CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM LAWS 199 



atom contains something which it has not entered into 

 the mind of man to conceive, which has, however, been 

 described symbolically by Schrodinger. This "some- 

 thing" is spread about in a manner by no means com- 

 parable to an electron describing an orbit. Now excite 

 the atom into successively higher and higher quantum 

 states. In the Bohr model the electron leaps into higher 

 and higher orbits. In the real atom Schrodinger's 

 "something" begins to draw itself more and more 

 together until it begins sketchily to outline the Bohr 

 orbit and even imitates a condensation running round. 

 Go on to still higher quantum numbers, and Schro- 

 dinger's symbol now represents a compact body moving 

 round in the same orbit and the same period as the 

 electron in Bohr's model, and moreover radiating 

 according to the classical laws of an electron. And so 

 when the quantum number reaches infinity, and the 

 atom bursts, a genuine classical electron flies out. The 

 electron, as it leaves the atom, crystallises out of Schro- 

 dinger's mist like a genie emerging from his bottle. 



