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Added a principes section
==History==
==History==
While the roots of quantum mechanics can be traced to experiments performed in the 19th century, the theory began to emerge when [[Max Planck]] proposed a "[[quantum hypothesis]]" to explain the energy spectrum of [[black body]] radiation in 1900. In 1905, [[Albert Einstein]] suggested that light is composed of discrete packets (''[[quanta]]'') in order to explain the [[photoelectric effect]]. A decade later, [[Niels Bohr]] proposed a model of the atom in which [[angular momentum]] is quantized. Eventually, the mathematical formalism that became known as quantum mechanics was developed in the 1920s and 1930s by [[John von Neumann]], [[Hermann Weyl]], and others, after [[Erwin Schrodinger]]'s discovery of wave mechanics and [[Werner Heisenberg]]'s discovery of matrix mechanics.
While the roots of quantum mechanics can be traced to experiments performed in the 19th century, the theory began to emerge when [[Max Planck]] proposed a "[[quantum hypothesis]]" to explain the energy spectrum of [[black body]] radiation in 1900. In 1905, [[Albert Einstein]] suggested that light is composed of discrete packets (''[[quanta]]'') in order to explain the [[photoelectric effect]]. A decade later, [[Niels Bohr]] proposed a model of the atom in which [[angular momentum]] is quantized. Eventually, the mathematical formalism that became known as quantum mechanics was developed in the 1920s and 1930s by [[John von Neumann]], [[Hermann Weyl]], and others, after [[Erwin Schrodinger]]'s discovery of wave mechanics and [[Werner Heisenberg]]'s discovery of matrix mechanics.
==Principles==
*Every system can be described by a wave function, which is generally a function of the position coordinates and time. All possible predictions of the physical properties of the system can be obtained from the wave function. The wave function can be obtained by solving the [[Schrodinger equation]] for the system.
*An observable is a property of the system which can be measured. In some systems, many observables can only take certain specific values.
*If we measure such an observable, generally the wave function does not predict exactly which value we will obtain. Instead, the wave function gives us the probability that a certain value will be obtained. After a measurement is made, the wave function is permanently changed in such a way that any successive measurement will certainly return the same value. This is called the collapse of the wave function.
==The uncertainty principle==
==The uncertainty principle==