Lecture #1

Development of the Atomic Theory 1. Matter is composed of tiny indivisible

particles called atoms.
Introduction 2. All atoms of the one element are identical
but are different from the atoms of other elements.
The ancient Greeks noticed that amber
3. Chemical reactions consist of rearranging
attracted small objects when rubbed with fur; atoms in simple whole number ratios.
apart from lightning, this phenomenon was
humanity's earliest recorded experience with During his studies he encountered the Law of Mass
electricity. William Gilbert an English Physician Conservation by Lavoisier, 1789 and the Law of
coined the New Latin term electricus, to refer Constant Composition by Proust, 1799. And he
came up with his own law the Law of Multiple
to this property of attracting small objects Proportions.
after being rubbed. Both electric and electricity
are derived from the Latin ēlectrum, which came Joseph J. Thomson, 1904
from the Greek word ēlektron for amber.
The famous "Plum Pudding" model of the divisible
Democritus, 5th century BCE atom is one of the great contributions of John J.
Thomson which is described by the following:
Democritus stated that all matter is made up of
units that move around in a void. Democritus 1. Atoms consist of a large sphere of uniform
believed that these units are indivisible and positive charge embedded with smaller negatively
unchangeable. In fact, he decided to call them charged particles (corpuscles).
atomos, which means uncuttable in Greek. 2. The total positive charge of the sphere
Although these atomos are all made up of the equals the total negative charge of the corpuscles.
same matter, their shape, size, and orientation in Experiments with cathode ray (Crookes) tubes
space explains the existence of different showed that:
substances and materials.
1. 'canal rays' (positive charge) were
Kanada, 6th century BCE different when different gases were used.
2. 'cathode rays' (negative charge) were
In India, a guy named Kanada. He founded the always identical regardless of the nature of the
Vaisheshika school of philosophical thought, electrodes or gas used.
which came up with its own atomic theory
independently of Democritus. Ernest Rutherford, 1911s
The idea was that matter was made of a finite
number of paramāṇus (smallest possible division Proposed a nuclear model of the atom in which:
of matter or that whole which has no parts, which 1. a very small positively charged nucleus
was considered to be eternal), which are basically containing most of the mass of the atom
atoms, indivisible and eternal. Each type of atom 2. a very large volume around the nucleus in
has its own unique individuality. Atoms make up which electrons move
the 4 bhūtas (a Sanskrit, which means classical 3. a nucleus containing positively charged
element)- water, fire, earth protons
and air, which make up all 4. a number of protons equal to the number of
other matter. They had electrons
various theories about how
these atoms combine, and He later postulated the existence of a neutral
believed the interactions are particle in the nucleus to make up for the calculated
ultimately caused by the will mass deficiency in the atoms studied.
of Ishvara, a Hindu god.
Rutherford's 'gold foil' experiment performed by
Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden using positively
John Dalton, charged alpha particles:
1803-1808
1. Most alpha particles passed through the
John Dalton gives the following as his major gold foil suggesting that an atom is largely empty
findings in the studies: space.

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2. Some alpha particles were deflected specific wavelength, energy and frequency (i.e.,
significantly suggesting that the positive charge of Bohr's energy levels) much like a guitar string sets
an atom must be concentrated in a very small up a standing wave when plucked.
sphere.
3. A very small number of alpha particles Werner Heisenberg, 1925
actually bounced back.
A German physicist,
Werner Heisenberg,
Niels Bohr, 1913 answered no in what he
called the uncertainty
Proposed a 'planetary' model for principle:
the hydrogen atom:
To view an
1. Electrons move around ●
electron in its orbit, you
the nucleus in fixed orbits (like must shine a wavelength of
planets around the sun). An light on it that is smaller
electron in a particular orbit has than the electron's
constant energy. wavelength.
2. An electron can absorb energy and move This small wavelength of light has a high
to a higher energy orbit of larger radius. (excited ●
energy.
electrons) The electron will absorb that energy.
3. An excited electron can fall back to its ●
The absorbed energy will change the
original orbit by emitting energy as radiation. ●
electron's position.
4. Electrons can only exist in certain discrete
energy levels. We can never know both the momentum and
position of an electron in an atom. Therefore,
Emission spectra of hydrogen: Heisenberg said that we shouldn't view electrons
as moving in well-defined orbits about the nucleus!
1. Lyman Series (ultrviolet) - corresponds to
excited electrons falling back to the lowest energy Erwin Schrodinger,
level (smallest orbit) known as the ground state. 1926
2. Balmer Series (visible) - corresponds to
excited electrons falling from higher energy levels
to the first excited level. With de Broglie's
3. Paschen and Brackett Series (infrared) - hypothesis and
excited electrons faling back to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th Heisenberg's uncertainty
energy levels. principle in mind, an
Austrian physicist named
Erwin Schrodinger
derived a set of equations
or wave functions in 1926
for electrons. According to
Louis de Broglie, 1924 Schrodinger, electrons
confined in their orbits would set up standing waves
In 1924, a French physicist and you could describe only the probability of where
named Louis de Broglie an electron could be. The distributions of these
suggested that, like light, probabilities formed regions of space about the
electrons could act as both nucleus were called orbitals. Orbitals could be
particles and waves. De described as electron density clouds. The
Broglie's hypothesis was densest area of the cloud is where you have the
soon confirmed in greatest probability of finding the electron and the
experiments that showed least dense area is where you have the lowest
electron beams could be probability of finding the electron.
diffracted or bent as they
passed through a slit much like light could. So, the
waves produced by an electron confined in its orbit
about the nucleus sets up a standing wave of

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James Chadwick, 1932 1. There are discrete energy levels.
2. There is a significant probability of finding
an electron of an atom at any position within a
The nucleus of an atom
spherical volume surrounding the nucleus.
contains neutrons,
electrically neutral particles
Wolfgang Pauli adapted the Schrödinger Equation
with a mass similar to that of
for atoms containing more than 1 electron. - Pauli
a proton.
Exclusion Principle
Bombarded beryllium with
alpha particles and
discovered Rutherford's
missing neutral particles. Electrons Can Behave as Waves: The Quantum
Model of the Atom
The discovery of neutrons explained the existence
of isotopes, first observed in 1920 by Francis Aston
when he invented the mass spectrograph. Although the Bohr model adequately explained how
atomic spectra worked, there were several
Quantum Mechanical Model of problems that bothered physicists and chemists:
the Atom, ●
Why should electrons be confined to only
Current (physics today) specified energy levels?
Why don't electrons give off
●
light all of the time?

".... Electricity is composed of electrons.

Therefore matter and electricity are one
and the same thing.... All substances
may be deprived of electrons or may
receive more than their proper share,
and when that occurs the substances are
electrified. If a body has fewer electrons
than its proper number , we say that it is
negatively charged."

1. Electrons occupy orbitals, volumes of

space around the nucleus with a high probability of
finding the electron.
2. Energy levels are made up of energy
sublevels.
3. Each sublevel contains a set of orbitals.
4. No orbital can contain more than 2
electrons (Pauli Exclusion Principle).

Schrödinger Equation for

the hydrogen atom shows
(1926):

Prepared by: Sir Denmark L. Manzano