ATOMS

What is atom?
❖ The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense
central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged
electrons.

Size of atom?
Why study atom?
❖Understand chemical reaction
Dalton’s atomic theory (1808)
❖ Matter consists of indivisible atoms.
❖ All the atoms of a given element have identical properties including identical
mass, atoms of different elements differ in mass.
❖ Compounds are formed when atoms of different elements combine in a fixed
ratio.
❖ Chemical reactions involve reorganization of atoms. These are neither
created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction.
Dalton’s atomic theory was able to explain the
❖ Law of conservation of mass
❖ Law of constant composition
❖ Law of multiple proportion
Limitations of Dalton’s atomic theory (1808)
❖ Failed to explain the results of may experiments, for example, glass when
rubbed with silk or fur generate electricity.
❖ Failed to explain sub-atomic particles that were discovered in the twentieth
century.
Atomic Models
❖ Thomson Model of Atom : 1897.
❖ Rutherford’s Nuclear Model of Atom : 1909.
❖ Bohr’s model of atom : 1912.
❖ Quantum Model of atom
THOMSON'S Atomic Models
❖ An atom possesses a spherical shape (radius 10-10m) in which the positive
charge is uniformly distributed.
❖ Electrons embedded into it so as to give the most stable electrostatic
arrangement.
❖ Plum pudding/ Raisin pudding / Watermelon Model
❖ Successfully explained the overall of the
atomic, but was not consistent with the
Results of later experiments.
❖ Neutron & Protons were not discovered
at this time.
Introducing alpha (α) & beta (β) particle, gamma (γ) and x-rays
❖ Roentgen in 1895 showed that when electrons strike a dense metal in the
cathode ray tube, produce rays which can cause fluorescence in the
fluorescent material placed outside the cathode ray tubes. Since he did not
know the nature of the radiation, he named them X-rays.
❖ These are not deflected by the electric and magnetic fields and have a very
high penetrating power through the matter.
❖ Certain elements emit radiation on their own and named this phenomenon
as radioactivity and the elements known as radioactive elements.
❖ 3 kinds of rays, alpha (α) & beta (β) particle, gamma (γ) are emitted.

❖Alpha particles are positively charged helium nuclei.

❖Beta particles are negatively charged particles similar to electrons.
Introducing alpha (α) & beta (β) particle, gamma (γ) and x-rays
❖The gamma rays are high energy radiations like X-rays, are neutral
in nature and do not consist of particles.
❖As regards penetrating power, alpha-particles are the least, followed
by beta-rays (100 times that of alpha-particles) and gamma-rays
(1000 times of that alpha particles).
Rutherford’s Experiment
❖ Rutherford bombarded very thin gold foil with alpha – particles.
❖ They directed a beam of 5.5 MeV -particles emitted from a 214Bi
radioactive source at a thin gold foil.
❖ Alpha particles emitted by radioactive source were collimated into a narrow
beam by passing through lead bricks.
❖ The beam was allowed to fall on a thin foil of gold of thickness 2.1 x10-07 m.
❖ The thin gold foil had a fluorescent Zinc Sulphide Screen.
❖ The scattered a-particles were received by a rotatable detector with zinc
sulphide screen and a microscope.
❖ Whenever alpha-particles struck the screen, a tiny flash of light was
produced at that point.
Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment

α
Bi-214 or
Radon
α - Beam
α
Lead Box Thin
Gold Foil

ZnS Screen

No. of α-particles
scattered (N)
+ Gold Atom

Scattering angle (θ)

α - Beam
Rutherford’s Experiment
❖ Distribution of the number of scattered particles was studied as a function of
angle of scattering by flashes or scintillations produced by striking a particle
on the zinc sulphide screen.
❖ Alpha – particle is a nucleus of helium atom carrying a charge of ‘+2e’ and
mass equal to 4 times that of hydrogen atom. It travels with a speed nearly
104 m/s and is highly penetrating.
Rutherford Geiger &
Experiment Marsden
Experiment
Source of α-particle Radon 86Rn222 Bismuth
214
83Bi
Speed of α-particle 104 m/s 1.6 x 107 m/s

