CHAPTER 12 – ATOMS – STUDY NOTES

 Thomson’s Model of an Atom:

 An atom consists of positively charged matter in which the negatively charged
electrons are uniformly embedded like plums in a pudding.
 This Model is called a plum pudding Model or Water Melon Model.
 This model could not explain scattering of alpha-particles through thin foils
and hence discarded.

 Rutherford’s Model of an Atom:

 In 1911, Rutherford, along with his assistants, H. Geiger and E.
Marsden, performed the Alpha Particle scattering experiment,
which led to the birth of the ‘nuclear model (Planetary Model) of an
atom’.

 EXPERIMENT & OBSERVATION:

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 OBSERVATIONS:

 Most of the α-particles passed straight through the gold foil.

 Some of the α-particles were scattered by only small angles, of the
order of a few degrees.
 A few α-particles (1 in 8000) were deflected through large angles
(even greater than 90°).
 Rarely the path of 1 in 20,000 alpha particles scored a direct hit on
the nucleus and returned in an angle of 1800.

 CONCLUSIONS BY RUTHERFORD: Planetary model of Atom

 Most of an atom is empty space.
 The entire positive charge and most of the mass of the atom are
concentrated in the nucleus with the electrons some distance away.
 The electrons would be moving in orbits about the nucleus just as
the planets do around the sun.
 The size of the nucleus to be about 10–15 m to 10–14 m.
 The size of an atom was known to be 10–10 m,
 The electrostatic force of attraction, between the revolving
electrons and the nucleus provides the centripetal force to keep them
in their orbits.

 DRAW-BACK OF RUTHERFORD MODEL:

 This model could not explain the stability of the atom because
according to classical electromagnetic theory the electron revolving
around the nucleus must continuously radiate energy in the form of
electromagnetic radiation.

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  Due to the loss of energy, the path of electron may reduce and
finally the electron might fall into nucleus.
 If it so happens, the atom becomes unstable, but atoms are stable.
 Hence, Rutherford’s theory does not explain the stability of atom.

 Distance of Closest Approach:

 Rutherford deduced the following relationship between the impact parameter

b and the scattering angle θ

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Differentiate between ‘distance of closest approach’ and ‘impact parameter’.
Determine the distance of closest approach when an alpha particle of kinetic
energy 3.95 MeV approaches a nucleus of Z = 79, stops and reverses its
directions. (Delhi 2023)

 Quantisation or Discretisation:
The quantization or discretisation of a physical quantity means that it
cannot have any arbitrary value but can change only to take certain
specific value.

 BOHR MODEL OF ATOMS

 Bohr combined classical and early quantum concepts and gave his theory in the
form of three postulates.
(i) Bohr’s first postulate: An electron in an atom could revolve in certain
stable orbits without the emission of radiant energy.
 (ii) Bohr’s second postulate defines these stable orbits. This postulate states
that the electron revolves around the nucleus only in those orbits for which
the angular momentum is some integral multiple of h/2π, where h is the
- 34 -1
Planck’s constant (h = 6.6 x 10 Js ).
Thus, the angular momentum (L) of the orbiting electron is quantised, i. e.
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 𝒏𝒉
L =
𝟐
As, angular momentum of electron (L) = mvr
𝒏𝒉
∴ For any permitted (stationary) orbit, mvr =
𝟐
where, n = any positive integer i.e. 1, 2, 3, ….., n is called principal quantum
number.
(iii) Bohr’s third postulate states that an electron makes a transition from
one of its specified non-radiating orbits to another of lower energy orbit.
When it does so, a photon is emitted having energy equal to the energy
difference between the initial and final states.
The Energy of the emitted photon is then given by
E = h = Ei– Ef
where, Ei and Ef are the energies of the initial and final states and Ei > Ef .

PROVE: Radii of orbits of electron increases as n2

Substituting

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Thus, it is proved that rn α n 2

1) Find expression for Bohr's radius in the hydrogen atom

Substituting the known values in the above equation we get,

rn = n2 × 0.529 Å
If n = 1, r1 = 0.529Å = 0.529 x 10 – 10 m. This is called Bohr radius.
2) Ratio of radii of first three Bohr Orbits – 1: 4: 9
3) Ratio of area of first three Bohr Orbits – 1: 16: 81

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 Total energy of the electron increases as 1/n2

Substituting for rn

–19
Since 1 eV = 1.6 x 10 J, energy can be expressed in electron-volt (eV) as

 The total energy of the electron is negative.

 This implies the fact that the electron is bound to the nucleus.
 If E is positive, an electron will not follow a closed orbit around
the nucleus. (Why total energy is negative?)

Relation between KE, PE and Total energy:

[PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE ABOVE IS VERY IMPORTANT]

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 Drawbacks of Bohr Model:
 This model is applicable only to hydrogen-like atoms and fails in the
case of higher atoms.
 It could not explain the fine structure of the spectral lines in the
spectrum of hydrogen atom.
 Bohr atom model fails to explain the intensity variations in the
spectral lines.
 The distribution of electrons in atoms is not completely explained
by Bohr atom model.

