IMPORTANCE OF AMPLITUDE FUNCTION &

CLASSICAL ENERGY EXPRESSION IN

WAVE MECHANICS
CLASSICAL OR WAVE THEORY OF LIGHT
2 OF 15
An Overview of VIDEOS
Quantum Mechanical Approach
 Contents of this video (2 of 15)

• Classical or Wave Theory of Light

Important characteristics of electromagnetic waves with FOCUS ON AMPLTUDE FUNCTION
CLASSICAL EXPRESSION FOR ENERGY
IMPORTANCE OF AMPLITUDE FUNCTION AND CLASSICAL ENERGY EXPRESSION IN WAVE
MECHANICS
ANALOGY FOR WAVE THEORY
Diffraction – An Overview
 Contents of the complete series
• Distinction between Classical Theory, Old Quantum Theory and New
Wave Mechanics
• The Mathematical foundation for quantum mechanics
• Schrodinger wave equation and the significance of the ѱ function
• Postulates of quantum mechanics
• Quantum mechanical treatment of simple hypothetical systems and H-
atom
• Approximation methods in quantum mechanics
Perturbation and Variation methods
• Chemical bonding
• MO and VB Theories
CLASSICAL OR WAVE THEORY OF LIGHT
UNTIL 1900
WAVE

A wave is a disturbance (an oscillation) that travels through

space in time, accompanied by the transfer of energy.
According to Classical or Maxwell’s wave theory, light is made up
of waves vibrating up and down in a direction perpendicular to
the line of propagation
 PROGRESSIVE WAVE MOTION

The wave travels continuously in the medium

STANDING WAVES

The wave is constrained

to oscillate between two
fixed points
• Light waves are made up of two components namely
• Electric component (Electric Field) and
• Magnetic component (Magnetic field)

For this reason, the light waves are also called

ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATIONS/WAVES

The electric and magnetic fields oscillate perpendicular to the direction in which
the light travels and perpendicular to each other
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE
Characteristics of an Electromagnetic Wave

WAVE AMPLITUDE
 Crest
Important characteristics of light waves
1) Wave Amplitude
It is the magnitude of maximum
Trough disturbance.
It is the distance between the crest and
The disturbance changes with the foot of the perpendicular from the crest on
both position and time. the line of propagation
That is, the amplitude is a function of both
position and time Symbols
Amplitude of the electric field - X
Amplitude ω = f(x,t) Amplitude of the magnetic field - H
ω = X or H
 EXPRESSION FOR ENERGY ACCORDING TO CLASSICAL THEORY

According to the wave theory, the energy of the electromagnetic

radiation is directly proportional to the sum of the squares of the
amplitudes of the electric and magnetic fields
X – Amplitude of Electric Field
E ∝ X2 + H2 ∝ Intensity of the radiation H– Amplitude of Magnetic Field

Energy of the electromagnetic radiation depends only on its amplitude

and it has nothing to do with its frequency
IMPORTANCE OF AMPLITUDE FUNCTION IN
QUANTUM MECHANICS
 IMPORTANCE OF AMPLITUDE FUNCTION IN
QUANTUM MECHANICS
The amplitude is a function of both Amplitude of the electric field - X
position and time
Amplitude of the magnetic field - H
Amplitude ω = f(x,t) ω = X or H

A similar relationship is the basis of the formulation of the

Schrodinger Wave Equation.
 E ∝ X2 + H2 ∝ Intensity of the radiation
X – Amplitude of Electric Field
H– Amplitude of Magnetic Field

This often ignored energy expression is the basis of

the physical interpretation of the wave function ψ
WAVE LENGTH, VELOCITY AND FREQUENCY
 2) Wave length λ
Wave length is the distance travelled by the wave
during one complete cycle
From the diagram of the wave cycle, it is found that this distance is
the distance between two successive points in phase.

