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Isolated Atoms: Atomic Physics Is The Field of

Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as isolated systems of electrons and atomic nuclei. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and how these arrangements change through processes like excitation, ionization, and emission of photons. While atomic physics considers individual atoms, it provides the underlying theory for fields like plasma physics and atmospheric physics that deal with large numbers of atoms.

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95 views4 pages

Isolated Atoms: Atomic Physics Is The Field of

Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as isolated systems of electrons and atomic nuclei. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and how these arrangements change through processes like excitation, ionization, and emission of photons. While atomic physics considers individual atoms, it provides the underlying theory for fields like plasma physics and atmospheric physics that deal with large numbers of atoms.

Uploaded by

Carlos Armando Pineda Murillo
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Atomic physics 

is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system


of electrons and an atomic nucleus. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of
electrons around the nucleus and the processes by which these arrangements change.
This comprises ions, neutral atoms and, unless otherwise stated, it can be assumed that
the term atom includes ions.
The term atomic physics can be associated with nuclear power and nuclear weapons,
due to the synonymous use of atomic and nuclear in standard English. Physicists
distinguish between atomic physics—which deals with the atom as a system consisting
of a nucleus and electrons—and nuclear physics, which studies nuclear reactions and
special properties of atomic nuclei.
As with many scientific fields, strict delineation can be highly contrived and atomic
physics is often considered in the wider context of atomic, molecular, and optical
physics. Physics research groups are usually so classified.

Contents

 1Isolated atoms
 2Electronic configuration
 3History and developments
 4Significant atomic physicists
 5See also
 6Bibliography
 7External links

Isolated atoms[edit]
Atomic physics primarily considers atoms in isolation. Atomic models will consist of a
single nucleus that may be surrounded by one or more bound electrons. It is not
concerned with the formation of molecules (although much of the physics is identical),
nor does it examine atoms in a solid state as condensed matter. It is concerned with
processes such as ionization and excitation by photons or collisions with atomic
particles.
While modelling atoms in isolation may not seem realistic, if one considers atoms in
a gas or plasma then the time-scales for atom-atom interactions are huge in comparison
to the atomic processes that are generally considered. This means that the individual
atoms can be treated as if each were in isolation, as the vast majority of the time they
are. By this consideration atomic physics provides the underlying theory in plasma
physics and atmospheric physics, even though both deal with very large numbers of
atoms.

Electronic configuration[edit]
Electrons form notional shells around the nucleus. These are normally in a ground
state but can be excited by the absorption of energy from light (photons), magnetic
fields, or interaction with a colliding particle (typically ions or other electrons).
In the Bohr model, the transition of an electron with n=3 to the shell n=2 is shown, where a photon is emitted.
An electron from shell (n=2) must have been removed beforehand by ionization

Electrons that populate a shell are said to be in a bound state. The energy necessary to
remove an electron from its shell (taking it to infinity) is called the binding energy. Any
quantity of energy absorbed by the electron in excess of this amount is converted
to kinetic energy according to the conservation of energy. The atom is said to have
undergone the process of ionization.
If the electron absorbs a quantity of energy less than the binding energy, it will be
transferred to an excited state. After a certain time, the electron in an excited state will
"jump" (undergo a transition) to a lower state. In a neutral atom, the system will emit a
photon of the difference in energy, since energy is conserved.
If an inner electron has absorbed more than the binding energy (so that the atom
ionizes), then a more outer electron may undergo a transition to fill the inner orbital. In
this case, a visible photon or a characteristic x-ray is emitted, or a phenomenon known
as the Auger effect may take place, where the released energy is transferred to another
bound electron, causing it to go into the continuum. The Auger effect allows one to
multiply ionize an atom with a single photon.
There are rather strict selection rules as to the electronic configurations that can be
reached by excitation by light — however there are no such rules for excitation by
collision processes.

History and developments[edit]


Main article: Atomic theory
One of the earliest steps towards atomic physics was the recognition that matter was
composed of atoms. It forms a part of the texts written in 6th century BC to 2nd century
BC such as those of Democritus or Vaisheshika Sutra written by Kanad. This theory
was later developed in the modern sense of the basic unit of a chemical element by the
British chemist and physicist John Dalton in the 18th century. At this stage, it wasn't
clear what atoms were although they could be described and classified by their
properties (in bulk). The invention of the periodic system of
elements by Mendeleev was another great step forward.
The true beginning of atomic physics is marked by the discovery of spectral lines and
attempts to describe the phenomenon, most notably by Joseph von Fraunhofer. The
study of these lines led to the Bohr atom model and to the birth of quantum mechanics.
In seeking to explain atomic spectra an entirely new mathematical model of matter was
revealed. As far as atoms and their electron shells were concerned, not only did this
yield a better overall description, i.e. the atomic orbital model, but it also provided a
new theoretical basis for chemistry (quantum chemistry) and spectroscopy.
Since the Second World War, both theoretical and experimental fields have advanced at
a rapid pace. This can be attributed to progress in computing technology, which has
allowed larger and more sophisticated models of atomic structure and associated
collision processes. Similar technological advances in accelerators, detectors, magnetic
field generation and lasers have greatly assisted experimental work.

Significant atomic physicists[edit]


Pre quantum mechanics

 John Dalton
 Joseph von Fraunhofer
 Johannes Rydberg
 J. J. Thomson
 Ernest Rutherford
Post quantum mechanics

 Alexander Dalgarno
 David Bates
 Niels Bohr
 Max Born
 Clinton Joseph Davisson
 Paul A. M. Dirac
 Enrico Fermi
 Charlotte Froese Fischer
 Vladimir Fock
 Douglas Hartree
 Ernest M. Henley
 Ratko Janev
 Daniel Kleppner
 Harrie S. Massey
 Nevill Mott
 I. I. Rabi
 Norman Ramsey
 Mike Seaton
 John C. Slater
 George Paget Thomson
 APJ Abdul Kalam

See also[edit]
 Particle physics
 Isomeric shift
 Atomic engineering

Bibliography[edit]
 Bransden, BH; Joachain, CJ (2002). Physics of Atoms and
Molecules (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-582-35692-4.
 Foot, CJ (2004). Atomic Physics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-
850696-6.
 Herzberg, Gerhard (1979) [1945]. Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure.
New York: Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-60115-1.
 Condon, E.U. & Shortley, G.H. (1935). The Theory of Atomic Spectra.
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-09209-8.
 Cowan, Robert D. (1981). The Theory of Atomic Structure and Spectra.
University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03821-9.
 Lindgren, I. & Morrison, J. (1986). Atomic Many-Body
Theory (Second ed.). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-0-387-16649-0.

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Atomic
physics.

 MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms


 Joint Quantum Institute at University of Maryland and NIST
 Atomic Physics on the Internet
 JILA (Atomic Physics)
 ORNL Physics Division
show

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