How has the model of the structure of the atom changed over time?

Electron Cloud Model

Prior to the discovery of the neutron, Niels Bohr’s model of the atom was generally accepted.
However, many physicists thought that the model only explained simpler atoms and their chemical
reactions without explaining the behaviours of electrons.

Figure 1, Credit: Nazim Bouatta

After Einstein proved the photoelectric effect, French physicist
Louis de Broglie postulated the idea that matter as well as light
had a ‘wave-particle’ duality; an idea stemming from the
theoretical considerations of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Later
on, the famous ‘double slit’ experiment proved his theory. It
involved firing electrons at a screen with 2 slits and detecting
where the electrons that made it through the slits ended up on
the second screen behind it [Figure 1] 1. If electrons behaved like
particles, then the expected result would be electrons being
detecting along the same axis (on an imaginary line) the slits in
the first screen were. If the electrons behaved like waves, then it
would be expected that the ‘wave’ would pass through the slits
but diffract and spread out such that ‘waves’ would be detected
in a spread on the screen. When the experiment was conducted
the results showed that the electrons behaved like waves [Figure
2].

In order to mathematically picture Broglie’s idea new physics had to be invented. Erwin Schrodinger
Figure 2, Credit: Nazim Bouatta
came up with an equation that linked time to the
electrons position. Then Max Born derived that the
probality of finding an elctrons at a certain point in
time would be given by the derivative of the square of
the absolute value of Schrodinger’s equation. 2 Later,
Werner Heisenberg propsed that there the limit to
the extent it was possible to determine the exact
position or momentum of a particle. This lead to the
creation of the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.

1
Nazim Bouatta. Cambridge. 2020. Schrödinger's equation — what is it? | plus.maths.org. [ONLINE] Available
at: https://plus.maths.org/content/schrodinger-1. [Accessed 12 September 2020].

2
Nazim Bouatta. Cambridge. Schrödinger's equation — in action | plus.maths.org. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://plus.maths.org/content/schrodingers-equation-action. [Accessed 12 September 2020].
 Neils Bohr noted that, due to the laws of quantum physics, in order for a sub-atomic particle to
confined within a small region of space like the electron it would have to have infinity momentum.
This was because as the binding energy required to confine a particle increases as the region of
space gets smaller. He came to the conclusion that particles could not be confined to a geometric
point.3

Physicist Erwin Madelung proposed that subshells are filled in the order of increasing n -spheres and
were named s, p, d and f. Inside these subshells were these clouds were called orbitals and they
were defined as the region where an electron is most likely to be found in an atom. Evaluating the
Schrodinger equation and spin lead to discovery that there were 2 electrons in each orbital with
opposite spin. These ideas were then justifyed by V.M. Klechkowski. 4 The diagrams below [Figure 3]
show the shape of the orbitals of each energy level. Figure 3, Credit: toppr
Determinng the shapes of the graphed probabily densities
involved predicting it using Schrodinger’s equation. So far
the only atom that we can solve using the equation and
confirm our results is hydrogen after actually imaging a
hydrogen atom.5 This was then used to predict the shapes
of the graphs of other atoms. [Figure 4]

Figure 4, Credit: Wikimedia

3
BOHR, N. The Quantum Postulate and the Recent Development of Atomic Theory1. Nature 121, 580–590
(1928). [ONLINE] Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/121580a0 [Accessed 12 September 2020].
4
Wong, D. Pan (1979). "Theoretical justification of Madelung's rule". Journal of Chemical Education: 714–18.
Bibcode:1979JChEd..56..714W. doi:10.1021/ed056p714
5
Hydrogen Atoms under Magnification: Direct Observation of the Nodal Structure of Stark States
A. S. Stodolna,1,* A. Rouze´e, [ONLINE] Available at: https://physics.aps.org/featured-article-
pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.213001 [Accessed 12 September 2020].