WAVE CYCLE So we can define wave length in general as the distance between
two successive points in phase.
A part of the wave which is made up of
one crest and one troughs called a WAVE CYCLE All crests are in phase . Like wise all troughs are in phase
So wave length may also be defined the distance between two
successive crests or two successive troughs

Wave Cycle UNIT OF WAVE LENGTH

Wave length is expressed in one of the units of length
Unit of wave length: m, cm, A0(Angstrom) nm (nanometer),
A wave cycle is made up of 2 half cycles or pm (picometer) etc.
4 quarter cycles
Note : The unit of wavelength may also be written as m cycle─ because wave length
is the distance travelled by the wave during one cycle
3) Veolcity c
All electromagnetic radiations are propagated with the same velocity namely
the velocity of light

Velocity of light c = 3 x 108 m s─

= 3 x 1010 cm s─
4) Frequency ν (nu)
The frequency of an electromagnetic radiation is the number of crests or troughs
crossing a fixed point in unit time
𝑐
ν=
λ
𝑚 𝑠−
Unit of frequency = = 𝑠─
𝑚

If the wave length is expressed in the unit of 𝑚 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒─

𝑚 𝑠−
Unit of frequency = = 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑠─
𝑚 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒─

The unit of frequency is cycle s─ = s─

The unit cycle s─ = s─ is often expressed as Hertz (Hz)
Electromagnetic Spectrum
There are different types of electromagnetic radiations like visible, infra red (IR), microwave,
radio waves, ultra violet (UV), x-rays, γ(gamma) rays etc.

All these radiations are propagated with the same velocity namely the velocity of light but
they differ in their wave length and correspondingly in their frequency

The arrangement of the various electromagnetic radiations in the order of their wave length or
frequency is called the electromagnetic spectrum

Gamma rays – x-rays – UV- Visible(VIBGYOR) – IR – Microwave – Radio waves

The wave length increases from Left to Right

The frequency increases from Right to Left

 According to the wave theory ,
ENERGY IS ABSORBED AND EMITTED CONTINUOUSLY by a body

Analogy for Classical Wave Theory

The Analogy for Classical Wave Theory is an INCLINED PLANE
whose vertical height is say 2m.
2m
A ball rolling down the slope will lose energy continuously and the
energy of the ball will have all the values from 2m to zero. In other words
Inclined Plane the energy spectrum will be continuous.

And if we record this energy change it will be a continuous band.

Therefore we can conclude that , any phenomenon governed by classical laws should give rise to a continuous
or band spectrum.
There are certain phenomena that can be explained
only by the Wave Theory. They are

Reflection,
Refraction,
Diffraction etc.
Diffraction – An Overview
 Diffraction – An Overview
• A diffraction grating is a flat piece of a transparent material like glass
on the surface of which many closely spaced parallel lines are ruled.

• When light composed of different suitable wave lengths falls on a

diffraction grating, it is dispersed into the constituent wave lengths.

• This phenomenon is called diffraction and the pattern obtained is

called Diffraction Pattern
• From the diffraction pattern, the wave length of the light can be
determined

• The condition for a light to be diffracted by a diffraction grating is that

the wave length of the light should be comparable to the distance
between two successive lines on the grating
 Determination of the wave lengths of x-rays and
Max von Laue’s concept of crystal lattice
• x-rays were first discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895.
• But the determination of their wave lengths remained a major problem
in science for a long time (till 1912)
• x-rays are electromagnetic radiations with extremely short wave
lengths of the order of 10-8 cm
• The distance between successive lines of a diffraction grating that may
be used to diffract x-rays should be of the order of 10-8 cm
• That means, there should be as many as 108 lines in the space of 1cm
on the grating, so that the distance between successive lines is 10-8 cm
• But it is humanly impossible to rule so many lines within 1cm on a glass
plate
• In 1912, Max Theodor Felix von Laue, a German physicist suggested
that if solid crystals are actually made up of crystal lattices (A crystal
lattice is a three dimensional network of points representing atoms,
ions or molecules in a solid crystal), then the dimensions of atoms and
molecules will demand that the distance between successive lattice
planes in a crystal should be of the order of 10-8 cm so that a solid
crystal may be used as a natural three dimensional diffraction grating
for x-rays

• This was verified experimentally in 1912.

• Max von Laue was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his
discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals
 The significance of the diffraction patterns

THE DIFFRACTION EXPERIMENTS ARE USED TO ESTABLISH THE

WAVE NATURE OF A PHENOMENON
Phenomena that cannot be explained by the wave theory

• Black body radiation

• Photoelectric effect
• H – atom spectra
• Compton effect etc

Max Planck introduced the Quantum Theory of light to account for the
Black body radiation phenomenon .
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