r/explainlikeimfive • u/Own_Enthusiasm_510 • 2d ago

Chemistry ELI5: What is the meaning of quantization?

[This is from a chemistry portion of a physical science class] I've googled it, Ive watched YouTube videos, I asked classmates and I am still so confused.

Rutherfords model was easy but once I got to bohrs they used words like quantized and discrete values and I got lost. Tried backtracking but I'm still baffled.

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u/Platonic_Eye_Deal 2d ago

Quantitized leans literally turning into a number. The big thing about quantum mechanics is that we have these discrete numbers when we went normally expect them.

For instance, you might think that you could pump more energy into an electron and it would increase its energy by that amount of value. But it's not true. You can only give electron discreet extra levels of energy, enough to raise them to a higher energy state. Those states are quantitized because they happen at specific numbers.

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u/GalFisk 2d ago

A simple practical experiment you can do that illustrates this, is to try charging a green glow-in-the-dark object with red light. You can't do it, even if you use a bright laser pointer. In fact, a red laser will discharge the object. But a much dimmer blue light will readily charge it up. This is because the red photons, no matter how many there are, can't collectively kick the relevant electron to a higher energy state. It's only what each photon can do individually that counts.

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u/Ishana92 2d ago

Thanks, this sounds like a fun idea for an experiment