SECTION 2:

QUANTUM THEORY
AND THE ATOM
CHAPTER 9: ELECTRONS IN
ATOMS AND THE PERIODIC TABLE
Quantum Mechanical Model
• Louis de Broglie (1892–1987)
hypothesized that particles, including
electrons, could also have wavelike
behaviors.
• Electrons do not behave like particles
flying through space.
• We cannot, in general, describe their
exact paths.
Quantum Mechanical Model
• Heisenberg showed it is impossible to
take any measurement of an object
without disturbing it.
• The Heisenberg uncertainty
principle states that it is
fundamentally impossible to know
precisely both the velocity and position
of a particle at the same time.
Quantum Mechanical Model
• Schrödinger treated electrons as
waves in a model called the
quantum mechanical model of the
atom.
• Schrödinger’s equation applied equally
well to elements other than hydrogen
(unlike Bohr’s model).
Quantum Mechanical Model
• The quantum mechanical model
makes no attempt to predict the path
of an electron around the nucleus.
• Bohr orbits were replaced with
quantum-mechanical orbitals.
Quantum Mechanical Model
• Orbitals are different from orbits in that
they represent probability maps that
show a statistical distribution of where
the electron is likely to be found.
Quantum Mechanical Model
• In the quantum-mechanical model, a
number and a letter specify an
orbital.
• The lowest-energy orbital is called the
1s orbital.
• It is specified by the number 1 and the
letter s.
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• s sublevel:
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• The number is called the Principal
quantum number (n) and it
indicates the relative size and
energy of atomic orbitals.
• n specifies the atom’s major energy
levels, called the principal energy
levels.
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• Energy sublevels are contained
within the principal energy levels.
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• Each energy sublevel relates to
orbitals of different shape.

s, p, d, f

s, p, d
s, p
s
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• p sublevel:
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• d sublevel:
Hydrogen’s Atomic Orbitals
• f sublevel: