Class 12 Physics | Atoms

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Class 12 Physics | Atoms

Atoms
Notes

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Class 12 Physics | Atoms

Introduction

Atom is the fundamental building block of matter having a confined positively

charged nucleus at the center, surrounded by negatively charged electrons.
Every inorganic, organic, or even synthetic object is made up of atoms.

There were many atomic models given initially

Dalton’s Atomic Theory:

• Atoms are the smallest constituents of matter and can’t be divided

further(indivisible)
• Atoms belonging to same matter have similar characteristics and mass;
atoms of different matter have different properties and mass
• Atoms are reoriented in a chemical reaction (not generated or destructed)

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Merits:

It demonstrated laws of:

(a) mass conservation,
(b)fixed composition,
(c)multiple proportions

Demerits:

• It was unable to demonstrate experiments of electrostatics (dry paper bits

sticking to comb) that showed charge exists.
Thomson Model of Atom:
• Atom is like a sphere where positive charge has uniform distribution
throughout
• Electrons are scattered inside in a way that most stable electrostatic
arrangement is achieved, meaning that minimum possible energy of the
system should is achieved
• Also known as watermelon model or plum pudding model or raisin bread
model
• It positively illustrated the net neutrality(equal positive and negative
charges, so no net charge) of atom
• It was inconsistent with the experiments conducted later and the discovery
of neutron and proton.

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Thomson’s atomic model

Rutherford’s Nuclear Model of Atom:

• Geiger and Marsden carried out few experiments on the advice of

Rutherford
• On a very thin gold foil, highly energetic ray of α-particles(that are positively
charged with energy of 5.5MeV)was incident
• Scattered α-particles when strike zinc sulphide screen(surrounding the thin
gold foil) produced light flashes(scintillations) which were observed via
detector(microscope)

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• Scattered α-particles’ distribution as a function of scattering angle(θ) was

analyzed and plotted as a graph

• As the scattering angle(θ) got higher, count of scattered α-particles

observed got lower, and vice versa
• Almost all of the α-particles passed through the gold foil undeflected, and
infinitesimally small number of α-particles got deflected
• This proved that almost all the space in an atom is empty
(9999999999996%), and the positive charge is confined to an extremely
small region because very few of the positively charged α-particles were
repelled by gold foil proving positive charge is confined to a small region.
This region was called nucleus.
• Atom has a structure analogous to our solar system where nucleus (like
sun) is at center and all the electrons (like planets) revolving around it in a
specified circular path at large speeds.

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• Electrons and protons are bound together by electrostatic forces of

attraction and atom, as a whole is electrically neutral
• Rutherford was the first to discover that atom has a nucleus and so his
model was called as Rutherford’s nuclear model of atom
Electron Orbit:

Since electrons orbiting around the nucleus and are held to nucleus by
electrostatic force of attraction, ergo, centripetal force (Fc) is provided by the
electrostatic force (Fe) to keep electrons in the orbit.
Fc = Fe

Here r=radius of orbit, v= velocity of orbiting electron, e= charge of an

electron, m= mass of an electron, Z=atomic mass of atom, Ɛo=permittivity of
free space
On solving, we get:

• Kinetic Energy(K): putting the value of mv2from eq.(1), we get:

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• Potential Energy(U): using the electrostatic potential between 2 charged

body, we get:

• Negative sign here shows that there is a force of attraction and energy has
to be given to the system to overcome this force of attraction
• Total Energy(T):

T=U+K

Some important things to note:

Kinetic energy(K) = -(1/2)Potential energy(U)
Kinetic energy(K) = -Total energy(T)
Potential energy(U) = 2×Total energy(T)

Drawbacks of Rutherford’s Model:

• Accelerated charged particle produces electromagnetic waves (Maxwell

Theory), so orbital radius of electron should go on decreasing and finally
electron should fall into the nucleus. But atoms are stable in nature and this
stability of atoms could not be clarified by Rutherford’s model

