Atomic physics

Plum pudding model

In this model, the atom was imagined to be a sphere of positive charge with negatively charged electrons dotted around inside it like plums in a pudding. Scientific models can be tested to see if they are wrong by doing experiments. In Thomsons "Plum Pudding Model" each atom was a sphere filled with a positively charged fluid. The fluid was called the "pudding." Scattered in this fluid were electrons known as the "plums." The radius of the model was 10-10 meters. Thomson suggested that the positive fluid held the negative charges, the electrons, in the atom because of electrical forces. However, this was only a very vague explanation and failed to provide any definite answers. An experiment carried out in 1905 showed that the plum pudding model could not be correct.

Rutherfords atomic model

A scientist called Rutherford designed an experiment to test the plum pudding model. It was carried out by his assistants Geiger and Marsden. A beam of alpha particles was aimed at very thin gold foil and their passage through the foil detected. The scientists expected the alpha particles to pass straight through the foil, but something else also happened. Some of the alpha particles emerged from the foil at different angles, and some even came straight back. The scientists realised that the positively charged alpha particles were being repelled and deflected by a tiny concentration of positive charge in the atom. As a result of this experiment, the plum pudding model was replaced by the nuclear model of the atom.

Copyright2013 Dheeraj Jayakumar

Particles in the nucleus

Marsden and Geiger fired alpha decay at a thin sheet of gold. Alpha particles are just the nucleus of a helium atom, 2 protons and 2 neutrons giving the particles a positive charge. The pair found that whilst the majority of the particles went through the gold sheet as they had expected however a small number were directed back towards the alpha source, seemingly 'bouncing' off of the gold sheet. Alpha particles typically have lots of energy so for them to be turned 180 degrees back on themselves required something massive. However as only a small proportion (around 1 in 8,000) alpha particles were scattered this way whatever was causing the force was also very small. It must also be positively charged in order to repel the positively charged alpha particle. It was from this that Rutherford concluded the atom consisted of a massive but small positively charged centre surrounded by distant electrons. This meant that most of the atom was space which was why most alpha particles went through the gold sheet.

Rutherford-Bohr atomic model

In 1912 Bohr joined Rutherford. He realized that Rutherford's model wasn't quite right. By all rules of classical physics, it should be very unstable. For one thing, the orbiting electrons should give off energy and eventually spiral down into the nucleus, making the atom collapse. Or the electrons could be knocked out of position if a charged particle passed by. Bohr turned to Planck's quantum theory to explain the stability of most atoms. Bohr's theory that electrons existed in set orbits around the nucleus was the key to the periodic repetition of properties of the elements.

Nuclide notation
A nuclide is a type of atom whose nuclei have specific numbers of protons and neutrons (both are called nucleons). Therefore, nuclides are composite particles of nucleons. The notation for a nuclide with mass number A-this consists of the sum of protons and neutrons or the nucleon number and atomic number Z this is the proton number. These both are by the Element E or X.

Copyright2013 Dheeraj Jayakumar

Isotope
Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons; the different possible versions of each element are called isotopes. For example, the most common isotope of hydrogen has no neutrons at all; there's also a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, with one neutron, and another, tritium, with two neutrons.

1. Palladium-103 is used in the treatment of prostate cancer. 2. Gallium-67 is used for tumour imaging. 3. (235)U, or enriched Uranium, is used in nuclear energy.

Copyright2013 Dheeraj Jayakumar