A Study On The Bohr’s Atomic Model

Atomic theory has paved a long way over the last few thousand years. Commencing in the 5th century BCE by Democritus’ theory of indivisible “corpuscles” that interrelate with each other mechanically, subsequently stirring onto Dalton’s atomic model in the 18th century, and followed by growing in the 20th century by the breakthrough of subatomic particles and quantum theory, the passage of discovery has been long and twisting.

Possibly, one of the most vital milestones along the system has been Bohr’s atomic model, which is at times known as the Rutherford-Bohr atomic model. Recommended by Danish physicist Niels Bohr in 1913, this model illustrates the atom as a tiny, positively charged nucleus encircled by electrons that move in circular orbits (characterised by their energy levels) about the centre.

Describing Bohr’s Model of the Atom

After the breakthroughs of hydrogen emission spectra and the photoelectric outcome, the Danish physicist Niels Bohr (1885-1962) suggested a postulate of Bohr’s atomic model, a fresh atom model in 1915. Bohr suggested that electrons do not exude energy as they compass the nucleus but exist in states of constant energy that he referred to as stationary states. This implies that the electrons orbit at preset distances from the nucleus. Bohr’s work was principally based on emission spectra of hydrogen. This is as well known as the planetary model of the atom. In addition, it elucidated the internal workings of the hydrogen atom. Bohr was honoured with the Nobel prize in physics in 1922 for his work.

Bohr enlightened that electrons can be shifted into different orbits by adding energy. When the energy is eliminated, the electrons go back to their ground state, releasing analogous energy—a quantum of light or photon. This became the basis for the later known quantum theory. This is a theory founded on the standard that matter and energy contain the properties of both particles and waves. It explains an extensive range of physical phenomena, comprising the subsistence of distinct packets of energy and matter, the uncertainty rule, and the exclusion rule.

Explaining Bohr’s atomic model as a planetary model, the electrons surrounding the nucleus of the atom are definitely permissible paths called orbits. When the electron contains one of these orbits, its energy is set. The ground position of the hydrogen atom, where its energy is smallest, is when the electron is in the orbit that is nearest to the nucleus. The orbits that are beyond the nucleus are all of the consecutively greater energy. The electron is not permitted to inhabit any of the spaces in between the orbits. 

A daily correspondence to the Bohr model could be the rungs of a ladder. As you go up or down a ladder, you can just engage definite rungs and cannot be in the gaps in between rungs. So moving up the ladder boosts your potential energy, whilst moving down the ladder reduces your energy.

Describing Bohr’s model of the atom, in short, it could be said that:

• The Bohr model hypothesised that electrons orbit the nucleus at unchanging energy levels.
• Orbits distant from the nucleus subsist at elevated energy levels.
• When electrons come back to an inferior energy level, they release energy in the form of light.

Influence of the Bohr Model:

While postulates of Bohr’s atomic model did establish to be pioneering in a few respects – integrating Ryberg’s constant and Planck’s constant (aka. quantum theory) with the Rutherford model – it did endure from some defects which later experiments would exemplify. For starters, it is believed that electrons have both an acknowledged radius and orbit, something that Werner Heisenberg would invalidate a decade later through his uncertainty principle.

Additionally, while it was helpful in forecasting the conduct of electrons in hydrogen atoms, Bohr’s model was not predominantly functional in envisaging the spectra of larger atoms. In these cases, where atoms have numerous electrons, the energy levels were not constant with what Bohr expected. The model, in addition, didn’t work with respect to neutral helium atoms.

The Bohr model furthermore could not relate to the Zeeman effect, an occurrence distinguished by Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman in 1902, in which spectral lines are divided into two or more in the incidence of an outer, static magnetic field. Due to this, numerous refinements have been made with Bohr’s atomic model, but these also proved to be challenging.

In the end, this would result in Bohr’s model being surpassed by quantum theory – reliable with the work of Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger. Nevertheless, Bohr’s model remains helpful as an instructional tool for initiating students to more contemporary theories – for instance, quantum mechanics plus the valence shell atomic model.

Conclusion

The Bohr atomic model is important because it explained why electrons can only have a limited number of energy levels.However, if the model is expanded to include more electrons, it becomes less accurate.Furthermore, the wave-like nature of electrons is not taken into consideration in this representation.While the Bohr model does not represent atomic structure accurately, it is a historically significant model in the science of chemistry. Soon after Bohr issued his planetary model of the atom, numerous new discoveries were completed, which led to another revised observation of the atom.