Another Bastardization of Quantum Mechanics

I hoping that I would stop finding things like this, but I think that is asking way too much.

This "author" seems to think that quantum physics can explain god. Go figure!

There are several puzzling stuff that he wrote in that article, but I'm going to focus on just a couple:

Energy makes up matter, electrons are a form of matter, so electrons are made up of energy, which means photons. Light being comprised of streams of individual particles then forces electrons to inhabit only specific energy levels when in orbit around the nucleus of an atom. When an electron gives up or receives energy, it is doing so in the form of giving up or receiving photons of light (of which it is comprised). Since photons are seen to come in discrete packets and not continuous streams of energy, then an electron is limited to exchanging energy solely in multiples of these minimal packets of energy; no fractional amounts of a single photon are allowed. When in orbit around the nucleus of an atom, then, if an electron is to move closer to or farther away from the nucleus (i.e., raise or lower its energy), it can do so only in multiples of a photon's energy. This translates into there being very specific energy levels that an electron can obtain in orbit around the nucleus. It's like the steps on a ladder: You can't climb up half a step. The steps would be the energy levels and the spacing between the steps determined by the size of a photon.

Wow! Where do we start? First of all, this is false: "Light being comprised of streams of individual particles then forces electrons to inhabit only specific energy levels when in orbit around the nucleus of an atom". The discrete energy levels of the atom is due to a "central force" of the nucleus and the electron. You solve the Schrodinger equation, and you get all of these discrete energy states. It has nothing to do with the fact that light consists of photons. That's bogus.

It is obvious that he's confused because he went on to say this: "Since photons are seen to come in discrete packets and not continuous streams of energy, then an electron is limited to exchanging energy solely in multiples of these minimal packets of energy; no fractional amounts of a single photon are allowed." He obviously doesn't know that (i) I can cause an exited state in an atom via electron bombardment as well (example: fluorescent lamp), and (ii) the energy level in an atom does not increase by constant amount. The energy difference for hydrogen, for example, is different between n=1 to n=2, n=2 to n=3, n=3 to n=4, etc.. etc. So when he says "if an electron is to move closer to or farther away from the nucleus (i.e., raise or lower its energy), it can do so only in multiples of a photon's energy." it clearly shows that this part of the physics is something he didn't get.

Oh, but it gets better!

This insistence on discrete energy levels dictates how atoms interact with one another, which forms the chemistry of bulk matter -- everything from the stars to ourselves. So it can be seen that the nature of the very littlest of things can have a tremendous impact on everything else, on the nature of our reality. The formation of matter in our reality is, at its essence, the result of brain waves.

 Of course, when someone says that, he or she has no clue on what condensed matter physicists study, and the fact that More Is Different! When atoms conglomerate to form bulk material such as metals, semiconductors, insulators, etc., they no longer behave as individual atoms, but now have a COLLECTIVE behavior. This collective behavior can be very different than the individual behavior. For example, the discrete energy levels may disappear and form BAND of continuous energy states. This is how we get the conduction band in metals, the band gap between conduction and valence bands in semiconductors, etc. The discrete orbits in atoms have been "mixed" or hybridized to form new properties that are not present in atoms. In fact, there are many phenomena that are EMERGENT out of such collective behavior, none of which can be derived simply from knowing the behavior of individual atoms. Examples are magnetism, superconductivity, etc.. etc..

Yup! Chalk this up to another bastardization of quantum mechanics!

Zz.