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    10. 9.10 SUMMARY
    11. 9.11 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  21. 10 STATISTICAL QUANTUM MECHANICS
    1. 10.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 10.2 STATISTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS
    3. 10.3 MAXWELL–BOLTZMANN DISTRIBUTION
    4. 10.4 MOLECULAR SYSTEMS WITH QUANTUM STATES
    5. 10.5 DISTRIBUTION OF VIBRATIONAL ENERGIES
    6. 10.6 DISTRIBUTION OF ROTATIONAL ENERGIES
    7. 10.7 DISTRIBUTION OF TRANSLATIONAL ENERGIES
    8. 10.8 QUANTUM STATISTICS OF DISTINGUISHABLE PARTICLES: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
    9. 10.9 QUANTUM STATISTICS OF INDISTINGUISHABLE PARTICLES
    10. 10.10 PLANCK’S RADIATION FORMULA
    11. 10.11 ABSORPTION, EMISSION, AND LASERS
    12. 10.12 BOSE–EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
    13. 10.13 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    14. 10.14 SUMMARY
    15. 10.15 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  22. 11 QUANTUM MECHANICS: A THREAD RUNS THROUGH IT ALL
    1. 11.1 INTRODUCTION
    2. 11.2 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
    3. 11.3 NANOSCALE QUANTUM CONFINEMENT OF MATTER
    4. 11.4 QUICK OVERVIEW OF MICROELECTRONICS
    5. 11.5 QUANTUM COMPUTING
    6. 11.6 QUANTUM BIOLOGY
    7. 11.7 EXPLORING THE INTERFACE OF CLASSICAL MECHANICS AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
    8. 11.8 LIVING IN THE QUANTUM WORLD
    9. 11.9 SUMMARY
    10. 11.10 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS
  23. BIBLIOGRAPHY
  24. Index

Product information

  • Title: Quantum Physics for Scientists and Technologists: Fundamental Principles and Applications for Biologists, Chemists, Computer Scientists, and Nanotechnologists
  • Author(s): Paul Sanghera
  • Release date: April 2011
  • Publisher(s): Wiley-Interscience
  • ISBN: 9780470294529