INDEX

 INTRODUCTION

 RUTHERFORD’S ALPHA PARTICLE

SCATTERING EXPERIMENT

 RUTHERFORD ATOMIC MODEL

POSTULATES
LIMITATIONS

 BOHR’S MODEL
POSTULATES
LIMITATIONS

 DE BROGLIE’S EXPLANATION OF BOHR’S

SECOND POSTULATE OF
QUANTISATION

 CONCLUSIONS
 INTRODUCTION

The introduction to the early theory of the atom was

done by a scientist named John Dalton (1766-1844). He
was a British physicist, chemist, and meteorologist who
is well known for many of his contributions to the
pioneering research of atoms, the law of partial
pressures, Daltonism, etc.
Thomson atomic model was proposed by William
Thomson in the year 1900. This model explained the
description of an inner structure of the atom
theoretically. It was strongly supported by Sir Joseph
Thomson, who had discovered the electron earlier.

During cathode ray tube experiment, a negatively

charged particle was discovered by J.J. Thomson. This
experiment took place in the year 1897. Cathode ray
tube is a vacuum tube. The negative particle was called
an electron.
 RUTHERFORD’S ALPHA PARTICLE
SCATTERING EXPERIMENT

Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand physicist who

was a pioneering researcher in both atomic and nuclear
physics. Rutherford has been described as "The Father
of Nuclear Physics”.

Rutherford's alpha-particle scattering experiment was a

successful attempt to present an atomic model. In the
experiment, Rutherford used an alpha particle emitter,
gold foil, and a movable fluorescent screen proper
description of the same is given below:
Gold foil: A thin sheet of gold foil with a thickness of
around 100 nm.
Alpha particle emitter: A high-energy beam of α-
particles (Helium ions) emitted from the radioactive
source.
Movable Fluorescent screen: A zinc sulphide screen is
placed around the gold foil.
The Rutherford scattering experiment diagram with
proper set-up is given below:

Observation of the experiment :

The observations after the successful execution
of the Rutherford scattering experiment were:
 Most of the α-particles that were bombarded on the
gold foil passed through the foil with no deflection. It
indicated that most of the space inside an atom is
empty.
 Some of the α-particles were deflected from the
gold foil by small angles. This indicated that the
positive charge in an atom is not uniformly
distributed. This disproved the J. J. Thomson,
uniformly distributed positive charges from the plum
pudding model.
 A very small amount of α-particles (1-2%) were
deflected back from the gold foil at a nearly 180°
angle. This indicated that the positive changes are
concentrated in a very small volume. The size of the
positively charged particles is very small as
compared to the total size of the atom.
 RUTHERFORD ATOMIC MODEL

POSTULATES :
 Atom consists of small & massive central core in
which the entire +ve charge & almost the entire
mass is concentrated. This core is called
Nucleus.

 The size of the nucleus (almost equal to)

10−15 m is very small compared to the size of the
atom (almost equal to) 10−10 m

 The nucleus is surrounded by electrons such

that the total +ve & -ve charge are equal then
atom is neutral.

 Electrons revolve around the nucleus in the

orbits like the planets revolve around the orbits.
  Because electrons are negatively charged and
the densely concentrated nucleus is positively
charged, an atom has no net charge or is
electrically neutral. The nucleus and electrons
are held together by a strong electrostatic force
of attraction.

LIMITATIONS :
 Rutherford proposed that the electrons revolve
around the nucleus in fixed paths called orbits.
According to Maxwell, accelerated charged
particles emit electromagnetic radiations and
hence an electron revolving around the nucleus
should emit electromagnetic radiation. This
radiation would carry energy from the motion of
the electron which would come at the cost of
shrinking of orbits. Ultimately the electrons would
collapse in the nucleus. Calculations have shown
that as per the Rutherford model, an electron
would collapse into the nucleus in less than 10-
8
seconds. So the Rutherford model was not in
accordance with Maxwell’s theory and could
not explain the stability of an atom..

 One of the drawbacks of the Rutherford model

was also that he did not say anything about the
arrangement of electrons in an atom which
made his theory incomplete.
 BOHR’S MODEL

Neils Henrik David Bohr wasa Danish physicist who

made foundational contributions to understanding
atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.

Bohr’s model consists of a small nucleus (positively

charged) surrounded by negative electrons moving
around the nucleus in orbits. Bohr found that an
electron located away from the nucleus has more
 energy, and the electron which is closer to nucleus
has less energy

POSTULATES :
 An electron in an atom could revolve in
certain stable orbits without the emission of
radiant energy. According to this postulate,
each atom has certain definite stable states in
which it can exist, and each possible state
has definite total energy. These are called the
stationary states of the atom.

 Bohr’s second postulate defines these stable

orbits. This postulate states that the electron
revolves around the nucleus only in those
orbits for which the angular momentum is
some integral multiple of h/2 π where h is the
Planck’s constant (h = 6.62607015 × 10−34 j
s). Thus the angular momentum (L) of the
orbiting electron is quantised. That is L = nh/2
π

 Bohr’s third postulate incorporated into atomic

theory the early quantum concepts that had
been developed by Planck and Einstein. It
states that an electron might make a
transition from one of its specified non-
radiating orbits to another of lower energy.
When it does so, a photon is emitted having
 energy equal to the energy difference
between the initial and final states. The
frequency of the emitted photon is then given
by hν = Ei – Ef.
where Ei and Ef are the energies of the initial
and final states and Ei > Ef .

LIMITATIONS :
 Applicable only to hydrogenic atom (atomic
number = 1). It cannot be extended even to
two electrons atoms like helium

 It correctly predicts frequency of emission

spectral lines but it unable to explain
intensities of these frequencies in this
spectrum.

 Some emission were preferred more than

other’s. He didn’t explain why this happened.
DE BROGLIE’S EXPLANATION OF BOHR’S
SECOND POSTULATE OF QUANTISATION

De-Broglie’s said that electrons in a circular orbit

should be seen as waves, we know that in a string only
those waves survive when the distance travel by the
string is an integral multiple of h/2 π.

For an electron in nth orbit with radius rn

Nλ=2 π rn

So De-Broglie wavelength
m v rn = nh/2 π

Thus, Quantised electron orbits which are due to the

wave nature of electron & only resonant standing waves
can persists.
CONCLUSIONS

 Bohr’s atomic model became the predecessor

of quantum mechanical models. This theory of
the atomic model is applicable to H-like species
(single electron system) only such as Li2+.
The article covers the postulates and limitations
of this atomic model. It is helpful in
understanding other atomic models proposed
by other scientists.

 Although the early atomic models were

inaccurate and failed to explain certain
experimental results, they formed the base for
future developments in the world of quantum
mechanics.