 Energy Level Diagram: It is a diagram in which the energies of the

different stationary states of an atom are represented by parallel
horizontal lines, drawn according to some suitable energy scale.

 Excitation Energy or Excitation potential energy:

 The energy required to raise an atom from its normal state into an excited
state is called excitation potential energy of the atom.
 For example, the energy required to transfer the electron in hydrogen atom
from the ground state to the first excited state = (13.6 - 3.4) = 10.2eV.
 The energy required to raise it to the second excited state = (13.6 – 1.51) =
12.09 eV.

The potential through which an electron should be accelerated to acquire this energy
is called the “excitation potential”.

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 Ionisation energy or Ionisation potential energy
 For hydrogen atom, the energy required to remove an electron from first orbit
to its outermost orbit(n = ∞) is 13.6 – 0 = 13.6 eV. This energy is known as
the ionization potential energy for hydrogen atom.

 Spectral Series of Hydrogen Atom:

 Whenever an electron in hydrogen atom makes a transition from a higher
energy level n2 to a lower energy level n1, the difference of energy appears in
the form of a photon whose wave number (i.e.) reciprocal of wavelength is,

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 Emission line spectrum: When an atomic gas or vapour is excited at
low pressure, usually by passing an electric current through it, the
emitted radiation has a spectrum which contains certain specific
wavelengths only. A spectrum of this kind is termed as emission line
spectrum and it consists of bright lines on a dark background.
Example: Sodium vapour on heating, emit two bright yellow lines.
These are called D1 and D2 lines of sodium.

 Absorption spectrum When white light passes through a gas and we

analyse the transmitted light using a spectrometer we find some dark
lines in the spectrum. These dark lines correspond precisely to those
wavelengths which were found in the emission line spectrum of the gas.
This is called the absorption spectrum of the material of the gas.
Example: When continuous white light from carbon arc passes
through sodium vapour at low temperature, the continuous spectrum
is absorbed at two places corresponding to the wavelengths of D1
and D2 lines and appear as dark lines. Wavelength of D1 and D2
lines - 5896Ao and 5890Ao.

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 DE BROGLIE’S EXPLANATION OF BOHR’S SECOND POSTULATE
OF QUANTISATION

 It was suggested that stationary orbits are those in which orbital

circumference (2πr) is an integral multiple of de Broglie wavelength
λ.
 Stationary orbits for an electron are those which contain the
complete waves of electron.
 Thus, 2πr = nλ …………(2)
where n = 1, 2, 3 … and r is the radius of the circular orbit.
Substituting equation (1) in equation (2),

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 ATOMS – PYQS

3 (b)

4. Find the shortest wavelength & longest wavelength of Lyman series

6. An electron in a hydrogen atom jumps from second excited state to the first
excited state. Name the spectral series in the spectrum of hydrogen atom to
which the emitted radiation belongs. Find the wavelength of first member and
series limit.

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9. Find the ratio of longest frequencies of Paschen and Brackett series.

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14
15
34. Find the wavelength of H, H , and H lines of Hydrogen Spectral series.
35. Draw the diagram of the Geiger-Marsden Experiment & (i) derive an
expression for distance of closest approach (ii) draw the graph for Scattering
angle and discuss the (a) observations, (b)conclusions & (c) draw backs of the
suggested model.
36. Write a note on impact parameter.
37. State Bohr’s postulates of atomic theory of Hydrogen atom. Derive
expression for (i) Radius of nth orbit (ii) Energy of electron in nth orbit. (iii)
Write the Drawbacks of Bohr model.
38. Draw energy band diagram of Hydrogen atom.
39. Draw the (i) Spectral series of Hydrogen atom (ii) write the expression for
wavenumber for each series (ii) mention the region where they lie.
40. Debroglie hypothesis confirms Bohr’s postulate. Prove.

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 NUCLEI – STUDY NOTES
 Atomic Number: The number of protons in the nucleus is called the atomic number.
It is denoted by Z.
 Mass number: The total number of protons and neutrons present in a nucleus is
called the mass number of the element. It is denoted by A.

 Nuclear Mass: The total mass of the protons and neutrons present in a nucleus is
called the nuclear mass.

 Nuclide: A nuclide is a specific nucleus of an atom characterized by its atomic

number Z and mass number A. It is represented as, z xA, Where X = chemical
symbol of the element, Z = atomic number and A = mass number

 Isotopes:
a) The atoms of an same element which have the same atomic number but
different mass number are called isotopes.
b) Isotopes have similar chemical properties but different physical properties.
Examples: carbon-12, carbon-13, oxygen-16, oxygen-17, and oxygen-18

 Isobars: The atoms of different element having the same mass number but
different atomic number are called isobars.

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 Isotones: The nuclides having the same number of neutrons are called isotones.

 Isomers: These are nuclei with same atomic number and same mass number but in
different energy states.

