22 1 Introduction to Modern Physics

emitted in the form of a photon with an energy hν, i.e.,

∆E = E1 − E2 = hν = hc/λ , (1.18)

where
h is the Planck’s constant,
ν is the frequency of the photon,
c is the speed of light in vacuum,
λ is the wavelength of the photon.
• Radiation, such as light, is emitted, transmitted, and absorbed in discrete
energy quanta characterized by the product of frequency ν and Planck’s
constant h.
• Planck’s postulate of energy quantization lead to the atomic model with
its angular momentum quantization introduced by Niels Bohr in 1913 and
to quantum wave mechanics developed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1926.
• The so-called Schrödinger equation (see Sect. 1.22), used extensively in
atomic, nuclear and solid-state physics as well as in quantum mechanics,
is a wave equation describing probability waves (wave functions) that
govern the motion of small atomic particles. The equation has the same
fundamental importance to quantum mechanics as Newton’s laws have
for large dimension phenomena of classical mechanics.

1.18 Quantization of Electromagnetic Radiation

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation incident on metallic surface may eject

charged particles from the surface, as first observed by Heinrich Hertz in
1887. Joseph Thomson proved that the emitted charged particles were elec-
trons and Albert Einstein in 1905 explained the effect by proposing that EM
radiation was quantized similarly to the quantization of oscillator levels in
matter introduced by Max Planck in 1900.
A quantum of electromagnetic radiation is called a photon and has the
following properties:

• It is characterized by frequency ν and wavelength λ = c/ν where c is the

speed of light in vacuum.
• It carries an energy hν and momentum pν = h/λ where h is Planck’s
constant.
• It has zero rest mass.

In a metal the outer electrons move freely from atom to atom and behave
like a gas with a continuous spectrum of energy levels. To release an electron
from a metal a minimum energy characteristic of the given metal and referred
to as the work function eφ must be supplied to the electron. Einstein postu-
lated that the maximum kinetic energy (EK )max of the electron ejected from