Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the most common element in the Universe. Even ourselves, being made of about 70% of water, itself consisting of 66% hydrogen (!?), we are basically hydrogen. It is therefore an important object to understand in some detail. It is indeed remarkable that we are able to do that, having, since the birth of quantum mechanics with Bohr's quantization of orbitals, a quite complete understanding of the law of nature thanks to exact solutions of the hydrogen problem. Hopfield even describes hemoglobin as being «for a while the physicist’s hydrogen atom for understanding how proteins function».[1]
We cover Hydrogen in the Wolverhampton Lectures on Physics at Level 4 first through the Bohr model of the atom (old quantum theory) and then as a solution of Schrödinger's equation (modern theory). Then at Level 6 in Electrodynamics to study relativistic and quantum-field corrections.
Links
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Hydrogen Atom But Were Afraid to Ask by R. Telfer, a brief but comprehensive overview of the theory of the hydrogen atom.
- Science-Direct's overview.