The Wave Mechanics of Free Electrons

Abstract

ALTHOUGH de Brogue's first suggestion that moving particles might be accompanied by a wave system was based primarily on the consideration of free electrons, the first development of the wave mechanics, subsequent to the advance made by Sehrödinger, was largely concerned with stationary states of bound electrons and their immediate properties, such as their energies and the possibilities of transitions between them. This is not surprising, since any system of atomic mechanics must at least account for the existence of stationary states and their properties, and Schrödinger's development occurred at a time when the limitations of the orbital quantum theory, after its initial successes in this field, were becoming seriously felt.

The Wave Mechanics of Free Electrons.

By Prof. G. P. Thomson. (The George Fisher Baker Non resident Lectureship in Chemistry at Cornell University, Vol. 8.) Pp. v + 172. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.; London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1930.) 12s. 6d. net.