Particles and waves: The central mystery of quantum mechanics

Are you enjoying the video lesson?

• Yes

• No

Who was the first person to suggest that electrons behave like waves?

• Louis de Broglie
• Max Planck
• Niels Bohr
• Albert Einstein

What did Max Planck use to explain the spectrum of light emitted by a hot object?

• Photons, particles of light

• Imaginary "oscillators" that can only emit light is discrete chunks

• A "solar system" model of the atom with electrons orbiting the nucleus

• 
  Electrons that have wave nature

How did Ernest Rutherford determine that most of the mass of an atom is in a tiny nucleus?

• From the spectrum of light emitted by hot objects

• From the way light knocks electrons loose from a metal surface

• From the way alpha particles bounce off gold atoms

• From the frequencies of light that atoms absorb and emit

What is the problem with Rutherford’s “solar system” model of the atom?

• Classical physics predicts that light is a wave, not a particle

• Classical physics predicts that electrons are particles, not waves

• Classical physics predicts that alpha particles shouldn't bounce off gold atoms

• Classical physics predicts that orbiting electrons should emit x-rays

What did Einstein call the only truly revolutionary thing that he did?

• The theory of relativity

• The idea that electrons behave like waves

• 
  The idea that light waves behave like particles

• 
  The idea that atoms have special orbits where electrons don't emit light