Heisenberg realised there were limitations to knowing an atom.There were parts of it that were unknowable! There is a limit of how much we can find out about the sub atomic world.If we find out how fast an electron is moving (momentum) we cannot be sure of its exact position and if we determine its exact position at a given instant, we cannot know how fast its moving.
In the above equation, the uncertainty we talk about is NOT the uncertainty related to the measurement.So, this uncertianty is NOT an error which we encounter.It is a uncertainty fundamentally associated with the particle.It means no matter how accurate our measuring instrument is, no matter how accurately we measure the position, we can NEVER ascertain the exact position while finding out the momentum. Δp x ⇒ Uncertainity in the momentum of a particle(Δp x = ΔV.m) “It is impossible to determine both the exact position and the exact momentum of an object simultaneously” In the year 1936, Bohr and Heseinberg used to argue about Quantum Mechanics, night after night ebulliently.They argued so intensely and devotedly that on one occasion Heisenberg was reduced to tears! And then when Heisenberg looked out of the window of his room in despair, an extraordinary thought suddenly struck him! This thought later came to be known as the Heisenberg’s uncertainty Principle! Heisenberg’s uncertainty Principle – In 1926, Schrodinger was to deliver a lecture on his equation, in Munich.Heisenberg,who was just 24 years old, went all the way to Munich to confront his rival, in front of the scientific community.At the end of Schrodinger’s lecture, Heisenberg attacked Schrodinger’s theory with a monologue.However, the scientific community supported Erwin Schrodinger’s idea and that left Heisenberg deeply hurt.He then returned to Copenhagen to Niels Bohr.Their confidence was low as the entire scientific community was against them but they never gave up on their belief. This however was not true for an atom.He thus developed a new form of mathematics to be able to describe the atom.After this huge discovery, he was excited as well as scared.He returned to University of Göttingen and worked with Max Born to develop a theory ,which today is called ‘ Matrix Mechanics‘.This theory was able to describe an atom mathematically.Īlthough,Albert Einstein absolutely did not like this idea, Niels Bohr and Pauli loved it! A war ensued between Heisenberg and Schrodinger.They both verbally attacked each other, reprehending each other’s theories. He decided to give up all mental pictures of an atom and to try to explain the structure of an atom mathematically.To his surprise, he found out that the behaviour of an atom could not even be explained by pure mathematics! In traditional mathematics, if two constants are multiplied, they yield the same answer e.g.- 7×8 =8×7. In 1925, Heisenberg was suffering from hay fever, due to which his face was swollen up beyond recognition.He decided to escape to an isolated island in Norway to spend some time alone. Heisenberg was a very young ,competitive man.He was exceptionally talented.At the age of 22, he got his PhD under Sommerfield!! Erwin Schrodinger and Werner Heisenberg hated each other’s ideas.Heisenberg took Schrodinger’s ideas as a personal affront.He was now determined to prove that the capricious atom could not be modelled simply as waves(as proposed by Schrodinger) and that just an equation could not reveal its secret.
Werner Heisenberg, was a German theoretical physicist,who was studying under Sommerfield.Sommerfield knew about Heisenberg’s interest in Niels Bohr’s thesis and so he introduced him to Bohr’s idea of Quantum Mechanics.Later,Heisenberg started working with Niels Bohr in 1924.He completely supported Bohr’s idea of the atom.