Bohrs Model

As stated previously, with the protons and neutrons in the nucleus deep inside the atom, it is logical to think that the electrons play the most important role as far as contact with other atoms. It is logical to assume that it is the outer edges of the atomic spheres, and thus the electrons, that interact when there is a close approach between the atoms, ultimately resulting in chemical combination. 

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Before proceeding with the Bohr model, let us make three points ... 

The quantum mechanical atom differs from the Bohr model in several ways. In particular, according to quantum mechanics—... 

Use the Bohr model to identify lines in the hydrogen spectrum. 

Frequency-wavelength Energy-frequency Bohr model... 

According to the Bohr model, the radius of a circular orbit is given by the equation... 

In chemistry, perhaps because of the significance in visualizing molecular strac-ture, there has been a focus on how students perceive three-dimensional objects from a two-dimensional representation and how students mentally manipulate rotated, reflected and inverted objects (Stieff, 2007 Tuckey Selvaratnam, 1993). Although these visualization skills are very important in chemistry, it is evident that they are not the only ones needed in school chemistry (Mathewson, 1999). For example, conceptual understanding of nature of different types of chemical bonding, atomic theory in terms of the Democritus particle model and the Bohr model, and... 

The Bohr atom went a long way toward explaining the nature of atoms, but there were problems. Although scientists could calculate the emission spectrum of hydrogen using the Bohr model, the model could not account for the spectra of heavier atoms. The biggest problem with the Bohr atom, however, lay in its lack of a... 

This assumption is the basis of the Bohr model for the hydrogen-like atom. When solved for m, this balancing equation is... 

Note that from the solution of a problem involving three dimensions, three quantum numbers result, unlike the Bohr approach, which specified only one. The quantum number n is essentially equivalent to the n that was assumed in the Bohr model of hydrogen. 

The Bohr model is a determinant model of an atom. It implies that the position of the electron is exactly known at any time in the future, once that position is known at the present. The distance of the electron from the nucleus also is exactly known, as is its energy. And finally, the velocity of the electron in its orbit is exactly known. All of these exactly known quantities—position, distance from nucleus, energy, and velocity—can t, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, be known with great precision simultaneously. 

Appendix 1 also shows how the periodic table of the elements (Appendix 5) can be built up from the known rules for filling up the various electron energy levels. The Bohr model shows that electrons can only occupy orbitals whose energy is fixed (quantized), and that each atom is characterized by a particular set of energy levels. These energy levels differ in detail between atoms of... 

However, in the sodium atom, An = 0 is also allowed. Thus the 3s —> 3p transition is allowed, although the 3s —> 4s is forbidden, since in this case A/ = 0 and is forbidden. Taken together, the Bohr model of quantized electron orbitals, the selection rules, and the relationship between wavelength and energy derived from particle-wave duality are sufficient to explain the major features of the emission spectra of all elements. For the heavier elements in the periodic table, the absorption and emission spectra can be extremely complicated - manganese and iron, for example, have about 4600 lines in the visible and UV region of the spectrum. 

As a final note, closer inspection of the emission lines from Na shows that most emission lines are not, in fact, single lines, but are closely spaced doublets or triplets - for example, the strong yellow line discussed above at 589.3 nm is composed of two separate lines at 589.0 and 589.6 nm. This is termed fine structure, and is not predictable from the Bohr model of the atom. It is addressed in the Bohr-Sommerfield model, and is the result of a quantum mechanical interaction, known as spin-orbit coupling, further discussion of which is not necessary for this volume. 

In this chapter, you learned about the electronic structure of the atom in terms of the older Bohr model and the newer quantum mechanical model. You learned about the wave properties of matter, and how to describe each individual electron in terms of its four quantum numbers. You then learned how to write the electron configuration of an atom and some exceptions to the general rules. 

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