What Next?
The wave like nature of particles proposed by de Broglie is verified. The wavelength depends on the momentum (? = h/p).
Also explains Bohr’s rule for the hydrogen atom using the same idea: electron bound to atom is like a standing wave.
Two types of questions now suggest themselves:
- What is a matter wave? What is waving? What is the right question to ask?
- Given that a wave is associated with an electron, what determines the form of this wave? What is the new master equation which determines the wave from external conditions? What plays the role of Newton’s equation F=ma for the matter wave?
Schrodinger (1926) finds the solution