Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Classical mechanics fails completely when describing processes and structures inside atoms.
In plain terms
Old rules do not work at all for what happens inside an atom.
What can you take from it?
Do not apply classical rules to atomic structures.

Where it applies

  • introducing quantum theory
  • explaining scientific shifts
  • education

Putting it to work

  • replace old models where they fail
  • identify where classical theory breaks down

Questions to consider

  • Why does classical mechanics fail inside atoms?
  • What happens in its place?

Another view

The quote is incomplete and ends without listing specific failures.

More from James Jeans

  1. Actually the situation is even more complicated, since a separate tentacle picture is needed for each speed of motion of the electron, the speed being measured…

    Permalink to quote #12
  2. Another conspicuous failure of classical mechanics was with one aspect of the problem of radiation. ...Imagine a crowd of steel balls rolling about on a steel …

    Permalink to quote #14
  3. It would, however, be wrong to think of an electron as a bullet-like structure with tentacles sticking out from its surface. We can calculate the mass of the b…

    Permalink to quote #11

Related quotes

  1. Faraday, Maxwell, Larmor and a great number of others tried to explain electromagnetic action on these lines, but all attempts failed, and it began to seem imp…

    James JeansJames Jeans quote #6
  2. Another conspicuous failure of classical mechanics was with one aspect of the problem of radiation. ...Imagine a crowd of steel balls rolling about on a steel …

    James JeansJames Jeans quote #14
  3. Schrodinger's wave-mechanics is not a physical theory, but a dodge - and a very good dodge too.

    Arthur Stanley EddingtonArthur Stanley Eddington quote #18