Activity: Quantum Mechanical Model

Group Number: ___________ Grade and Section: ______________

Members: _____________________________________
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Objective: To be able to visualise the quantum mechanical model of an atom

Procedure:

1. On a clean sheet of bond paper, roughly draw a target with six areas.
2. Put your target on the floor.
3. Drop your pencil from a height of about 1 meter (waist-high) onto the target. Try to hit the
center by aiming at the center of the target. Repeat for a total of 100 trials.

Data Table:

Count the number of marks in each numbered area of the target. Record in your data table.

Area Number of Marks

Graph: Make a rough sketch of a graph(number of marks on the y-axis vs area number on
the x-axis) using the data collected. Sketch the graph at the back of your activity sheet.

Questions: Discuss with your group mates.

1. Before you dropped the pencil, could you predict exactly where it would strike the target?

2. If you could not predict the exact spot where the pencil would hit the target, could you predict the
area within which it would hit?

3. Did your predictions change as you made more drops?

4. What does probability mean?

5. From your graph, which target area has the highest probability of being hit by the pencil?

6. How is the idea of electron clouds different from Bohr’s idea of atomic orbits? (Refer to your Venn
Diagram)