Circular Standing Waves around Atoms

[Kushaal Madadi 2F]

Could someone explain how the circular standing waves (electrons) around atoms create energy levels. Also, how exactly are these waves interacting with each other?

[Samudrala_Vaishnavi 3A]

Circular standing waves are just a model of how electrons can change their energy states in a oscillating fashion. Stable circular standing waves implies that the electron has enough energy, possibly from a photon, to make an energy change (delta E) that is equivalent to the energy change between n=1 and n=2 (a quanta) or just any two states of energy. Unstable, waves that aren't circular standing, meaning we CAN'T see the consistencies of the waves to the point where if we connect two sides together we get one shape, shows that the electron is is between energy states and doesn't have enough change in energy to meet the quanta or change in energy between two energy states.

[Pranav Kadiyala 1A]

To add on, circular standing waves are an appropriate model for the energy levels because they represent the quantization of energy. In the lecture, Dr. Lavelle mentions how there needs to be a complete wave, with a certain number of wavelengths to correctly model the energy level. This relates to the frequency of the wave, which is directly proportional to the Energy. Thus, the standing wave model works with the idea of quantization of energy, and electrons only absorbing certain wavelengths of light.