CLASS 12 PHY - ATOMS NOTES

Introduction
• 1897 - experiments on electric discharge through gases - English physicist J. J.
Thomson
Outcome:
➢ atoms of different elements contain negatively charged constituents (electrons)
that are identical for all atoms
➢ atoms on the whole are electrically neutral
• The first model of the atom - J. J. Thomson – 1898
Inference:
➢ An atom's positive charge is uniformly distributed throughout the atom's
volume and the negatively charged electrons are embedded in it like seeds in a
watermelon - plum pudding model of the atom
➢ No. of electrons equals no. of protons
Disadvantages:
➢ Couldn’t explain the origin of spectral series
➢ Couldn’t explain the angle scattering of alpha particles
• In the early nineteenth century - element is associated with a characteristic spectrum
of radiation, for example, hydrogen always gives a set of lines with fixed relative
position between the lines
• 1885 - Johann Jakob Balmer (1825 – 1898) obtained a simple empirical formula that
gave the wavelengths of a group of lines emitted by atomic hydrogen
• Ernst Rutherford - experiments on alpha-particles emitted by some radioactive
elements – 1906 - experiment of scattering of these alpha-particles by atoms to
investigate the atomic structure.
• This experiment was later performed around 1911 by Hans Geiger (1882–1945) and
Ernst Marsden
• Rutherford’s planetary model of the atom (nuclear model of the atom)
➢ the entire positive charge and most of the mass of the atom is concentrated in a
small volume called the nucleus
➢ electrons revolving around the nucleus just as planets revolve around the sun
ALPHA-PARTICLE SCATTERING AND RUTHERFORD’S NUCLEAR MODEL OF
ATOM
• At the suggestion of Ernst Rutherford, in 1911, H. Geiger and E. Marsden performed
some experiments.
• In one of their experiments:
➢ Directed a beam of 5.5 MeV alpha-particles emitted from a 214 Bi 83
radioactive source at a thin metal foil made of gold
➢ Alpha particles emitted by a radioactive source were collimated into a narrow
beam by their passage through lead bricks.
➢ The beam was allowed to fall on a thin foil of gold of thickness 2.1 × 10–7 m
➢ The scattered alpha particles were observed through a rotatable detector
consisting of a zinc sulphide screen and a microscope

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➢ The scattered alpha-particles striking the screen produced brief light flashes
or scintillations - viewed through a microscope and the distribution of the
number of scattered particles may be studied as a function of the angle of
scattering
➢ Alpha particles – mass = 4 * mass of proton
- Charge = 2e
- He ion where both electrons are removed

Observations:
➢ A typical graph of the total number of a-particles scattered at different angles,
in a given interval of time:

➢ The dots - data points – experimental

➢ solid curve - theoretical prediction based on the assumption that the target
atom has a small, dense, positively charged nucleus.

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 ➢ Many of the a-particles pass through the foil. It means that they do not suffer
any collisions.
➢ Only about 0.14% of the incident alpha-particles scatter by more than 1°
➢ about 1 in 8000 deflect by more than 90°
➢ To deflect an alpha particle backwards, it needs to experience a large
repulsive force, which can be provided if most of the atom's mass and
positive charge are concentrated at its centre. This setup allows the incoming
alpha particle to get very close to the positive charge without penetrating it,
resulting in a significant deflection.
Explanation:
➢ the entire positive charge and most of the mass of the atom is concentrated in
the nucleus with the electrons some distance away. The electrons would be
moving in orbits about the nucleus just as the planets do around the sun
➢ the size of the nucleus to be about 10–15 m to 10–14 m
➢ From kinetic theory, the size of an atom was known to be 10–10 m, about
10,000 to 100,000 times larger than the size of the nucleus
➢ the electrons would seem to be at a distance from the nucleus of about
10,000 to 100,000 times the size of the nucleus itself
➢ Thus, most of an atom is empty space -> alpha-particles go right through a
thin metal foil
➢ when an alpha particle happens to come near a nucleus, the intense electric
field there scatters it through a large angle
➢ The atomic electrons, being so light, do not appreciably affect the alpha
particles.
➢ As the gold foil is very thin -> alpha-particles will suffer no more than one
scattering during their passage through it -> computation of the trajectory of
an alpha-particle scattered by a single nucleus is enough
➢ The charge of the gold nucleus is Ze, where Z is the atomic number of the
atom; for gold Z = 79. Since the nucleus of gold is about 50 times heavier
than an alpha particle, it is reasonable to assume that it remains stationary
throughout the scattering process.
➢ Under these assumptions, the trajectory of an alpha-particle can be computed
employing Newton’s second law of motion and Coulomb’s law for
electrostatic force of repulsion between the alpha-particle and the positively
charged nucleus
➢ The magnitude of this force is:

where r - distance between the alpha-particle and the nucleus.

