Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

Chan Kee-Lin Steven, pundit@jcphysics.com March 31, 2002

Models of the atom

Models of the atom Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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It was Rutherford who initially postulated the basis of todays theory of atomic structure. He observed that some alpha particles bombarding a thin gold foil would be scattered at wide angles while most would pass straight through. To Rutherford, this indicated that an atom had most of its and all of its positive charge contained in a very small volume or nucleus. The electrons orbited the nucleus but far away enough so that they did not shield the nucleus positive charge. Alpha particle scattering was, therefore, due to electrostatic repulsion. Later, 2 of Rutherfords assistants, Geiger and Marsden, conducted experiments to prove Rutherfords hypothesis. Although there was strong experimental evidence for a nucleus, the idea that electrons orbited the nucleus did not jive with classical physics. Bohr sought to overcome this aw by suggesting that electrons were conned to specic orbits or energy levels. Any electron in a specic energy level has a xed amount of kinetic and potential energy combined. Electrons can change energy levels by absorbing enough energy to jump to a higher level or by releasing enough energy to drop down to a lower one. In practice, Bohrs model was not perfect and has been superseded by a quantum mechanical model. However, the idea of energy levels still remains very useful.

Plancks theory
Plancks theory Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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Planck gured out that electromagnetic radiation is emitted as energy packets or quanta of energy (now called photons). Each photons energy is related to the frequency of the generating radiation via the following equation. E = hf (1) E is the energy of a photon. h is Plancks constant. f is the frequency of the radiation emitting the photon. Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com) 2

His insight has a lot of consequences. For example, acknowledging that electromagnetic radiation energy can be contained within discrete packets is equivalent to saying that light can behave like a stream of particles.

Absorption and emission spectra

Absorption and emission spectra Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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As an electron can only be in specic energy levels in an atom, transition from one level to another can only be achieved by absorbing or emitting the exact dierence in energy between levels. This needs to be done instantaneously and is most easily accomplished by the electron absorbing or emitting a photon of the correct energy. Suppose there is a source of electromagnetic radiation which contains all wavelengths. Lets say that the radiation passes through a gas under low pressure and examined. Certain wavelengths would then be found missing from the resultant spectrum. Such a phenomenon is known as an absorption spectra.

Figure 1: Wavelengths missing from absorption spectra.

Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com)

Each missing wavelength actually corresponds to a photon that would cause an electron to make a unique transition between energy levels. Take, for example, an atom with 4 dierent energy levels.

level 4 level 3 level 2

level 1

Figure 2: An atom with 4 energy levels.

An electron in level 1 can go to level 2, level 3 or level 4. Similarly, an electron in level 2 can go to level 3 or level 4 etc. In total, there are 6 possible transitions and a maximum of 6 missing wavelengths. If there happens to be 2 or more transitions that share the same dierence between levels, then they would account for only 1 missing wavelength. Heating up a gas will result in the electrons of its constituent atoms entering excited states (higher energy levels). Instead of absorbing photons, these energized electrons emit photons as the drop down to lower energy levels. Visualization of these photons results in an emission or line spectra. Once again, each of these wavelengths will correspond to a distinct transition of an electron between energy levels.

Electron collision experiments

Electron collision experiments Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics 4

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Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com)

Figure 3: Wavelengths present in an emission spectra.

Absorbing and emitting photons isnt the only way for electrons to transition energy levels. They may also absorb the needed energy from collision with fast moving free electrons. One way to illustrate this phenomenon , among other things, is to conduct an electron collision experiment. In it, electrons are shot through a low pressure (dilute) gas by means of a potential dierence across the chamber. These fast moving, free electrons can interact with the gas atoms in a few ways: a. Simply collide with the gas atoms. b. Collision with an electron bound to a gas atom Just enough energy will be transferred to bring the bound electron to a higher energy level. However, this transition is only momentary (about 1 nanosecond) and the electron returns to a lower state, emitting a photon in the process. The potential dierence (PD) across the chamber of the apparatus at which these transitions are observed is known as the excitation potential. c. Increasing the PD increases the kinetic energy of the free electrons. Sometimes, so much energy is transferred to the bound electron that Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com) 5

transparent gas chamber with low pressure gas

DC power supply
Figure 4: Schematic of an electron collision experiments apparatus.

it escapes from the atom and, itself, becomes a free electron. This PD at the point when this occurs is known as the ionization potential.

Photo-electric eect
Photo-electric eect Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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Certain metals emit electrons when their surfaces are exposed to electromagnetic radiation. Such a phenomenon is known as the photo-electric eect. After much experimentation, a few observational rules have been observed. a. The electron emission rate is proportional to the intensity of the incident radiation. b. Electrons are ejected with a range of energies. The greater the frequency of radiation, the more the maximum speed of emission increases. c. Emission is instantaneous once the frequency of incident radiation is increased past a certain threshold frequency. Whatever the intensity, there is no emission below this threshold frequency. Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com) 6

Using Plancks ideas, Einstein formulated a model for photo-electric emission. He proposed that a minimum amount of energy, known as the work function, is required to liberate an electron from the metal. It follows naturally that the work function and threshold frequency can be related mathematically. = hf0 (2) is the work function. h is Plancks constant. f0 is the threshold frequency. If the incident radiation had a frequency > f0 then all the extra energy absorbed would appear as kinetic energy. Therefore, Einsteins photoelectric equation is 1 (3) hf = hf0 + mv 2 2 f is the frequency of incident radiation. m is the mass of an electron. v is the speed of ejection. Even in the metal, electrons posses a distribution of kinetic energies which directly contributes to ejected electrons having dierent kinetic energies. The shape of this distribution is dependent on the temperature of the metal.

Wave-particle duality
Wave-particle duality Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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The photo-electric eect is especially strong evidence for the particulate nature of electromagnetic waves. de Broglie suggested that the converse was also true: particles of matter could behave like waves. Integral to this theory is the idea that a particle moving with a non-zero velocity has an associated wavelength given by h (4) = mv is the associated wavelength. h is Plancks constant. m is the mass of the particle. v is the velocity of the particle. Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com) 7

For a beam of particles to exhibit wave-like properties like interference and diraction, it would have to be aimed at slits that are about the same size as its associated wavelength. For example, an electron that has been accelerated through a potential dierence of 100 V would have an associated de Broglie wavelength on the order of 1010 m. It is well within current technology to create slits with those kinds of dimensions and with their help, such electron beams can produce interference and diraction patterns.

Einsteins mass-energy relationship

Einsteins mass-energy relationship Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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Along the way to developing his theory of special relativity, Einstein gured out that mass and energy were equivalent and could be related via the following equation. E = mc2 (5) E is energy. m is mass. c is the speed of light. Due to the large value of c2 , most energy changes that occur in everyday activities are accompanied by mass changes too small to measure reliably. Radioactive decay, however, is one of the exceptions.

Momentum of a photon
Momentum of a photon Atomic physics/Atomic structure and quantum physics

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Although technically massless, a photon is, by denition, a particle. Any particle with a non-zero velocity possesses a momentum and a photon is no dierent. As a photon travels at the speed of light, its momentum should be p = mc (6)

Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com)

p is the momentum of the photon. m is the mass of the photon. c is the velocity of light. To nd the photons mass equate Einsteins mass-energy relation with the energy of a photon. E = mc2 = mc = E is the energy of a photon. h is Plancks constant. is the wavelength of the photon. Simply substitute eqn. (7) into eqn. (6) to obtain the nal equation for the momentum of a photon. h p= (8) hc h

(7)

Copyright c March 31, 2002, Keelin Chan All rights reserved. (www.jcphysics.com)