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• The model didn’t talk about electronic structure of atoms, viz. electrons
orientation, their orbital motion and relative energy of electron in different
orbits
• Dual character of electromagnetic radiation couldn’t be elaborated by the
model

Question:
Hydrogen atom has ground state energy of -13.6eV. What are the kinetic and
potential energies of atom at this state?
Answer:
Given: Total energy= -13.6eV
We know from the above equations: Kinetic energy(K)= -Total energy(T)
∴ K = -(-13.6eV) = 13.6eV
Potential energy(U) = 2×Total energy(T)
∴ U = 2×(-13.6eV) = -27.2eV
Note: Here negative sign shows that there is a force of attraction between
electron and nucleus.

Atomic Spectra:

• When an electron jumps amongst energy levels in an atom, energy is

emitted or absorbed in the form of electromagnetic radiations and these
radiations produce a spectral lines of frequencies(or wavelength) associated
with an atom, called atomic spectra
• Spectroscopy is the learning and examination emission and absorption
spectra associated with an atom to determine its properties
• Spectral lines are the bright and dark line series that constitute the
spectrum associated with an atom

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• An atom has a discrete spectra(where exist a fixed specific lines of energy

transition of electron with discrete energy gaps) also known as quantized
spectra
• Another type is continuous spectra(where there is no specific lines of
energy transition of electrons) which is the reverse of discrete spectra

• There are 3 types of atomic spectra:

• a)emission spectra,
• b)absorption spectra,
• c) continuous spectra

Emission spectra:

• Radiation spectrum produced due to absorption of energy by a matter

• When an electron of an atom, molecules or ions get to a higher energy
state than their ground (stable) state due to radiation absorption, they are
said to be excited
• Emission spectrum is produced when energy is supplied to a sample
(through heating or irradiation) and the wavelength or frequency of
radiation emitted by the sample is observed as a function of energy

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Absorption spectra:

• It is just the opposite of emission spectra

• Continuous radiation (energy) is directed through a sample which absorbs
certain radiation of particular wavelengths and the remaining spectrum is
recorded. Absorbed wavelengths correspond to the dark spaces in the
spectrum
• Whatever absent(showed by dark lines) in the emission spectrum of an
atom is actually present (showed by bright lines) in the absorption
spectrum of that atom

Continuous spectra:

• Formed when a ray of white light is passed through a prism(or water

droplets) causing a continuous spectrum of visible light of different
wavelength
• There are no discrete lines (separation) between any 2 adjacent
wavelengths.
• Speed of light changes with respect to the medium through which it passes,
so as the medium changes, light with the longest wavelength (red)deviates
the least and the light with the shortest wavelength (violet) deviates the
most.

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Spectral Series

• On passing electric discharge through hydrogen gas, hydrogen molecules

would dissociate giving rise to excited (highly energetic) hydrogen atoms
that emit radiation of certain specified frequency while returning to its
ground state
• Hydrogen spectra is constituted of 5 series of spectrum named after their
discoverer(Lyman, Balmer, Paschen, Bracket and Pfund series)

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Types of Spectral Series:

Balmer Series:

• First scientist to discover a spectral series of hydrogen atom

• It consist of visible radiation spectrum
• Experimentally, he found that these spectral lines could be expressed
mathematically in the form of wavelength as:

• Here R= Rhydberg constant = 109677cm-1(found experimentally), n= 3, 4,

5…… (higher discrete energy state from which electron jumps to 2nd energy
state thus emitting radiation)

λ = wavelength of emitted radiation in (cm)

• For maximum wavelength(λmax) in the Balmer series, n=3 (has to be

minimum):

• For minimum wavelength (λmin) in the Balmer series, n=∞(has to be

minimum):

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Lyman Series:

• Spectral series when radiation emitted is due to jumping of electron from

higher energy states to ground state
• Mathematically expressed as

• Here n= 2, 3, 4…
• For maximum wavelength in the Lyman series, n=2 (has to be minimum):

