ATOMS

THOMSON’S MODEL OF AN ATOM

J.J. Thomson proposed that an atom is a sphere of positively charged matter with electrons
embedded in it. The positive charge is uniformly distributed over the entire atom. The arrangement
of electrons inside the continuous positive charge is similar to that of the seeds in a watermelon or
the plums in a pudding. That is why Thomson's atomic model is also known as plum pudding
model. The electrons are arranged in such a manner that their mutual repulsions are balanced by
their attractions with the positively charged matter. Thus the atom as a whole is stable and neutral.
Thomson's model was able to explain with some success the processes like chemical reaction and
radioactive disintegration.
Failure of Thomson's model.
1. It could not explain the origin of several spectral series in the case of hydrogen and other atoms.
2. It failed to explain the large angle scattering of alpha particles in Rutherford's experiment.

ALPHA PARTICLE SCATTERING EXPERIMENT

Geiger-Marsden experiment.
On the suggestion of Rutherford, his two associates H. Geiger and E. Marsden, in 1911, performed
experiments on the scattering of alpha-particles from thin foils and obtained an important insight
into the
structure of the atom.
An a-particle is a helium ion, i.e., a helium atom from
which both the electrons have been removed. It has charge equal to + 2e and its mass is nearly four
times the mass of a proton.
Significance of the result.
Rutherford concluded the following important facts about an atom:
1. As most of the -particles pass straight through
the foil, so most of the space within atoms must
be empty.
2. To explain large angle scattering of a-particles,
Rutherford suggested that all the positive charge
and the mass of the atom is concentrated in a
very small region, called the nucleus of the
atom.
3. The nucleus is surrounded by a cloud of electrons
whose total negative charge is equal to the total
positive charge on the nucleus so that the atom
as a whole is electrically neutral.

Rutherford's model of an atom.

On the basis of the alpha particle scattering experiment, Rutherford proposed the following model
of an atom:
1. An atom consists of a small and massive central core
in which the entire positive charge and almost the whole mass of the atom are concentrated. This
core is called the nucleus.
2. The size of the nucleus (1 fermi ) is very small as
compared to the size of the atom (1 Angstrom).
3. The nucleus is surrounded by a suitable number of
electrons so that their total negative charge is equal to the total positive charge on the nucleus and
the atom as a whole is electrically neutral,
4. The electrons revolve around the nucleus in various
orbits just as planets revolve around the sun. The centripetal force required for their revolution is
provided by the electrostatic attraction between the electrons and the nucleus.

Limitations of Rutherford's atomic model :

1. According to electromagnetic theory, an accele-
rated charged particle must radiate electromagnetic
energy. An electron revolving around the nucleus is
under continuous acceleration towards the centre. It
should continuously lose energy and move in orbits of
gradually decreasing radii. The electron should follow
a spiral path and finally it should collapse into the
nucleus. Thus the Rutherford's model cannot explain
the stability of an atom.
2. As the electrons spiral inwards, their angular
velocities and frequencies would change continuously,
and so the frequency of emitted light will also change.
They would emit a continuous spectrum instead of the
actually observed line spectrum.

Postulates of Bohr's theory of hydrogen atom.

1. Nuclear concept. An atom consists of a small and

massive central core, called nucleus around which planetary electrons revolve. The centripetal force
required for their rotation is provided by the electrostatic attraction between the electrons and the
nucleus.
2. Quantum condition. Of all the possible circular
orbits allowed by the classical theory, the electrons are
permitted to circulate only in those orbits in which the
angular momentum of an electron is an integral multiple of h/2pi, h being Planck's constant.
Therefore, for any permitted orbit,
L= mgr = nh/2pi, n=1,2,3..
where L, m and v are the angular momentum, mass
and speed of the electron, r is the radius of the
permitted orbit and n is positive integer called principal quantum number. The above equation is
Bohr's famous quantum condition.

3. Stationary orbits. While revolving in the permi-

ssible orbits, an electron does not radiate energy. These non-radiating orbits are called stationary
orbits.

4. Frequency condition. An atom can emit or absorb

radiation in the form of discrete energy photons only when an electron jumps from a higher to a
lower orbit or from a lower to a higher orbit, respectively. If E1 and E2 are the energies associated
with these permitted orbits, then the frequency v of the emitted or absorbed radiation is given by
hv = E2-E1
This is Bohr's famous frequency condition.

Limitations of Bohr's theory.

1. This theory is applicable only to hydrogen-like
single electron atoms and fails in the case of
atoms with two or more electrons.
2. In the spectrum of hydrogen, certain spectral lines are not single lines but a group of closed lines
with slightly different frequencies. Bohr's theory could not explain these fine features of the
hydrogen spectrum.
3. It does not explain why only circular orbits
should be chosen when elliptical orbits are also
possible.
4. As electrons exhibit wave properties also, so
orbits of electrons cannot be exactly defined as
in Bohr's theory.
5. Bohr's theory does not tell anything about the relative intensities of the various spectral lines.
Bohr's theory predicts only the frequencies of these lines.
6. It does not explain the further splitting of
spectral lines in a magnetic field (Zeeman effect)
or in an electric field (Stark effect).