Thickness of Gold foil 10-6 m 2.1 x 10-7 m

S. Observation
No.
1 Most of the α-particles passed straight
through the gold foil.
2 Some of the α-particles were scattered by
only small angles, of the order of a few
degrees.
3 A few α-particles (1 in 9000) were deflected
through large angles (even greater than
90°).
Some of them even retraced their path. i.e.
angle of deflection was 180°.
1
N(θ) α
sin4(θ/2)
Conclusion
It indicates that most of the space in an
atom is empty.
α-particles being +vely charged and
heavy compared to electron could only
be deflected by heavy and positive
region in an atom. It indicates that the
positive charges and the most of the
mass of the atom are concentrated at
the centre called ‘nucleus’.
α-particles which travel towards the
nucleus directly get retarded due to
Coulomb’s force of repulsion and
ultimately comes to rest and then fly
off in the opposite direction.
Rutherford’s model of atom: Electron orbits
Rutherford’s model of atom: Electron orbits
Rutherford’s model of atom: Electron orbits
❖ On basis of results of the a-scattering experiment,
Rutherford suggested following structure of the atom known
as Rutherford’s atomic model.
❖ An atom may be regarded as a sphere having a diameter of
about 10-10m.
❖ The entire positive charge and mass of the atom is confined
to an extremely small central core called as nucleus.
❖ The charge on the nucleus is + Ze, where, Z is the atomic
number of the element.
❖ The electrons (negatively charged particles) are distributed
in the hollow space around the nucleus.
❖ Total negative charge of electrons is equal to positive charge
of the nucleus. Thus, making atom electrically neutral.
❖ The electrons do not reside stationary around the nucleus
but revolve in circular orbits.
Rutherford’s model of atom: Limitation
❖Electron should be attracted by positively charged nucleus. It could
not explain the Stability of an atom. According to the
electromagnetic theory of Maxwell, charged particles when
accelerated should emit electromagnetic radiation. Thus the orbit of
the revolving electron will keep on becoming smaller and smaller
following a spiral path and ultimately the electron will fall into the
nucleus.
Rutherford’s model of atom: Limitation
❖It says nothing about the electronic structure of atoms. That is about
the distribution and relative energies of electrons around the
nucleus.
❖Dual character of the electromagnetic radiation could not be
explained.
❖Experimental results regarding atomic spectral emission lines could
not be explained.
Distance of Closest Approach (Nuclear size):

When the distance between α-particle

and the nucleus is equal to the
distance of the closest approach (r0),
+
the α-particle comes to rest. r0

At this point or distance, the kinetic

energy of α-particle is completely
converted into electric potential
energy of the system.
1 2 Ze2
½ mu2 =
4πε0 r0

1 2 Ze2
r0 =
4πε0 ½ mu2
Impact Parameter (b):

The perpendicular distance of the velocity

vector of the α-particle from the centre of the u θ
nucleus when it is far away from the nucleus b
is known as impact parameter. +
r0

Ze2 cot (θ/2)

b=
4πε0 (½ mu2)

i) For large value of b, cot θ/2 is large and θ, the scattering angle is small.
i.e. α-particles travelling far away from the nucleus suffer small deflections.
ii) For small value of b, cot θ/2 is also small and θ, the scattering angle is large.
i.e. α-particles travelling close to the nucleus suffer large deflections.

iii) For b = 0 i.e. α-particles directed towards the centre of the nucleus,

cot θ/2 = 0 or θ/2 = 90° or θ = 180°

The α-particles retrace their path.

