Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of physical constants and useful interrelations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Semiclassical conceptual models
- 3 Semiempirical parametrization of energy-level data
- 4 The vector model of angular momentum
- 5 The intermediate coupling model
- 6 Electric dipole radiation
- 7 Line strengths in two-valence-electron systems
- 8 Magnetic dipole transitions
- 9 Absorption of radiation
- 10 Time-resolved measurements
- 11 Hyperfine structure
- 12 Electrostatic polarizabilities and long-range interactions
- 13 Coherence and anisotropic excitation
- References
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of physical constants and useful interrelations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Semiclassical conceptual models
- 3 Semiempirical parametrization of energy-level data
- 4 The vector model of angular momentum
- 5 The intermediate coupling model
- 6 Electric dipole radiation
- 7 Line strengths in two-valence-electron systems
- 8 Magnetic dipole transitions
- 9 Absorption of radiation
- 10 Time-resolved measurements
- 11 Hyperfine structure
- 12 Electrostatic polarizabilities and long-range interactions
- 13 Coherence and anisotropic excitation
- References
- Index
Summary
If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would convey the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact) that all things are made of atoms – little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.
– Richard P. FeynmanAtomic physics is more than quantum mechanics
With the stirring testimonial above from one of the foremost scientific minds of our time, why is it that the subject of atomic structure is relegated to a chapter near the end of most elementary physics textbooks? Introductory physics texts tend to discuss gravitational interactions extensively, yet most of the examples treated are atomic in nature. Since “weightlessness” occurs when there is no floor to provide atomic charge polarizations to oppose a gravitational attraction, weight must be considered an atomic phenomenon. Barring the remote possibility of experiencing the huge gravitational gradients predicted near a black hole, no one is ever directly injured by a gravitational force, but rather by the atomic polarization that ultimately opposes it. Why is so important a topic as atomic physics not given an early and thorough conceptual presentation?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Atomic Structure and LifetimesA Conceptual Approach, pp. 1 - 5Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003