The force is directed along the line joining the alpha-particle and the nucleus
12.2.1 Alpha-particle trajectory

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 • The trajectory traced by an alpha particle depends on the impact parameter, b of
collision.
• The impact parameter is the perpendicular distance of the initial velocity vector
of the alpha-particle from the centre of the nucleus
• It is seen that an alpha-particle close to the nucleus (small impact parameter)
suffers large scattering
• In case of a head-on collision, the impact parameter is minimum and the alpha-
particle rebounds back -> only a small fraction of the number of incident
particles rebound back indicating that the number of alpha particles undergoing
head-on collision is small -> implies that the mass and positive charge of the
atom are concentrated in a small volume
• At a certain distance ro from the nucleus, the kinetic energy of the alpha particle
reduces to 0 -> particle stops -> repelled by the nucleus -> retraces its path
• Here ro – distance of closest approach
• For a large impact parameter, the alpha-particle goes nearly undeviated and has
a small deflection
• The slope of the trajectory of an alpha particle depends on the potential field and
impact parameter
12.2.2 Electron orbits
• Atom - electrically neutral sphere consisting of a very small, massive and positively
charged nucleus at the centre surrounded by the revolving electrons in their respective
dynamically stable orbits
• The electrostatic force of attraction, Fe between the revolving electrons and the
nucleus provides the requisite centripetal force (Fc ) to keep them in their orbits.
Thus, for a dynamically stable orbit in a hydrogen atom

(The negative sign in U signifies that the electrostatic force is in the –r direction.)
The total energy is:

The total energy of the electron is negative. This implies the fact that the electron is
bound to the nucleus. If E were positive, an electron would not follow a closed orbit
around the nucleus.

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Rutherford’s Atomic Model
• The positive charge and most of the mass of an atom are concentrated in an extremely
small volume. He called this region of the atom a nucleus.
• Rutherford’s model proposed that the negatively charged electrons surround the
nucleus of an atom. He also claimed that the electrons surrounding the nucleus
revolve around it at very high speed in circular paths. He named these circular paths
as orbits.
• Electrons being negatively charged and nuclei being a densely concentrated mass of
positively charged particles are held together by a strong electrostatic force of
attraction.
• No. of electrons equals no. of protons
Limitations of Rutherford’s model of an atom:
1. Rutherford’s model of an atom could not explain the stability of an atom -
According to him, charged electrons revolve around an atom in circular
paths so it should experience acceleration due to which it should lose
energy continuously in the form of electromagnetic radiations and then
eventually fall into the nucleus thereby making the atom unstable.

2. According to classical electromagnetic theory, the frequency of the

electromagnetic waves emitted by revolving electrons is equal to the
frequency of revolution. As the electrons spiral inwards, their angular velocities and
thus their frequencies would continuously change, leading to a continuous change in
the frequency of the emitted light. This contradicts the observed line spectrum, as it
would instead result in a continuous spectrum being emitted.

3. Rutherford’s model of an atom could not explain how the electrons are arranged in the
orbits around the nucleus.

12.3 ATOMIC SPECTRA

Emission lines in spectrum

of H

• Each element has a characteristic spectrum of radiation which it emits

• When an atomic gas or vapour is excited at low pressure, usually by passing an
electric current through it, the emitted radiation has a spectrum which contains certain
specific wavelengths only.
• A spectrum of this kind is termed an emission line spectrum and it consists of bright
lines on a dark background.

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• Study of emission line spectra of a material - serve as a type of “fingerprint” for
identification of the gas
• When white light passes through a gas, dark lines appear in the spectrum,
corresponding to the wavelengths found in the emission line spectrum of the gas. This
is known as the gas's absorption spectrum.
12.4 BOHR MODEL OF THE HYDROGEN ATOM
• Bohr combined classical and early quantum concepts and gave his theory in the form
of three postulates. These are :
(i) Bohr’s first postulate was that an electron in an atom could revolve in certain
stable orbits without the emission of radiant energy, contrary to the predictions
of electromagnetic theory. According to this postulate, each atom has certain
definite stable states in which it can exist, and each possible state has definite
total energy. These are called the stationary states of the atom.
(ii) Bohr’s second postulate defines these stable orbits. This postulate states that
the electron revolves around the nucleus only in those orbits for which the
angular momentum is some integral multiple of h/2pi where h is Planck’s
constant (= 6.6 ´ 10–34 J s). Thus, the angular momentum (L) of the orbiting
electron is quantised. That is L = nh/2pi
(iii) Bohr’s third postulate incorporated into atomic theory the early quantum
concepts that had been developed by Planck and Einstein. It states that an
electron might make a transition from one of its specified non-radiating orbits
to another of lower energy. When it does so, a photon is emitted having energy
equal to the energy difference between the initial and final states. The
frequency of the emitted photon is then given by

where Ei and Ef are the energies of the initial and final states and Ei > Ef
The radius of the nth possible orbit thus found is

The total energy of the electron in the stationary states of the hydrogen atom

On substituting the values

The negative sign of the total energy of an electron moving in an orbit means that the
electron is bound with the nucleus. Energy will thus be required to remove the electron
from the hydrogen atom to a distance infinitely far away from its nucleus.

