In reply to Harry Veeder's message of Sun, 10 Jun 2007 12:14:36 -0500: Hi, [snip] > >Could the electron and the nucleus as a magnetically coupled resonant >systems explain why energy states are quantized? [snip] Energy states are quantized IMO because the De Broglie wave of the electron needs to be in phase with itself as it wraps around the circumference of the atom. If it gets out of phase, then it tends to annihilate itself at the radius at which it is out of phase, thus ensuring that only certain radii are stable.
Therefore electrons can only permanently reside at certain radii, and must jump from one to the next when gaining or losing energy. Consequently energy is absorbed or lost in fixed amounts, i.e. it is quantized. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk The shrub is a plant.
