Teacher Guide: Bohr Model of Hydrogen

Learning Objectives
Students will …
 Describe what happens when an electron absorbs a photon and emits a photon.
 Explore how the absorption and emission spectra of hydrogen are created.
 Calculate the energy of each absorbed and emitted photon based on an energy level
diagram of hydrogen.
 Find the ionization energy of hydrogen.
 Compare the absorption and emission spectra of hydrogen.

Vocabulary
absorption spectrum, Bohr model, electron volt, emission spectrum, energy level, ionization
energy, laser, orbital, photon

Lesson Overview
Introduced in 1913, the Bohr atomic model was a
major advance in physics because it showed that
electrons are only allowed to move around the
nucleus in specific orbits. Niels Bohr related the
energy of each orbit in a hydrogen atom to the
absorption and emission spectra of hydrogen gas.

The Bohr Model of Hydrogen Gizmo was designed as a follow-up to the Bohr Model:
Introduction Gizmo. In this Gizmo, students relate the spectrum of hydrogen to changes in the
orbit of a hydrogen electron.

The Student Exploration sheet contains two activities:

 Activity A – Students observe how photons affect the orbits of electrons and measure
the energies of absorbed and emitted photons.
 Activity B – Students use an energy level diagram to determine the absorption spectrum
of hydrogen. The absorption and emission spectra of hydrogen are compared.

Suggested Lesson Sequence

1. Pre-Gizmo activity: Bohr Model: Introduction Gizmo ( 30 – 45 minutes)

Do the Bohr Model: Introduction Gizmo and Student Exploration sheet with your
students. Check that students understand how photons and electrons interact and how
the energy of an emitted photon is related to the energy difference between two energy
levels.

Discuss some of the simplifications used in the Bohr Model: Introduction Gizmo. For
example, in that Gizmo only whole-number values are used for the energy of photons.
Another simplification is that the electron always starts on the first energy level. (To
create the complete spectrum of an element such as hydrogen, the electron must be
allowed to start at any energy level.)

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 2. Prior to using the Gizmo ( 10 – 15 minutes)
Before students are at the computers, pass out the Student Exploration sheets and ask
students to complete the Prior Knowledge Questions. Discuss student answers as a
class, but do not provide correct answers at this point. Afterwards, if possible, use a
projector to introduce the Gizmo and demonstrate its basic operations. Demonstrate how
to take a screenshot and paste the image into a blank document.

3. Gizmo activities ( 15 – 20 minutes per activity)

Assign students to computers. Students can work individually or in small groups. Ask
students to work through the activities in the Student Exploration using the Gizmo.
Alternatively, you can use a projector and do the Exploration as a teacher-led activity.

4. Discussion questions ( 15 – 30 minutes)

As students are working or just after they are done, discuss the following questions:
 What produces an absorption spectrum? How is an emission spectrum
produced?
 What happens to the hydrogen electron when it is struck by a photon with energy
greater than 13.6 eV?
 Why are energy levels given negative energies? [If the lowest energy level were
assigned an energy of 0 eV, a free floating electron would have a different
energy depending on which element it had been freed from. This makes no
sense, so instead free electrons are assigned an energy of 0 eV, giving all the
other energy levels negative values for energy.]

5. Follow-up activity: Energy-level calculations ( 30 – 45 minutes)

The Bohr Model of Hydrogen Gizmo gives the energy of each energy level in a hydrogen
atom. Give students more exact values for energy levels one through five, respectively:
-13.6065 eV, -3.4016 eV, -1.5118 eV, -0.8504 eV, and -0.5443 eV. Ask students if they
notice any patterns or trends in these numbers. Students may say the numbers are
getting closer to zero and are also getting closer to one another.

Next, have students divide the energy of level 1 by the energy of level 2, then divide the
energy of level 1 by the energy of level 3, and so on. Students will find that the quotients
have a pattern: 4, 9, 16, 25. Each quotient is equal to the square of the energy level that
is being divided. Based on this pattern, students can predict the energy of levels six,
seven, and eight. (For example, the energy of level six is -13.6065 ÷ 36 = -0.3780 eV.)
See the Scientific Background for more details.

Scientific Background
When Niels Bohr began his investigations into atomic theory as a young physicist in 1911, the
prevailing atomic model of the time was Rutherford’s planetary atom model. In this model, the
electrons orbit the positively charged nucleus like planets orbiting the Sun. But this model had a
major problem: An orbiting electron should be releasing energy in the form of electromagnetic
radiation as it accelerated around the nucleus. This should cause the electron to quickly lose its
energy and spiral into the nucleus. Rutherford’s atom seemed to be fundamentally unstable.

To solve this problem, Bohr turned to the new field of quantum mechanics. In the early 20th
century, scientists such as Max Planck and Albert Einstein had theorized that light is transmitted

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in discrete packets of energy, called quanta. Bohr proposed that the electron could exist in
certain stable states, or stationary states, where no radiation would be emitted. An electron
could absorb a packet of energy to move to a higher energy state, or release a packet of energy
(in the form of a photon) when it moved down to a lower energy state.

Knowing that the electrons orbited in stable orbits, Bohr was able to use a combination of
classical physics and quantum mechanics to determine the radii of the different possible orbits.
Bohr determined that the radius of the closest orbit was 5.3 × 10-11 meters, a value that agreed
with prior measurements of the hydrogen atom. The other orbital radii were equal to the radius
of the first orbit multiplied by the square of the orbit number, called the principle quantum
number. Thus, the second orbital radius was four times the radius of the first orbital, the third
was nine times the first, and the fourth was 16 times the first.

Bohr found a similar relationship when he calculated the energies associated with each orbit.
These energies are given by the formula:

En =−R H
( n1 )
2

In this equation RH is the Rydberg constant, equal to -13.6065 eV. The variable n is the principle
quantum number, or the number of the energy level. From this equation, Bohr was able to
determine the energy of each energy level in a hydrogen atom, and thus determine the amounts
of energy an electron needed to absorb or release as it jumped from one orbit to another.

Bohr then made a great intuitive leap by realizing that the absorption and emission spectra of
hydrogen gave information about the energy levels as well. At the time, only the lines in the
visible spectrum of hydrogen were known. This series of lines is called the Balmer series. Bohr
realized that each wavelength in the Balmer series corresponded to a particular energy level
transition. (Specifically, they corresponded to the transitions between energy level two and
higher energy levels.) Bohr was then able to use his model to predict other absorbed photons
that are not in the visible light spectrum. The discovery of these other lines in subsequent years
lent great support to Bohr’s model.

During the 1920s, Bohr’s model was modified into the modern quantum atomic model. Although
the model has been changed, Bohr’s model remains a critical step in the development of
modern atomic theory.

Selected Web Resources

Bohr model of the atom: http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph14e/bohrh.htm,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ-PtF14EFw
Electron transitions: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hyde.html
Quantum atom: http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/atoms/atpt-4.html
Spectroscopy: http://loke.as.arizona.edu/~ckulesa/camp/spectroscopy_intro.html

Related Gizmos:
Bohr Model: Introduction: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?510
Electron Configuration: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?513
Star Spectra: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?558
Photoelectric Effect: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?491

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