SCH4U-GRADE 12-CHEMISTRY

Early Atomic Theories and the

Origins of Quantum Theory
Early Developments in Atomic Structure
-Matter is composed of indivisible building blocks.

= This idea was recorded as early as the fifth

century BCE by Leucippus and Democritus.

-The Greeks called these particles atomos, meaning

indivisible,

-and the modern word “atom” is derived from this

term.

- John Dalton (1766–1844)

-proposed the first modern atomic theory:

1) elements consist of atoms, which cannot be

created, destroyed, or divided,

2) atoms of the same element have identical size,

mass, and other properties.

Thomson Adds Electrons (Blueberry Muffin

Model)

- the discovery of electrons.

- These were the first subatomic particles to be

identified.

- discovered in 1897 by a British physicist named J.

J. Thomson.

-This model is sometimes called the “blueberry

muffin model”;

-the electrons are similar to negatively charged

blueberries dispersed in a positively charged muffin

Rutherford Finds the Nucleus

(Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiments )

 A physicist from New Zealand named Ernest

Rutherford discovered the nucleus.

 In 1911, he used alpha particles to study atoms.

 He aimed a beam of alpha particles at a very thin

sheet of gold foil.

 Outside the foil, he placed a screen of material

that glowed when alpha particles struck it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHaR2rsFNhg

 Rutherford’s Observation:

 Most of the alpha particles passed straight

through the foil as though they were moving

through empty space.

 a few of the alpha particles bounced back from

the foil as though they had struck a wall.

 This is called back scattering

 . It happened only in very small areas at the

centers of the gold atoms.

The Nucleus and Its Particles(Rutherford’s

Conclusions)

 Based on his results, Rutherford concluded

that some of the charge possessed by an atom

is concentrated in a small central area that has

enough mass to deflect alpha particles.

 He called this area the nucleus.

 Rutherford later discovered that the nucleus

contains positively charged particles.

 He named the positive particles protons.

 Rutherford also predicted the existence of

neutrons in the nucleus. However, he failed to

find them.

 One of his students, a physicist named James

Chadwick, went on to discover neutrons in 1932.

Rutherford's Atomic Model

 Rutherford’s discoveries meant that Thomson’s

plum pudding model was incorrect.

 Positive charge is not spread out everywhere in

an atom.

 It is all concentrated in the tiny nucleus.

  The rest of the atom is empty space, except for

the electrons moving randomly through it.

 In Rutherford’s model, electrons move around

the nucleus in random orbits.

 He compared them to planets orbiting a star.

 Later research by Niels Bohr would prove this

correct and led to the planetary model of the

atom.

Limits of the Rutherford Model of the

Atom
 The model of the atom proposed by Rutherford

predicted that electrons move around the nucleus

of the atom, much like planets orbit the Sun.

Physics Theory:

 A body that is moving in an orbit is constantly

changing direction, and a body that is changing

direction or speed is accelerating.

 Physicists had demonstrated that when a charged

particle accelerates, it continuously produces

electromagnetic radiation (emitted as photons).

 According to classical light theory, an electron

travelling in an orbit emits energy as photons and,

therefore, loses energy.

 If an electron loses energy as it orbits, it should

spiral in toward the positively charged nucleus

 Since the electron is negatively charged and

opposite charges attract, the atom would

eventually collapse.

 However, generally, most atoms are stable and do

not appear to be collapsing.

 Rutherford’s model, therefore, is not able to

explain the stability of atoms.

Bohr's Model of the Atom

 In 1913, he discovered evidence that the orbits of

electrons are located at fixed distances from the

nucleus.

Energy Levels

 Basic to Bohr’s model is the idea of energy levels

 Energy levels are areas located at fixed

distances from the nucleus of the atom.

 They are the only places where electrons can be

found.

 They can occupy one energy level or another but

not the space between energy levels.

 The model of an atom in Figure 5 (page 145

textbook) six energy levels.

 -The level with the least energy is the one closest

to the nucleus.

 As you go farther from the nucleus, the levels

have more and more energy.

 Electrons can jump from one energy level to

another.

 If an atom absorbs energy, some of its electrons

can jump to a higher energy level.

 If electrons jump to a lower energy level, the atom

emits, or gives off, energy.

Energy Levels in Action

 Bohr’s idea of energy levels is still useful today.

 It helps explain how matter behaves.

 For example, when chemicals in fireworks

explode, their atoms absorb energy.

 Some of their electrons jump to a higher energy

level.
 When the electrons move back to their original

energy level, they give off the energy as light.

 Different chemicals have different arrangements

of electrons, so they give off light of different

colors.

Electron Cloud and Orbitals

 In the 1920s, physicists discovered that electrons

do not travel in fixed paths.

 they found that electrons only have a certain

chance of being in any particular place.

 They could only describe where electrons are with

mathematical formulas.


 That’s because electrons have wave-like

properties as well as properties of particles of

matter.

 It is the "wave nature" of electrons that lets them

exist only at certain distances from the nucleus.

( French physicist Louis de Broglie.)


 The negative electrons are attracted to the

positive nucleus.

 However, because the electrons behave like

waves, they bend around the nucleus instead of

falling toward it.

 Electrons exist only where the wave is stable.

 These are the orbitals.

 They do not exist where the wave is not stable.

 These are the places between orbitals.

In the macroworld one can determine the speed

and location of an object like a ball. For atomic

and sub-atomic particles, any attempt to probe or

measure them changes their position, direction of

travel, or both. This forms the basis of the

 Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: it is

impossible to simultaneously know the exact

position and speed of an electron. The best one

can do is to describe the probability of finding an

electron in a specific location.

Electron Cloud Model

 Today, these ideas about electrons are

represented by the electron cloud model.

 The electron cloud is an area around the

nucleus where electrons are likely to be.

 Figure below shows an electron cloud model for a

helium atom.
Orbitals

 Some regions of the electron cloud are denser

than others.

 The denser regions are areas where electrons are

most likely to be.

 These regions are called orbitals.

 Each orbital has a maximum of just two electrons.

 Different energy levels in the cloud have different

numbers of orbitals.

 Therefore, different energy levels have different

maximum numbers of electrons.

 Table below lists the number of orbitals and

electrons for the first four energy levels.

 Energy levels farther from the nucleus have more

orbitals.

 Therefore, these levels can hold more electrons.