BOHR MODEL

Bohr model, description of the structure of atoms, especially that

of hydrogen, proposed (1913) by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. The
Bohr model of the atom, a radical departure from earlier, classical
descriptions, was the first that incorporated quantum theory and was
the predecessor of wholly quantum-mechanical models. The Bohr
model and all of its successors describe the properties of
atomic electrons in terms of a set of allowed (possible) values. Atoms
absorb or emit radiation only when the electrons abruptly jump
between allowed, or stationary, states. Direct experimental evidence
for the existence of such discrete states was obtained (1914) by the
German-born physicists James Franck and Gustav Hertz.

Bohr atomic model of a nitrogen atom

Bohr atomic model of a nitrogen atom.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Immediately before 1913, an atom was thought of as consisting of a

tiny positively charged heavy core, called a nucleus, surrounded by
light, planetary negative electrons revolving in circular orbits of
arbitrary radii.

Bohr amended that view of the motion of the planetary electrons to

bring the model in line with the regular patterns (spectral series) of
light emitted by real hydrogen atoms. By limiting the orbiting
electrons to a series of circular orbits having discrete radii, Bohr could
account for the series of discrete wavelengths in the emission
spectrum of hydrogen. Light, he proposed, radiated from hydrogen
atoms only when an electron made a transition from an outer orbit to
one closer to the nucleus. The energy lost by the electron in the abrupt
transition is precisely the same as the energy of the quantum of
emitted light.

Bohr model of the atom

In the Bohr model of the atom, electrons travel in defined circular orbits around the nucleus. The
orbits are labeled by an integer, the quantum number n. Electrons can jump from one orbit to
another by emitting or absorbing energy. The inset shows an electron jumping from orbit n=3 to
orbit n=2, emitting a photon of red light with an energy of 1.89 eV.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

QUANTUM NUMBERS
While the work of Bohr and de Broglie clearly established that electrons take on
different discrete energy levels that are related to the atomic radius, their model was a
relatively simplistic spherical view. There was an appreciation that the energy level of an
electron was related to the principal quantum number n, however there was no
numerical means of classifying additional aspects of an electron’s motion in space, such
as its orientation or direction. In three dimensions, the solutions of the Schrödinger
equation provided a set of three additional quantum numbers that could be used to
describe electron behavior even in more complicated many-electron atoms. This was in
contrast to previous work that focused on one-electron atoms such as hydrogen.

The question of how many quantum numbers are needed to describe any given system
has no universal answer; for each system, one must find the answer by performing a full
analysis of the system. Formally, the dynamics of any quantum system are described by
a quantum Hamiltonian (H) applied to the wave equation. There is one quantum number
of the system corresponding to the energy—the eigenvalue of the Hamiltonian. There is
also one quantum number for each operator (O) that commutes with the Hamiltonian
(i.e. satisfies the relation HO = OH). Note that the operators defining the quantum
numbers should be independent of each other. Often there is more than one way to
choose a set of independent operators; so in different situations, different sets of
quantum numbers may be used for the description of the same system.

The most prominent system of nomenclature spawned from the molecular orbital theory
of Friedrich Hund and Robert S. Mulliken, which incorporates Bohr energy levels as well
as observations about electron spin. This model describes electrons using four quantum
numbers: energy (n), angular momentum (ℓ), magnetic moment (m ℓ), and spin (ms). It is
also the common nomenclature in the classical description of nuclear particle states
(e.g. protons and neutrons).

Quantum numbersThese four quantum numbers are used to describe the probable location of
an electron in an atom.

The aufbau principle, from the German Aufbauprinzip (building-up principle), also called

the aufbau rule, states that in the ground state of an atom or ion, electrons fill atomic orbitals of the
lowest available energy levels before occupying higher levels.

Hund's Rule. Hund's rule: every orbital in a subshell is singly occupied with one electron
before any one orbital is doubly occupied, and all electrons in singly occupied orbitals have the
same spin.

Pauli's Exclusion Principle states that no two electrons in the same atom can have identical values
for all four of their quantum numbers. In other words, (1) no more than two electrons can occupy the
same orbital and (2) two electrons in the same orbital must have opposite spins (Figure 46(i) and
(ii)).

John Dalton (1766-1844) was an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist, best known for
introducing the atomic theory into chemistry and for his work on human optics.

Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS, HonFRSE (30 August 1871 – 19
October 1937) was a New Zealand-British physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear
physics. Encyclopædia Britannica considers him to be the greatest experimentalist since Michael
Faraday (1791–1867).

Johannes (Janne) Robert Rydberg (Swedish: [ˈrŷːdbærj]; 8 November 1854 – 28 December 1919)

was a Swedish physicist mainly known for devising the Rydberg formula, in 1888, which is used to
describe the wavelengths of photons (of visible light and other electromagnetic radiation) emitted by
changes in the energy level of an electron in a hydrogen atom.

Louis de Broglie, in full Louis-Victor-Pierre-Raymond, 7e duc de Broglie, (born August 15, 1892,
Dieppe, France—died March 19, 1987, Louveciennes), French physicist best known for his research
on quantum theory and for predicting the wave nature of electrons. He was awarded the 1929 Nobel
Prize for Physics.

Werner Heisenberg, in full Werner Karl Heisenberg, (born December 5, 1901, Würzburg, Germany

—died February 1, 1976, Munich, West Germany), German physicist and philosopher who
discovered (1925) a way to formulate quantum mechanics in terms of matrices.

Erwin Schrödinger, (born August 12, 1887, Vienna, Austria—died January 4, 1961, Vienna),
Austrian theoretical physicist who contributed to the wave theory of matter and to other
fundamentals of quantum mechanics.
Niels Henrik David Bohr (Danish: [ˈne̝ls ˈpoɐ̯ˀ]; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish
physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum
theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.

Niels Bohr proposed a model of the atom in which the electron was able to occupy only certain
orbits around the nucleus. This atomic model was the first to use quantum theory, in that the
electrons were limited to specific orbits around the nucleus. Bohr used his model to explain the
spectral lines of hydrogen.

27 Mar 2021 — Friedrich Hund, in full Friedrich Hermann Hund, (born February 4, 1896,

Karlsruhe, Germany—died March 31, 1997, Karlsruhe), German physicist known for his work on the
electronic structure of atoms and molecules.

Robert Sanderson Mulliken, (born June 7, 1896, Newburyport, Mass., U.S.—died Oct. 31, 1986,
Arlington, Va.), American chemist and physicist who received the 1966 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for
“fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of
molecules.” Robert Sanderson Mulliken.

THE ELUSIVE ELECTRON AND ATOMIC ORBITALS