ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Submitted By:
Class 9th

G.S.S.S Sadiq (Faridkot)

 ATOMIC NUCLEUS
 The Establishment of the identity of the electron
as a charged particle, which is emitted by atoms
under several conditions, led to the condition
that the remaining part of the atom must be
positively charged. Also, a comparison of the
values of e/m for electron and the charge to
mass ratios for H+, Na and other ions showed
that the nucleus should be more than 2000
times heavier than the electron. J.J Thomson
Gave a model of atom in which electrons were
uniformly distributed in the entire volume of
atom the mass of the atom was
 supposed to be uniformly distributed.
The size of the atom had beeneEstablished
indepenently as about 10-10 m or 1A. At
this stage Ernest Rutherford made very
fundamental Contributions in evolving
structure of the atom and establishing the
presence of a small nuclcus in the atom
where practically all
 the mass of the atom is concentrated.
Rutherford and his associates
investigated scattering of α-particles from
very thin foils of heavy metals.
ELECTRON

E1 C E2

(a) (B)

E1

C
E2 E3

(C)
 Structure of Atom
The Rutherford Model
Rutherford combined all the experimental results
regarding the properties and the characteristics
of the electrons and the nuclei as well as the
emission spectra of atoms to develop a model of
the atom.He proposed a model in which the
electons were assumed to be revolving around
the sun in fixed orbits just like the planets move
around the sun in fixed orbits in our solar
system.However, the orbital revolution of
electrons is not expected to be stable.Any
charged particle when accelerated is expected
to radiate energy.To remain in a circular orbit,
 The electron would need to und ergo
acceleration.Therefore,it will radiate
energy.The loss in energy would lead
to shrinking of the size of the orbit.In
a short time,it will hit the
nucleus.Therefore,such an atom
cannot be expected to be stable.
 The Bohr Model
 Niels Bohr in 1912 proposed a model of
the atom, which was based on radically
new concepts.He made a bold suggestion
that particles at atomic level would
behave differently from the macroscopic
objects.Bohr proposed thet at the
dimensions of atomic level, electrons
could revolve in stable orbits without
continuously radiating energy in the form
of electromagnetic waves.A or ccording to
Bohr,s model, an electron revolves in an
orbit, with well-defined energy. Under
normal conditions the energy of the
system will be lowest, let us say E1.
There are other possible orbits with
higher energies E2,E3 etc.
 The electron can go into these orbits when
energy is provided to it. The electrons can
occupy orbits with discrete energy levels falls to
an orbit of lower energy level, the difference in
energy is radiated in the form of electro-magnet
radiation or light. Since,each atom has its
specific energy levels it can emit radiation of
specific wavelenths or energy. With this model, it
was possible to explain the characteristics
spectra of different atoms and other properties.
When an energetic electron, like those in the
cathode rays, hits an atom it can lead to ejection
of atomic electrons.
 The energy of an electron in a stable orbit may
increase due to collision to such a level that it is
able to overcome the attractive force between it
and the positively charged nucleus and move
out of the atom. This could explain ionization of
the gases and also formation of cathode rays in
the discharge tube.
 According to Bohr model, the
number of electrons that can be accomodated in
different orbits or shells is fixed.The shell
emphasizes that an atom is a three dimensional
enitity. The first shell can occupy two
electrons.The second shell can occupy eight
electrons; the third shell can also occupy 18
electrons and so on.
 We know that the lightest atom is the
hydogen atom. It contains one electron
and its nucleus consists of a proton whose
charge is equal to that of the electron but
it is positively charged. The mass of
proton is nearly 1800 times that of the
electron. The one electron revolves in the
first shell. The next atom is that of the
helium which contains two electrons. To
maintain charge neutrality, the nucleus of
helium atom was known to be nearly four
times that of the proton. Therefore, there
should be some other particles, which
could account for the remaining
 half of the atomic mass. As described in
the following section, the discovery of the
neutron solved this problem. The neutron
is nearly as heavy as a proton but without
any charge. We know now that the nucleus
primarily consists of protons and neutrons.
The nucleus of helium atom
 Contains two protons and two
neutrons.Table 3.1 shows distribution of
electrons in various shells in 20 lightest
elements of the periodic table.