The original intention of the author’s preoccupation with the quantum-mechanical behaviour of simple atoms and molecules such as Hydrogen and Helium was, on the one hand, the elegant simplicity of Niels Bohr’s atom model for Hydrogen, describing the metastable states of the excited electrons by planar concentric electron orbits, and, on the other hand, the hardly intelligible wave mechanical approach of Heisenberg, Schrödinger and others, describing mainly atoms with multiple electrons by three-dimensional orbitals which were characterized by probabilities of presence. Thereby the question arose whether it would be possible to find alternative atom models with well-defined electron trajectories. Therein, Louis de Broglie’s thesis of the wavy nature of electron motion implicating standing waves would have to be implemented. Nevertheless, as reviewed in the introduction, the orthodox three-dimensional concept influenced the own thinking in such a way that three-dimensional constellations for the electronic excited states were conceived. The break-through was achieved for the electronic ground state in the form of the spin-orbit coupling where the spin acts as a perpetuum mobile, inducing the orbital angular momentum h/2π. Furthermore, the insight was gained that a circularly rotating electron intrinsically corresponds to a harmonic oscillator, thus fulfilling the condition of a standing wave. Based on this concept, a double planar model was established for the H2-molecule which could be empirically verified by X-ray data from literature. However, for the two electrons containing Helium a 2D-array seemed impossible since the Pauli-principle seemed to be violated. After a long stepwise succession of 3D-attempts which turned out to be impossible—not least since eccentric forces are not possible in such a system—the here presented 2D-version for Helium was found, composed by two imaginary orthogonal electron orbits. It will enable in a subsequent publication the quantum mechanical interpretation of the thermal-radiative behaviour of Helium which was reported in the author’s publication nine years ago.
The original intention of the author’s preoccupation with the quantum-mechanical behaviour of simple atoms and molecules such as Hydrogen and Helium was, on the one hand, the elegant simplicity of Niels Bohr’s atom model for Hydrogen, describing the metastable states of the excited electrons by planar concentric electron orbits, and, on the other hand, the hardly intelligible wave mechanical approach of Heisenberg, Schrödinger and others, describing mainly atoms with multiple electrons by three-dimensional orbitals which were characterized by probabilities of presence. Thereby the question arose whether it would be possible to find alternative atom models with well-defined electron trajectories. Therein, Louis de Broglie’s thesis of the wavy nature of electron motion implicating standing waves would have to be implemented. Nevertheless, as reviewed in the introduction, the orthodox three-dimensional concept influenced the own thinking in such a way that three-dimensional constellations for the electronic excited states were conceived. The break-through was achieved for the electronic ground state in the form of the spin-orbit coupling where the spin acts as a perpetuum mobile, inducing the orbital angular momentum h/2π. Furthermore, the insight was gained that a circularly rotating electron intrinsically corresponds to a harmonic oscillator, thus fulfilling the condition of a standing wave. Based on this concept, a double planar model was established for the H2-molecule which could be empirically verified by X-ray data from literature. However, for the two electrons containing Helium a 2D-array seemed impossible since the Pauli-principle seemed to be violated. After a long stepwise succession of 3D-attempts which turned out to be impossible—not least since eccentric forces are not possible in such a system—the here presented 2D-version for Helium was found, composed by two imaginary orthogonal electron orbits. It will enable in a subsequent publication the quantum mechanical interpretation of the thermal-radiative behaviour of Helium which was reported in the author’s publication nine years ago.
The present approach is an advancement of the author’s former attempts to develop an atom model of Helium with well-defined electron trajectories. Thus it calls in question the traditional quantum mechanics which assume—in contrast and as a consequence of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle—electronic probabilities of presence. Its basic idea consists of the assumption that the motions of the two electrons are influenced by their spins exhibiting the value h/2π, but in two different ways: on the one hand, one spin induces a rotation; and on the other hand, the other spin induces a harmonic oscillation. A second important relation is given by the fact that the retroactive force of the oscillation process is due to the centrifugal force when the process runs along the surface of a sphere, whereas in usual oscillation processes—such as the one of a spring pendulum—it is due to a permanent shift between potential and kinetic energy. Therefore, in the present case, the potential energy remains constant since the distance between the nucleus and the—diametrically positioned—electrons remains constant. Considering these two conditions and the usual physical relations such as Coulomb attraction, centrifugal force, and the conservation laws of the angular momentum and of the energy, it was possible to compute the respective key values. Thereby, the deflection of the oscillation angle ψ = 45˚ is remarkable. Finally, the process is described using a Cartesian coordinate system with z as the rotation axis, a variable oscillation distance d and variable rotation velocities rrot. Thereby, the projections onto the x-axis and on the y-axis are not identically equal, leading to an elliptic projection shape. Thus this system is anisotropic, in contrast to the isotropic array of the conventional quantum mechanics according to Schrödinger, where the 1s-orbital is spherically symmetrical. This anisotropy explains the existence of interatomic Van der Waals forces, which enable the condensation of Helium, even though the condensation temperature is very low. But in particular, it exhibits well-defined electron waves, thus finally delivering the explanation of the hypothesis of Louis de Broglie, which has been established 100 years ago.