λmax = 4/3R

• For minimum wavelength in the Lyman series, n=∞(has to be minimum):

λmin = 1/R
Similarly, all other series could be expressed as:
Paschen Series:

• Mathematically expressed as

• Here n= 4, 5, 6…

Bracket Series:

• Mathematically expressed as

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• Here n= 5, 6, 7…

Pfund Series:

• Mathematically expressed as

• Here n= 6, 7, 8…

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• Atomic spectra has a huge scope in the study of electronic structures of

various atoms, molecules and ions
• Elements have their own distinctive spectral series. So spectral series is
used in the identification (even discovery) of unknown atoms
• Many elements were discovered by the spectroscopic methods, such as
Rubidium(Ru), Caesium(Cs), Helium(He), Gallium(Ga), Thallium(Tl),
Scandium(Sc).

Question:
Evaluate the shortest and the longest wavelength corresponding to the
following series of spectral lines:

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1. Lyman series
2. Paschen series
3. Bracket series

Answer:

a) For Lyman series: 1/λ = R(1/12 – 1/n2)

For shortest wavelength (λmin), n has to be maximum

1/λmax = R(1/12 – 1/∞2)
λmax = 1/R = (1/109677)cm
𝜆min = 9.118×10-6cm (Answer)
For longest wavelength (λmax), n has to be minimum
1/λmax = R(1/12 – 1/22)
𝜆max = 4/(3R) = 4/(3×109677) = 1.216×10-5cm
λmax = 1.216×10-5cm (Answer)

b) For Paschen series, similarly proceeding as above

For shortest wavelength , n has to be maximum

1/λmin = R(1/32 – 1/∞2)
𝜆min = 9/R = 9/109677 = 8.206×10-5cm (ans)
For longest wavelength , n has to be minimum
1/λmax = R(1/32 – 1/42)
λmax = 16×9/7 =16×9/106977 = 1.876×10-4cm (Answer)

c) For Bracket series, similarly proceeding as above

1/λmin = R(1/42 – 1/∞2)
𝜆min = 16/R = 16/109677 =1.459×10-4cm

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For longest wavelength (λmax), n has to be minimum

∴1/λmax = R(1/42 – 1/52)
𝜆max= 25×16/(9R) = 4.052×10-4cm (Answer)

Question:
A hydrogen atom on absorbing a photon, gets excited to the n=4 level from its
ground level. What is the wavelength and frequency of the photon?
Answer:
Given, n =4
From Balmer series, we can write
1/𝜆 = R(1/22 – 1/42) = 109677(1/4 – 1/16)
λ = 16/(3×109677) = 4.86×10-5cm (ans)
For frequency(υ), we know that it is given by the formula
υ =c/𝜆 = 3×108/(4.86×10-7) = 6.1×1014Hz (ans)

Bohr’s Model of Hydrogen Atom:

Drawbacks of Rutherford’s atomic model lead to the Bohr’s Model where he

came up with 3 postulates:
• First Postulate: Atoms have some specific stable energy states(called
stationary states) where electrons could orbit around the nucleus without
emitting radiation
• Second Postulate: Orbiting of electrons occur only in the orbits (called
stable orbits) where electrons’ angular momentum(L) is equal to the
integral multiples of h/(2π), leading to the quantization of moving
electron.
Ln =mvnrn = nh/(2π)

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Here h= Planck’s constant = 6.6×10-34Js

Ln= angular momentum of electron in nth orbit
vn= velocity of electron in nth orbit
rn= radius of nth orbit
n= permitted orbits on which electron revolve (called principle quantum
number)

• Third Postulate: Electron while jumping from higher(initial) energy state to

lower(final) energy state, emit a photon of energy equal to the energy
difference between the 2 energy states, and its frequency is given by:

hv = Ei - Ef

Bohr’s Radius: The radius on which electron move around the nucleus in the
orbit described by the Bohr’s model is known as Bohr’s radius.
Using the second postulate and Rutherford’s model(eq.1)
mvr = nh/(2π)

