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Index
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Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment

Rutherford conducted an experiment by bombarding a thin
sheet of gold with α-particles and then studied the trajectory of
these particles after their interaction with the gold foil.

alpha scattering

rutherford

Rutherford Atomic Model

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Rutherford, in his experiment, directed high energy streams of

α-particles from a radioactive source at a thin sheet (100 nm
thickness) of gold. In order to study the deflection caused to
the α-particles, he placed a fluorescent zinc sulphide screen
around the thin gold foil. Rutherford made certain observations
that contradicted Thomson’s atomic model.

In the above diagram we can see that most of the particles pass
unreflected while few are deflected it should be noted that
1/10000 particles was returned back through its original path
Observations of Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment
The observations made by Rutherford led him to conclude that:
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A major fraction of the α-particles bombarded towards the gold

sheet passed through the sheet without any deflection, and
hence most of the space in an atom is empty.
Some of the α-particles were deflected by the gold sheet by
very small angles, and hence the positive charge in an atom is
not uniformly distributed. The positive charge in an atom is
concentrated in a very small volume.
Very few of the α-particles were deflected back, that is only a
few α-particles had nearly 180o angle of deflection. So the
volume occupied by the positively charged particles in an atom
is very small as compared to the total volume of an atom.
Based on the above observations and conclusions, Rutherford
proposed the atomic structure of elements. According to the
Rutherford atomic model:

The positive charge and most of the mass of an atom is

concentrated in an extremely small volume. He called this
region of the atom as a nucleus.
Rutherford’s model proposed that the negatively charged
electrons surround the nucleus of an atom. He also claimed
that the electrons surrounding the nucleus revolve around it
with very high speed in circular paths. He named these circular
paths as orbits.
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Electrons being negatively charged and nucleus being a densely

concentrated mass of positively charged particles are held
together by a strong electrostatic force of attraction.

Limitations of Rutherford Atomic Model

Although the Rutherford atomic model was based on
experimental observations, it failed to explain certain things.

Rutherford proposed that the electrons revolve around the

nucleus in fixed paths called orbits .According to Maxwell,
accelerated charged particles emit electromagnetic radiations
and hence an electron revolving around the nucleus should
emit electromagnetic radiation. This radiation would carry
energy from the motion of the electron which would come at
the cost of shrinking of orbits. Ultimately the electrons would
collapse in the nucleus. Calculations have shown that as per
the Rutherford model, an electron would collapse into the
nucleus in less than 10-8 seconds. So the Rutherford model was
not in accordance with Maxwell’s theory and could not explain
the stability of an atom.
One of the drawbacks of the Rutherford model was also that he
did not say anything about the arrangement of electrons in an
atom which made his theory incomplete.
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Although the early atomic models were inaccurate and failed to

explain certain experimental results, they formed the base for
future developments in the world of quantum mechanics.

Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

Bohr model of the hydrogen atom was the first atomic model to
successfully explain the radiation spectra of atomic hydrogen.
Niels Bohr introduced the atomic Hydrogen model in the year
1913. Bohr’s Model of the hydrogen atom attempts to plug in
certain gaps as suggested by Rutherford’s model. It holds a
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special place in history as it gave rise to quantum mechanics by

introducing the quantum theory.

Neils Bohr. Bohr's planetary model

Planetary Model of the Atom

Quantum mechanics emerged in the mid-1920s. Neil Bohr, one
of the founders of quantum mechanics, was interested in the
much-debated topic of the time – the structure of the atom.
Numerous atomic models, including the theory postulated by
J.J Thompson and the discovery of the nucleus by Ernest
Rutherford, had emerged. But Bohr supported the planetary
model, which asserted that electrons revolved around a
positively charged nucleus just like the planets around the sun
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Nevertheless, scientists still had many unanswered questions

such as
Why didn’t the electrons drop into the nucleus as foretold by
classical physics?
Where are the electrons and what do they do there?
How is the discrete emission lines produced by excited
elements correlated to the internal structure of the atom?
Bohr addressed all these questions using a seemingly simple
assumption: What if electron orbits and energies, could exhibit
only specific values? You can check Atomic Theory to learn
about the various atomic theory put forward by scientists in the
early 20th century.

postulates of Bohr's atomic model

 According to Bohr's theory, electrons revolve in definite
circular orbits around the nucleus and these orbits are
designated by the letters K, L, M, N or by the numbers 1,
2,3, 4 and so on.
 As long as the electrons revolve in a particular orbit they
can neither gain energy nor loose energy. Such orbits are
called as stationary orbits or stationary states.
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 When an electron jumps from an higher orbit to a lower

orbit it releases energy in the form of raldiations and when
an electron jumps from lower orbit to a higher orbit it
absorbs energy in the form of raldiations.
 The angular momentum of aln electron is an integral
multiple of h/ 2л, mvr = nh/ 2π where h is
planck'constant=6.6×10^-34 Js
 It explains the stability of an atom and also the line
spectrum of hydrogen atom

Bohr’s Theory of Hydrogen Atoms

Bohr’s Equation
Bohr Model of the hydrogen atom first proposed the planetary
model, but later an assumption concerning the electrons was
made. The assumption was the quantization of the structure of
atoms. Bohr’s proposed that electrons orbited the nucleus in
specific orbits or shells with a fixed radius. Only those shells
with a radius provided by the equation below were allowed,
and it was impossible for electrons to exist between these
shells.
atomic radius is given by the equation:
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Where,
n is a positive integer
r(1) is the smallest allowed radius for the hydrogen atom also
known as the Bohr’s radius
The Bohr’s radius has a value of:

Bohr calculated the energy of an electron in the nth level of

hydrogen by considering the electrons in circular, quantized
orbits as:

Where,
13.6 eV is the lowest possible energy of a hydrogen electron
E(1).
The energy obtained is always a negative number and the
ground state n = 1, has the most negative value. The reason
being that the energy of an electron in orbit is relative to the
energy of an electron that is entirely separated from its
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nucleus, and it is recognised to have an energy of 0 eV. Since

the electron in a fixed orbit around the nucleus is more stable
than an electron that is extremely far from its nucleus, the
energy of the electron in orbit is always negative.

Absorption and Emission

According to Bohr’s model, an electron would absorb energy in
the form of photons to get excited to a higher energy level.
After escaping to the higher energy level, also known as the
excited state, the excited electron is less stable, and therefore,
would rapidly emit a photon to come back to a lower, more
stable energy level. The energy of the emitted photon is equal
to the difference in energy between the two energy levels for a
specific transition.

Limitations of the Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom:

 Bohr’s model doesn’t work well for complex atoms.
 It couldn’t explain why some spectral lines are more
intense than others.
 It could not explain why some spectral lines split into
multiple lines in the presence of a magnetic field.
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 Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle contradicts Bohr’s idea

of electrons existing in specific orbits with a known radius
and velocity.
 Although the modern quantum mechanical model and the
Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom may seem vastly
different, the fundamental idea is the same in both.
Classical physics isn’t sufficient to describe all the
phenomena that occur on an atomic level. But, Bohr was
the first to realise the quantization of electronic shells by
fusing the idea of quantization into the electronic
structure of the hydrogen atom and was successfully able
to explain the emission spectra of hydrogen as well as
other one-electron systems.

Bohr’s Model of the Hydrogen Atom isn’t applicable for

systems with more than one electron.