Overview

• The Nature of Light

• Atomic Spectra
• The Wave-Particle Duality of Matter and
Energy
• The Quantum-Mechanical Model of the
Atom

7-1
 Wave Nature of Light

7-2
 The inverse relationship between frequency and wavelengtha

7-3
 The Wave Nature of Light

❖ The wave properties of light can be described by its:

1) frequency (ν), oscillations per second

2) wavelength (λ), the distance a wave travels in one cycle

❖ The speed of light is a constant:

c=ν×λ
= 3.00 × 108 m/s in vacuum

7-4
 The Electromagnetic Spectrum – Different Regions of Light

V I B G Y O R
Highest frequency Lowest frequency
Shortest wavelength Longest wavelength

7-5
 Sample Problem 7.1
A dental hygienist uses x-rays to take a series of dental radiographs while
the patient listens to a radio station and looks out the window at the blue
sky (λ= 473 nm). What is the frequency (in s-1) of the electromagnetic
radiation from the blue sky?
(Assume that the radiation travels at the speed of light, 3.00×108 m/s)

SOLUTION

7-6
 Energy and Frequency
E = hν
E = energy
h = 6.626×10−34 Js (Planck’s constant)

E = h (c/λ)

Energy from a light is quantized; it occurs in fixed quantities,

rather than being continuous. Each fixed quantity of energy is
called a quantum.

e.g. Each red light photon provides a specific quantum of energy. So

does each violet light photon. And they are different in amount cause
they have different frequency (ν) values.

7-7
 Sample Problem 7.2
A student uses a microwave oven to heat a meal. The wavelength of the
radiation is 1.20 cm. What is the energy of one photon of this microwave
radiation?

SOLUTION

7-8
 Particle Nature of Light

7-9
 The Photoelectric Effect
Photo refers to photons of light and electric refers to
electricity from electrons. In simple terms, the photoelectric
effect refers to producing free electrons using photons.

7-10
 The Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

• The H atom has only certain energy levels:

– Each state is associated with a fixed circular orbit of
the electron around the nucleus.
– The higher the energy level, the farther the orbit is
from the nucleus.
– When the H electron is in the first orbit, the atom is in
its lowest energy state, called the ground state. All
the higher states are called excited states.

7-11
 Absorption and Emission of light using Bohr model
(Demonstrated using Electronic Energy Levels)

7-12
 Emission Spectrum of
Mercury (Hg) and Strontium (Sr)

7-13
 Matter Behaving Like a Wave

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 The Wave-Particle Duality of Matter

▪ Matter and Energy are alternate forms of the same entity:

E = mc2

▪ All matter exhibits properties of both particles and waves.

▪ Matter behaves as though it moves in a wave, and the

de Broglie wavelength for any matter is given by:

h m = mass
λ= u = speed in m/s
mu
m×u is called momentum (p)

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 Sample Problem 7.4
Find the deBroglie wavelength of an electron with a speed of 1.00×106 m/s
(electron mass = 9.11×10-31 kg; h = 6.626×10-34 kg•m2/s).

SOLUTION

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7-17
 Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that it is not

possible to know both the position AND momentum of
a moving particle at the same time.
h
Δx ∙ mΔu ≥ x = position
4π u = speed

The more accurately we know the speed, the less

accurately we know the position, and vice versa.

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