A.Y. Chen Illustration & Design
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • National Science Foundation (NSF)
    • Science magazine art
    • Vector Art
    • Black & White
    • Classic work
  • Animation
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Children's book art

A Bohr we all know and love.

10/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
OK, back to our story on how our current atomic model came to be.

Rutherford's atomic model failed to describe electron movement. By laws of physics, electrons should lose energy when in continuous orbit, which then throws the entire atom into an unstable state. But we know the atom is very stable else it couldn’t be a building block.

Bohr built upon Rutherford’s discovery of the nucleus, adding that an electron’s energy dictates the orbital in which it resides. So, electrons with higher energy are able to exist further away from the attractive force of the positively-charged nucleus, while that same attractive force exerted on lower-energy, weaker electrons keeps them closer to the nucleus.

The reason why this was such an important revelation is because it incorporated quantum mechanics to explain, even predict, electron movement. Furthermore, describing orbitals as distinct shells of energy meant knowing the gap from one energy level to the next. So if electrons gained and lost enough energy to hop between levels, those energy absorption and emission packets could be calculated. Data was being collected that described energy emissions, and wouldn’t you know? They matched Bohr’s calculations!

Sadly, orbitals are NOT exactly how electrons move about the atom nor can they accurately describe their location. So, although Bohr’s model took a huge leap forward, it’s still not quite right....

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    The purpose of this blog is to explore more effective and exciting ways to communicate science.

    Archives

    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.