QUANTUM MECHANICAL MODEL

OF THE ATOM
Quantum Theory
• Danish physicist Niels Bohr used the quantum theory
to improve Rutherford’s model of the atom.
 WHAT DOES THE QUANTUM
THEORY HAVE TO DO WITH THE
ATOMIC MODEL?
•Niels Bohr proposed that when an atom
absorbs energy, its electrons jump from
one orbit to another with a higher energy.
(Excited State)
• when the atom falls back to the original
orbit which has a lower energy, it will be
on the (Ground state).
•As the atoms fall back to its original orbit,
it releases energy in the form of light
which called photons. Thus the atoms can
absorb quantized amount of energy ,
sufficient for the electrons to be promoted
to a higher energy orbit.
•Consequently, atoms can only
emit certain wavelengths of
light as the electrons fall back
to its ground state in a process
called electron relaxation.
WHEN DOES AN ATOM
EMITS LIGHT?
 DUAL PROPERTY OF LIGHT

• In 1923, French physicist

Louis de Broglie used the dual
nature of light and proposed
that particles similar to a
photon, like an electron,
moving at about the speed of
light must also have a
wavelike property.
 DUAL PROPERTY OF LIGHT

• This suggested that the

electron could move around
the nucleus in a wavelike
manner. The electron’s
wavelength can be calculated
using its mass and velocity and
the Planck’s Constant in the
equation

λ=h/mv
 ERWIN SCRӦDINGER

• Proposed that electrons move around in wave-like manner and

are located not in the orbits rather on the space surrounding the
nucleus.
• Since the electron is considered to be traveling at quantum
speeds like a wave, then it is impossible to simultaneously
determine its exact location and momentum at an particular time.
This is known as the uncertainty principle proposed by German
Physicist Werner Heisenberg.
 ERWIN SCRӦDINGER

• Came up with an equation for an electron moving like a

wave in a three-dimensional space around the nucleus.
This wave equation describes how a wave propagates
over time.
• Its solution resulted in a wave function, which describes
the shape of wave. Solving for the wave function requires
quantum numbers and a complex mathematical solution.