Rutherford Atomic Model

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mental homson
atomie stracture of elementsfauled to
reults asN LRed with the
Ruthestrd. a Britrdh 7entst
periment he po aed the
condix tel an experiment and hased on the Frnest
obvervations
a ure of elements and gave Rutherford of this
odel
Atomie
RAhertd \pha S atteringI\pefmeTt
Ruther fwd's vondnted an eperiment by
and then sadhod the tr ajee bombarding a thin sheet of gold with a-particles
tory of these partic les after their
interaction with the gold fonl
Scaftered Particles Most particles
are undeflected

Rutherfords Alpha Scattering Experiment

Beam of
particles
Jhin gold
Foil

Circular flurescent
Source of Screen
particles

Rutherford's Model Of Atoms

NUCLEUS
NEUTRON
PROTON

ELECTRON
ORBITS

ELECTRONS

Rutherford, in his experiment. directed high energy streams of a-particles from a radioactive
Source at a thin sheet (100 nm thickness) of gold. In order to study the deflection caused to
the a-particles. he placed a fluorescent zinc sulphide screen around the thin gold foil.
Ruthertord made certain observations that contradicted Ihonson's atomie model.
Observ ations of Ruthertord's Alpha Scattering Fsperiment
The observations made by Rutherford led him to conclude that:
1. A major fraction ofthe u-particles hombarded towards the gold sheet passed through
it without any detlection. and henee most of the space in an atom is empty.
Some of the a-particles were detlected by the gold sheet by very small angles, and
henee the positive charge in an atom is not uniformly distributed. The positive
charge is concentrated in a very small volume.
in an atom
. Very tew of the a-particles were deflected back. that is only a few a-particles had
ncarly 180o angle of dellection. So the volume ocupied by the positively charged
of an atom.
particles in an atom is very small as compared to the total volume
Ruthertord Alomic MModel
atomic structure
Based on the above observations and conclusions, Rutherford proposed the
of elements. According to the Rutherford atomie model:
was concentrated in
1. The positively charged particles and most of the mass of an atom
an extremely small volume. He called this region of the atom as a nucleus.
Rutherford model proposed that the negatively charged electrons surround the nucleus
atom. He also claimed that the electrons surrounding
the nucleus revolve around
of an
it with very high speed in circular paths. He named these circular paths as orbits.
Electrons being negatively charged and nucleus being a densely concentrated mass of

positively charged particles are held together by a strong electrostatic force of

attraction.
Limitations of Rutherford Atomic Model
experimental observations it failed to
Although the Rutherford atomic model was based on

explain certain things.

Rutherford proposed that the electrons revolve around the nucleus in fixed paths
called orbits. According Maxwell, accelerated charged particles emit
to
around the nucleus should
electromagnetie radiations and hence an electron revolving
from the motion of
emit electromagnetic radiation. This radiation would carry energy
of orbits. Ultimately the
the electron which would come at the cost of shrinking
have shown that as per the
electrons would collapse in the nucleus. Calculations
nucleus in less than 10-8
Rutherford model, an electron would collapse in the
with Maxwell's theory and
seconds. So Rutherford model was not in accordance
could not explain the stability of an atom.
One of the drawbacks of the Rutherford model was also that he did not say anything
which made his theory incomplete.
about the arrangement of electrons in an atom
inaccurate and failed to explain certain
Although the early atomie models were
for future developments in the world of
experimental results, they were the base
quantum mechanies.

Bohr Model
the
Neil Bohr in 1915. lt came into existence with
Bohr model of the atom was proposed by nuclear
Rutherford's model introduced the
modification of Rutherford's model of an atom.
a nucleus (positively charged) is
surrounded by
model of an atom, in which he explained that
negatively charged electrons.
that electrons move in fixed orbitals
Bohr modified this atomic structure model by explaining
that each orbit (shell) has a fixed
(shells)and not anywhere in between and he also explained
energy level. Rutherford basically explained the nucleus of an atom and Bohr modified that
model into electrons and their cnergy levels.

BOHR'S MODEL OF AN ATOM

4 N sh
3 M st
2 Lsh
1
K sh
Posi
char
K nucl
L
M
N
Bohr's Model of an Atom
Bohr's model consists of a small nucleus (positively charged) surTOunded by negative
electrons moving around the nucleus in orbits. Bohr found that an electron located away from
the nucleus has more energy, and electrons close to the nucleus have less energy.
Postulates of Bohr's Model of an Atom
I n an atom, electrons (negatively charged) revolve around the positively charged
nucleus in a definite circular path called orbits or shells.
Fach orbit or shell has a fixed energy and these circular orbits are known as orbital
shells.
The
energy levels are represented by an integer (n=1, 2, 3...) known as the quantum
number. This range of quantum number starts from nucleus side with n=l having the
lowest energy level. The orbits n=1, 2, 3, 4. are assigned as K, L, M. N.... shells and
when an electron attains the lowest energy level, it is said to be in the ground state.
The electrons in an atom move from a lower energy level to a
higher energy level by
gaining the required energy and an electron moves from a higher energy level to
 level by losing energy.
cnergy

n 3
Increasing
n 2 enrgy.
of of orbits
n=1

A photon is emitted
E = hf
with energy

tield
of a n Atom Effect (effect of magnetic
of Bohr's Model the Zeeman
Limitations
atom failed to explain
of an of
Bohr's model on the spectra
of electric field
of atoms). effect (effect
on the spectra the Stark
also failed to explain
It
atoms). Principle.
Uncertainty
the Heisenberg
obtained from larger
atoms
It violates the spectra
explain
It could not