The atom model of Niels Bohr is commonly considered as antiquated even if it describes the atomic spectrum of hydrogen quite accurately. The later published relation of Louis De Broglie could arithmetically be implemented into Bohr’s formulation, leading to the concept of standing waves as the existence cause of excited electron states. However, at that time it was not possible to find well defined electron trajectories being classically describable. As a consequence, the »quantum mechanics« were developed by several authors, particularly by Schrodinger and by Heisenberg, but delivering a hardly under¬standable formalism where the classical physical laws appear being abrogated while abstract terms replace concrete and imaginable ones, abandoning the particle perception of mass points. In particular, Heisenberg’s »uncertainty principle« and the assumption of state probabilities seem to be in a striking variance to the idea of standing waves. In contrast, a formulation is given here which exactly describes the electron trajectories in the exited states solely by applying classical physical laws. Firstly, the original Bohr-model - in combination with De Broglie’s relation - is rolled up. From this formula system a vibration frequency - corresponding to the De-Broglie frequency – is deduced which is n-times larger than the rotation frequency of the Bohr-model. Furthermore, a direct coherence between that vibration-frequency of the electron and the frequency of the involved light is evident being explainable as a resonance effect. Then, a three-dimensional model is proposed where the electron oscillates and pulses perpendicularly to a virtual rotation plane i.e. rotating around a vertical axis, accompanied by a perpetual energy exchange between potential and kinetic energy. This leads at the excited, metastable energy states to well-defined, three-dimensional and wavy trajectories winding up on a surface similar to the one of a hyperboloid, whereas at the ground state the trajectory is planar and stable.
In a previous, primary treatise of the author the mathematical description of electron trajectories in the excited states of the H-atom could be demonstrated, starting from Bohr’s original model but modifying it three dimensionally. In a subsequent treatise, Bohr’s theorem of an unalterable angular momentum h/2π, determining the ground state of the H-atom, was revealed as an inducement by the—unalterable—electron spin. Starting from this presumption, a model of the H2-molecule could be created which exhibits well-defined electron trajectories, and which enabled computing the bond length precisely. In the present treatise, Bohr’s theorem is adapted to the atom models of helium and of neon. But while this was feasible exactly in the case of helium, the neon atom turned out to be too complex for a mathematical modelling. Nevertheless, a rough ball-and-stick model can be presented, assuming electron rings instead of electron clouds, which in the outer shell are orientated as a tetrahedron. It entails the principal statement that the neon atom does not represent a static construction with constant electron distances and velocities, but a pulsating dynamic one with permanently changing internal distances. Thus, the helium atom marks the limit for precisely describing an atom, whereby at and under this limit such a precise description is feasible, being also demonstrated in the author’s previous work. This contradicts the conventional quantum mechanical theory which claims that such a—locally and temporally—precise description of any atom or molecule structure is generally not possible, also not for the H2-molecule, and not even for the H-atom.
Proceeding from the double-cone model of Helium, based on Bohr’s theorem and recently published in [13], a spherical modification could be made by introducing a second electron rotation which exhibits a rotation axis perpendicular to the first one. Thereby, each rotation is induced by the spin of one electron. Thus the trajectory of each electron represents the superposition of two separate orbits, while each electron is always positioned opposite to the other one. Both electron velocities are equal and constant, due to their mutual coupling. The 3D electron orbits could be 2D-graphed by separately projecting them on the x/z-plane of a Cartesian coordinate system, and by plotting the evaluated x-, y- and z-values versus the rotation angle. Due to the decreased electron velocity, the resulting radius is twice the size of the one in the double-cone model. Even if distinct evidence is not feasible, e.g. by means of X-ray crystallographic data, this modified model appears to be the more plausible one, due to its higher cloud coverage, and since it comes closer to Kimball’s charge cloud model.
The Bohr model of the hydrogen atom, despite its heuristic success in predicting discrete energy levels, is fundamentally incompatible with the probabilistic interpretation of modern quantum mechanics. In this work, we present a pedagogical derivation of Bohr’s results directly from the time-independent Schrödinger equation in three dimensions. By applying two successive geometric constraints, first, a genuine dimensional reduction to a 2D planar system (not a naive restriction of the spherical Laplacian), and second, a radial localization to a fixed radius, we demonstrate that the resulting radial-azimuthal equation yields the quantized Bohr orbits. We show that the energy levels En = −13.6/n2 eV and orbital radii r[n] = n² ao emerge naturally from the wavefunction normalization combined with the de Broglie standing-wave condition. Special attention is given to the correct form of the 2D Laplacian, which differs from the 3D Laplacian restricted to θ = π/2 by a term (1/r) ∂/∂r. This approach provides a clear conceptual bridge between the diffuse quantum cloud and the classical planetary picture.
Niels Bohr constructed the first version of quantum mechanics. It has been called “old quantum mechanics” with a connotation of being obsolete. It is logically consistent, however, and deserves the name of simple quantum mechanics (SQM). It differs only from the semiclassical approximation by assuming that the average position and average velocity of an electron can be sharply defined on closed orbits. This assumption does not contradict Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations, since the quantization rule means that the electron can be anywhere on this orbit when it allows for stationary waves. This approach was remarkably efficient for one electron in hydrogen atoms and even for the electron pair in hydrogen molecules. However, dissociation of H2 and determination of the orbit of the single electron in H 2 + led to problems that remained unsolved for more than 100 years. Their solution, presented here, yields more physical insight and reveals, for instance, that mutual polarization of two hydrogen atoms can yield a metastable state.