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 12.4.1 Energy levels
• The energy of an atom - least (largest negative value) when its
electron is revolving in an orbit closest to the nucleus i.e., for n
= 1.
• For n = 2, 3, ... the absolute value of the energy E is smaller,
hence the energy is progressively larger in the outer orbits.
• The lowest state of the atom - ground state - lowest energy,
with the electron revolving in the orbit of the smallest
radius(Bohr radius - a0) . The energy of this state (n = 1), E1 is
–13.6 eV.
• The minimum energy required to free the electron from the
ground state of the hydrogen atom is 13.6 eV. It is called the
ionisation energy of the hydrogen atom.
• At room temperature, most hydrogen atoms are in the ground
state. When a hydrogen atom absorbs energy, like through
electron collisions, it can move the electron to higher energy
states, entering an excited state.
• for n = 2; the energy E2 is –3.40 eV -> the energy required to excite an electron in a
hydrogen atom to its first excited state, is an energy equal to E2 – E1 = –3.40 eV – (–
13.6) eV = 10.2 eV.
• Similarly, E3 = –1.51 eV and E3 – E1 = 12.09 eV, or to excite the hydrogen atom
from its ground state (n = 1) to the second excited state (n = 3), 12.09 eV energy is
required, and so on.
• From these excited states the electron can then fall back to a state of lower energy,
emitting a photon in the process.
• Thus, as the excitation of the hydrogen atom increases (that is as n increases) the
value of minimum energy required to free the electron from the excited atom
decreases.
• The principal quantum number n labels the stationary states in the ascending order of
energy
• the highest energy state corresponds to n equals infinity and has an energy of 0
(electron is completely removed from the nucleus and is at rest)
12.5 THE LINE SPECTRA OF THE HYDROGEN ATOM
• when an atom makes a transition from the higher energy state with quantum number
ni to the lower energy state with quantum number nf (nf < ni ), the difference of energy
is carried away by a photon of frequency νif such that

• in transitions between different atomic levels, light is radiated in various discrete

frequencies.
• The various lines in the atomic spectra are produced when electrons jump from higher
energy state to a lower energy state and photons are emitted. These spectral lines are
called emission lines.
• But when an atom absorbs a photon that has precisely the same energy needed by the
electron in a lower energy state to make transitions to a higher energy state, the
process is called absorption.

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 • When a continuous range of photon frequencies pass through a rarefied gas and are
analyzed with a spectrometer, a series of dark spectral absorption lines appear in the
continuous spectrum, indicating the absorbed frequencies by the gas atoms.
12.6 DE BROGLIE’S EXPLANATION OF BOHR’S SECOND POSTULATE OF
QUANTISATION
• The French physicist Louis de Broglie explained why the
angular momentum have only those values that are integral
multiples of h/2pi (Bohr’s 2nd postulate)
• Louis de Broglie argued that the electron in its circular orbit,
as proposed by Bohr, must be seen as a particle wave.
• Standing waves form in a string when the total distance
travelled by a wave down the string and back is equal to one,
two, or any integral number of wavelengths. Other
wavelengths interfere with themselves upon reflection,
causing their amplitudes to quickly drop to zero.
• For an electron moving in the nth circular orbit of radius rn ,
the total distance is the circumference of the orbit, 2∏rn . Thus
A standing wave is shown on a
circular orbit where four de
• we have λ= h/p, where p is the magnitude of the electron’s Broglie wavelengths fit into the
momentum. If the speed of the electron is much less than the circumference of the orbit.
speed of light, the momentum is mvn . Thus, λ = h/ mvn .

• de Broglie hypothesis provided an explanation for Bohr’s

second postulate for the quantisation of angular momentum of the orbiting electron.
The quantised electron orbits and energy states are due to the wave nature of the
electron and only resonant standing waves can persist.
Limitations of Bohr’s Model
• The Bohr model applies to hydrogenic atoms but cannot be extended to even simple
two-electron atoms like helium. Attempts to analyze atoms with more than one
electron based on the Bohr model were unsuccessful due to the complex interactions
between electrons and the nucleus. The model accounts for the electrical force
between the nucleus and the electron but does not consider the electrical forces
between electrons in multi-electron atoms.
• Bohr's model predicts light frequencies emitted by hydrogenic atoms but fails to
explain the intensity variations in the spectrum.