Atomic spectra
❖Emission spectrum
❖Absorption spectrum
❖Continuous spectrum
Spectral lines
❖Series of bright & dark lines constituting the spectrum
Spectroscopy
❖Study of emission or absorption spectra
Atomic spectral emission lines
❖The spectrum of radiation emitted by a substance
that has absorbed energy is called an emission
spectrum.
❖Atoms, molecules or ions that have absorbed
radiation are said to be “excited”.
❖To produce an emission spectrum, energy is supplied
to a sample by heating it or irradiation it and the
wavelength (or frequency) of the radiation emitted,
as the sample gives up the absorbed energy, is
recorded.
❖The study of emission or absorption spectra is
referred to as spectroscopy.
Dual character of the electromagnetic radiation
❖Electromagnetic radiation possess both wave like and particle like
properties.
❖Wave nature
❖Diffraction
❖Interference
❖Particle Nature
❖Black-body radiation
❖Photoelectric effect
❖Variation of heat capacity of solids as a function of temperature.
❖Line spectra of atoms with special reference to hydrogen.
Bohr’s Model of atom
❖Bohr uses the emission spectrum of hydrogen to develop a model for
hydrogen.
❖Bohr postulated that electron moves around the nucleus in circular
orbits.
❖Bohr model determines the radius of each circular electron orbit
❖Bohr calculated the energy in various orbits and for each orbit
predicted the distance between the electron and nucleus.
❖Offered a satisfactory model for explaining the spectra of the
hydrogen atom.
❖Only certain orbits can exist and each orbit corresponds to a specific
energy. Electron energy is quantized.
Continuous and Quantized spectrum
➢ Evidence for the quantized electronic energy levels: Atomic spectra
Continuous spectra
➢ It is observed that when a ray of white light is passed through a prism,
the wave with shorter wavelength bends more than the one with a
longer wavelength.
➢ The speed of light depends upon the nature of the medium through
which it passes. As a result, the beam of light is deviated or refracted
from its original path as it passes from one medium to another.
➢ The light of red color which has longest wavelength is deviated the least
while the violet light.
Emission spectra
➢ An absorption spectrum is like the photographic negative
of an emission spectrum. A continuous of radiation is
passed through a sample which absorbs radiation of
certain wavelengths. The mission wavelength which
corresponds to the radiation absorbed by the matter, leave
dark spaces in the bright continuous spectrum
Emission spectra
➢ The spectrum of radiation emitted by a substance that has absorbed
energy is called an emission spectrum. Atoms, molecules or ions that
have absorbed radiation are said to be “excited”.
➢ To produce an emission spectrum, energy is supplied to a sample by
heating it or irradiating it and the wavelength (or frequency) of the
radiation emitted, as the sample gives up the absorbed energy, is
recorded.
Line spectra to identify elements
➢ Line emission spectra are of great interest in the study of electronic
structure.
➢ Each elements has a unique line emission spectrum. The
characteristic lines in atomic spectra can be used in chemical
analysis to identify unknown atoms in the same way as finger prints
are used to identify people.
➢ German chemist, Robert Bunsen (1811-1899) was one of the first
investigators to use line spectra to identify elements.
➢ Element like rubidium (Rb), caesium (Cs), thallium (Ti), indium
(In), gallium (Ga), Helium (He), and scandium (Sc) were discovered
by spectroscopic methods.
Line spectra of Hydrogen
➢ When an electric discharge is passed through gaseous hydrogen , the
H2 molecules dissociate and the energetically excited hydrogen
atoms produced emit electromagnetic radiation of discrete
frequencies.
➢ The hydrogen spectrum consists of several series of lines named
after their discoverers
Line spectra of
Hydrogen
➢ The hydrogen
spectrum consists of
several series of lines
named after their
discoverers
Bohr’s model of Atom: Limitation.
➢ Mainly for hydrogen
➢ Could not explain the spectra of multi-electron atoms.
➢ In Bohr model, an electron is regarded as a charged particle moving in a well
defined circular orbit about the nucleus. The wave character of the electron
is ignored in Bohr’s theory, Doesn’t follow De Broglie’s concept of wave-
particle duality for matter.
➢ Contradicts Heisenberg Uncertainity principle
➢ Zeeman effect could not be explained
➢ Stark effect could not be explained
➢ Schrodinger equation described the electron distribution in space and the
allowed energy levels in atoms in a better way.
Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.
➢ Stated that it is impossible to determine simultaneously, the exact position
and exact momentum ( or velocity) of an electron.
➢ It rules out existence of definite paths or trajectories of electrons and other
similar particles.
➢ It means that the precise statements of the position and momentum of
electrons have to be replaced by the statements of probability, thath the
electron has at a given position and momentum.
De-Broglie’s hypothesis: Wave-particle duality for matter.
➢ De-Broglie in 1+924 proposed that matter, like radiation, should also exhibit
dual behavior.
➢ This means that just as the photon has momentum as well as wavelength,
electrons should also have momentum as well as wavelength.
➢ The wavelength associated with ordinary objects are so short that their wave
properties cannot be detected
➢ The wavelength associated with electrons and other subatomic particles can
however be detected experimentally,
Quantum Mechanics.
➢ Classical mechanics, based on Newton’s laws of motion, successfully
describes the motional of macroscopic objects such as a falling stone, orbiting
planets etc., which have essentially a particle – like behavior.
➢ However it fails when applied to microscopic objects, atoms, molecules etc…
➢ This is mainly because of the fact that classical mechanics ignore the concept
of dual behavior of matter especially for sub-atomic particles and the
uncertainty principle.
➢ The branch of science that takes into account this dual behavior of matter is
called Quantum Mechanics
Quantum Mechanics.
➢ When quantum mechanics is applied to macroscopic objects the results are
the same as those from the classical mechanics
➢ Quantum mechanics was developed independently in 1926 by Werner
Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger.