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Talk nerdy to me, baby. You make me sooo hot.

Quantum machanics comes from the theory that the energy it takes for electrons in an atom to go from one energy level to another takes a specific quantities of energy (called quanta). Light has a duel properties of both a wave and a particle. When the particle properties of light are being described, light is called a photon. When electrons go up an energy level, they absorb a photon, when they go down an energy level, they emit an electron. When the electrons emit an electron, they emit visible light. The light emmited is a different color for each element, kinda like a finger print for the element.

In quantum machanics, three numbers are used to describe the postition of the valence electrons, and another one is used to describe the behavior of the valence electrons. The three quantum numbers that are used to describe the position of an electron are the principle quantum number, angular quantum number, and the magnetic quantum number. The quantum number that describes the behavior is the spin quantum number.

The principle quantum number (n) can have a value of 1 to infinity, although the values only go up to 4 for practical purposes. It is used to describe the energy level an electron is in. These numbers also corrate to the number of a period on the periodic table.

The angular quantum number (l) can have values from 0 to (n-1) (n being the principle quantum number). This describes the sublevel the electron is in. a value of 0=the s sublevel, 1= the p sublevel, 2=the d sublevel, and 3=the f sublevel.

The magnetic quantum number (m) describes te orientation of the orbital in space. m can have values from -l to l, and can have as many values as (2l+1). Ex: l=1, m can equal -1, 0, and 1, and the number of possible values is three [2(1)+1=3].

The spin quantum number (s) describes the spin of the electron, and can have values of either +1/2 or -1/2. If the electron has a clockwise spin, the value will be +1/2, if the electron has a counter-clockwise spin, the value will be -1/2.

The quantum numbers are like an adress for an electron. If the quantum numbers are known, then you can find where an electron is on an atom. The way the numbers are written are as follows sad n, l, m, s). Ex, (4, 3, 1, 1/2)

I could tell you more, but I am typing this out, and I am kinda tired of typing,

I saw a video about this in Physics, I found it to be very interesting.

I love this thread already, but I have to go watch House, so I can't read it all yet.

MH: heart

We studied it in AP Chem last year. It is kind of fuzzy cuz we ran through a lot of other complicated things too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

This is good right here.

When a photon run into an electron, the electron becomes quantized and 'jumps' to a different energy level based on the amount of energy transfered to it by the photon. When it de-quantizes or 'jumps' back to its original Energy level, it in turn releases a photon.