ABCs Of Quantum Mechanics | V. Rydnik

This book will tell you about the origin and development of quantum mechanics, about its new concepts. It will describe how the new theory deciphered the secrets of the structure of atoms, molecules, crystals, atomic nuclei, and how quantum mechanics is dealing with the problem of the most fundamental of all properties of matter - the interaction of particles and the relationships between fields and matter.

The book was translated from the Russian by and was first published by Mir in 1966.

Credits to itanveer for the original scan.

We cleaned the 2-in-1 scan and added a new cover and bookmarks.

The Internet Archive Link

Original scan as uploaded by itanveer. IA link for the same

There is a Bengali version of the book available also. Thanks to Siddharth for pointing this link:

Contents

FROM CLASSICAL MECHANICS TO QUANTUM MECHANICS

In Lieu of an Introduction 11
The Outlines of the New World 12
The Temple of Classical Mechanics 15
The Temple Collapses 17
How the New Theory was Named 18
Physicists Build Models 20
Not Everything Can be Modelled 23
The Invisible, Untouchable World 25
Difficult but Interesting 26

THE FIRST STEPS OF THE NEW THEORY

Heat and Light 29
Blacker than Black 31
Exact Laws, Not Rough Approximations 32
The Ultraviolet Catastrophe 34
Classical Physics at an Impasse 35
The Way out 36
Quanta of Energy 38
The Elusive Quanta 40
An Unaccountable Phenomenon 43
Photons 44
What is Light? 46
The Visiting Cards of Atoms 48
Why do Bodies Emit Light? 50
The Biography of the Atom Written by Niels Bohr 53
From Where do We Reckon the Energy? 57
Excited Atoms 59
The First Setbacks 61
FROM BOHR'S THEORY TO QUANTUM MECHANICS

A Remarkable Article 65
A Little about Ordinary Waves 66
Getting Acquainted With Matter Waves 67
Why Can't We See de Broglie Waves? 68
The Wave is Found 71
Two-Faced Particles 75
P1lot Waves 76
Together or Separately? 78
A Visit to the Shooting Range 80
Waves of Probability 83
Probability Enters into Physics 84
Cautious Predictions 87
Waves of Particles and Particles of Waves 90
On the Way to the Wave Law 91
Measuring Instruments Take over 95
The Uncertainty Relation 98
What IS to Blame, the Instrument or the Electron? 101
An Attempt with Rather Faulty Tools 103
Another Marvel 106
The Uncertainty Relation Once Agam 109
Matter Waves Again 112
The Wave FunctiOn 114
Waves and Quanta are United 116

ATOMS. MOLECULES. CRYSTALS

Clouds in Place of Orbits 120
Monotony in Diversity 124
Another Marvel- But as Yet Unexplained 125
The Atomic Architect at Work 128
Crazy Atoms 130
Atoms and Chemistry 132
The Birth of a Spectrum 136
Fat Lines and Double Lines 140
Atoms Get Married 142
Solid Bodies are Really Solid 147
Skeletons and Multistorey Structures of Crystals 149
Insulators Can Conduct Current 155
How does Current Move in a Metal? 158
Those Wonderful "Semi-Things" 162
Useful 'Dirt' 164
Generous and Greedy Atoms 165

THE INTERIOR OF THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS

On the Threshold 171
The First Step 173
The Second Step 176
The Search for the Mysterious Meson 180
The Strongest Forces of All 181
Once Again about the Stability of Nuclei 185
Tunnels in Nuclei 187
Does the Nucleus Consist of Shells? 191
Where do Gamma Rays Come from? 193
The Nucleus as a Liquid Drop? 196
The Liquid-Drop Nucleus Splits 198
The Secrets of Nuclear Fission 200
How Many Nuclei Can There Be? 203
The Nucleus as Shells and Liquid Drop Together 204
Particles Fly out of the Nucleus that Were Never There 207
The Electron Has an Accomplice 209
Electrons are Born in Nuclei 212
The Hungry Nucleus 215

FROM ATOMIC NUCLEI TO ELEMENTARY PARTICLES

The Discovery of a New World 219
The Invisible Dividing Line 221
A Bit More about the Theory of Relativity 224
The First Difficulties 226
An Unexpected Discovery 228
A Still More Unexpected Discovery 231
The Birth of a 'Hole' 235
The Outlines of Emptiness 237
Complete Emptiness? 240
Emptiness depends on Bodies 242
Matter and Fields 245
There is No Emptiness 246
What the Whales Rest on 249
Particles Change Their Guise 251
The Two-Faced Pi-Meson 254
A Clue to Meson Exchange 256
The Secret of Interaction 259
The Kingdom of Virtualities 264
The Virtual Becomes Real 265
In the Search for New Particles 268
Sorting the Booty 270
Antiparticles Come into Action 274
Particles Disintegrate 276
Physicists Classify Interactions 279
The Mystery of the K-Mesons 281
Is the Left Any Different from the Right? 283
A Way out is Found 287
Worlds and Antiworlds 290
What Goes on Inside Particles? 292
The Mysterious Resonances 295
The Curtain Rises 297
Resonances Get Citizenship 299
Triplets, Octets- 302
Quarks 306
Old Ideas Hold One Back 308
The Reverse of the Obvious 310
The Ubiquitous Quantum 312

FROM QUANTUM MECHANICS TO ·>

Indeterminable Determinacies 315
The Biography of Quantum Mechanics 320
Quantum Mechanics Gets Its Second Wind 324