Using the value of υ2from both the equations, we get

On solving (and putting Z=1 for hydrogen atom) we get:

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r = n2h2Ɛo/(πme2)
For radius of innermost orbit, put n=1

Velocity of Electron in the Orbit:

v = e2/2nhƐo

Energy of Orbits:
The orbital energy of orbiting electron in the discrete energy levels in the
Bohr’s model is called as the energy of orbits.
We already know, from Rutherford’s Model that total energy(T) is given by
T = -Ze2/(8πƐor)
Putting the value of Bohr’s radius, we get

• Putting the values of electron mass(m), charge(e), permittivity of free

space(Ɛo), Planck’s constant(h); we get
T = (-13.6/n2)eV
• For the energy of innermost stationary orbit, put n=1
Drawbacks of Bohr’s Model:
• It was primarily for hydrogen atom
• It couldn’t elaborate spectra of multi-electron atoms
• Wave nature of electron was not justified by the model (inconsistent
with the de Broglie’s hypothesis of dual nature of matter)
• It didn’t illustrated molecules making process of chemical reactions
• It violated Heisenberg’s Principal(Δx× Δp ≥nh/(2π)) which said that it was
impossible to evaluate the precise position and momentum of electron
(and other microscopic particles) simultaneously. Only their probability
could be estimated.

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• Zeeman effect(spectral lines variation due to external magnetic field)

and Stark Effect(spectral lines variation due to external electric field)
couldn’t be described by the model

Question:
The energy gap between the 2 energy levels is 2.3eV. What is the frequency of
radiation emitted when the atom makes a transition from higher to lower
energy levels?
Answer: Given, ΔE = 2.3eV
Using Bohr’s 2nd postulate
ΔE = hv

Question: Use the Bohr’s model to calculate:

1. Electron speed in the n=1, 2, and 3 levels of the hydrogen atom
2. Bohr’s radius of orbit in each of these levels.
Answer:
1. Velocity of orbiting electron as per Bohr’s model is given by
v = e2/(2nhƐo)
For n = 1, velocity is given by

For n = 2, velocity is given by

For n =3, velocity is given by

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2. Bohr’s radius of orbit is given by

r = n2h2Ɛo/(πme2)
For n = 1, Bohr’s radius will be

For n = 2, Bohr’s radius will be

For n = 3, Bohr’s radius will be

Question: Using Bohr’s Model, find the quantum number associated with
earth’s revolution around the sun in an orbit of radius5×1011m, orbital speed
of3×104m/s, and
mass of earth=6×1024kg
Answer:
Given, rn =1.5×1011m, vn = 3×104m/s, and m = 6×1024kg
According to the Bohr’s second postulate:
mvnrn = nh/(2π)

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De-Broglie’s Hypothesis:
De Broglie’s Hypothesis showed the wave particle duality of matter

• It showed that, like photons, electrons must also have mass or

momentum() and wavelength(λ), given by the equation (here c= speed of
light in air, v=frequency)

p = mv = h/λ = h/(c/λ)

• It holds only for the subatomic (microscopic) particles like electron, proton
etc. where mass is very small, so wavelength are large enough to be
experimentally observable
• It does not hold for the macroscopic particles since mass there is very large,
making wavelength too small to be experimentally observable

De-Broglie’s Explanation of Bohr’s Second Postulate of Quantisation:

• Electron orbiting in circular orbit can be considered as a particle wave

• Only those waves propagate and survive which form nodes at terminal
point with integer multiple of wavelength(resonant standing waves),
thus covering the whole circumferential distance of circular orbit

2πrn = nλ

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• From de Broglie’s hypothesis: λ = h/(mv)

• So, ultimately we get: mvnrn = nh/(2π)
• This proved that wave-particle duality is the cause of quantized energy
states

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