CRC Press eBooks
Waves
A. C. Fischer-Cripps
Abstract
Nearly all of quantum physics is concerned with the properties of waves. The mathematical description of waves is covered in this second chapter, which makes use of the material covered in Chapter 1 to explain the wave equation, superposition and beats. The complex representation of waves is particularly important. The notion of a wave function, which is a solution of the wave equation, forms the basis of all quantum mechanics. Superposition and beat frequency will later be shown to account for the way in which light is emitted from atoms.