 Electron Volt: It is defined as the energy acquired by an electron when it is

accelerated through a potential difference of 1 volt and is denoted by eV.
1 eV = 1.6 x 10 – 19 J

 Atomic Mass Unit:

1
a) It is 12 th of the actual mass of a carbon atom of isotope 6C12 .
It is denoted by amu or just by u.
b) 1 amu = 1.660565 X 10 - 27 kg
c) The energy equivalence of 1 amu is 1 amu = 931.5 MeV

 Discovery of Neutrons:
a) Neutrons were discovered by Chadwick in 1932.
b) When beryllium nuclei are bombarded by alpha-particles, highly penetrating
radiations are emitted, which consists of neutral particles, each having mass nearly
that of a proton. These particles were called neutrons.

C) A free neutron decays spontaneously, with a half- life of about 900 s, into a
proton, electron and an antineutrino.

SIZE OF THE NUCLEUS:

* RADIUS OF THE NUCLEUS:

How is the radius of the nucleus related to mass number? (AI 2011, 2013 C)

A nucleus of mass number A has a radius

R = R0 A 1/3
Where, R0 = 1.2 x 10 – 15 m = 1.2 Fermi
R  A 1/3

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 This implies that the volume of the nucleus, which is proportional to R3 is
proportional A. (Nucleus is spherical in shape) V  R3 & V  A

 Density of the Nucleus:

Show that density of nucleus is independent of mass number (AI 2019)

o Density of nucleus is constant.

o It is independent of mass number A
o For all nuclei, density of nuclear matter is approximately 2.3 x 1017 kg m - 3
which is very large as compared to ordinary matter, say water which is 103
kg m - 3.

Two nuclei have mass numbers in the ratio 27:125. What is the ratio of their nuclear
radii & nuclear density?

Ratio of nuclear density is 1 : 1

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 Mass Defect:

The greater the mass defect, greater is the binding energy and
nucleus will be more stable.

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 Main features of Binding energy curve

 The binding energy per nucleon, Ebn is nearly constant about 8 MeV, in the
mass number range (30 < A < 170).
 The binding energy per nucleon, Ebn is maximum of about 8.75 MeV for
A = 56 (iron). Hence Iron is the most stable nucleus.
 For higher mass numbers, the curve reduces slowly and Ebn for uranium is
about 7.6 MeV. They are unstable and radioactive.
 Ebn is lower for both light nuclei (A<30) and heavy nuclei (A>170).

How do you explain the constancy of binding energy per nucleon in the
range 30 < A <170? (AI 2013, Delhi 2010)
 Using the property that nuclear force is short-ranged, it can be
explained.
 If the distance between nucleons is more than a few femtometers then
this force will decrease and leads to zero.
 For medium and large-size nuclei, the distance between nucleons will
increase which leads to a decrease in the nuclear force. This will lead to a
saturation in the nuclear force per nucleon for medium and large size nuclei
(30 < A <170)
 The binding energy per nucleon is a constant and is approximately equal to pk,
where k is a constant having the dimensions of energy. If a nucleon can have
a maximum of p neighbours within the range of nuclear force, its binding
energy would be proportional to p. Let the binding energy of the nucleus be pk,
where k is a constant having the dimensions of energy. If we increase A by
adding nucleons they will not change the binding energy of a nucleon inside.

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 Since most of the nucleons in a large nucleus reside inside it and not on the
surface, the change in binding energy per nucleon would be small.
 The property that a given nucleon influences only nucleons close to it is also
referred to as saturation property of the nuclear force.

(i) Distinguish between nuclear fission and fusion giving an example of each.
(ii) Explain the release of energy in nuclear fission and fusion on the basis of
binding energy per nucleon curve. (AI 2012 C, Delhi 2014 C, OD 2023)

(ii) In nuclear fusion, the binding energy of the products is greater than the
binding energy of reactants. In nuclear fission, binding energy of fragments is
greater than the binding energy of the parent. This difference in binding energy
is released in form of energy.

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 Properties of Nuclear forces :

The nuclear force binds the nucleons together inside the nucleus. The
nuclear force is the force that binds the protons and neutrons
together in a nucleus. This force can exist between neutron-proton,
proton-proton, and neutron-neutron.

 The Nuclear force is attractive and sufficiently strong to produce a binding

energy of a few MeV per nucleon.
 The strong nuclear force is of very short range, acting only up to a
distance of a few Fermi. (The constancy of the binding energy in the range
30 < A < 170 is a consequence of this fact)
 Nuclear force is the strongest force in nature.
 Nuclear force does not depend on the charge of the nucleon i.e., The
strong nuclear force is attractive and acts with an equal strength between
proton-proton, proton-neutron, and neutron – neutron
 Strong nuclear force does not act on the electrons. So it does not alter
the chemical properties of the atom.
 The property that a given nucleon influences only nucleons close to it is also
referred to as saturation property of the nuclear force.

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 Radioactivity:
a) Radioactivity is the phenomenon of spontaneous disintegration of the nucleus of
an atom with the emission of one or more radiations like α -particles, β -particles
or γ rays.
b) The substances which spontaneously emit penetrating radiation are called
radioactive substances.
 Radioactivity was a nuclear phenomenon in which an unstable nucleus
undergoes a decay.
This is referred to as radioactive decay.
 Three types of radioactive decay occur in nature:
1)  - decay: It is the process of emission of an α – particle (2He4) from a
radioactive nucleus. Atomic number decreases by 2 and mass number
decreases by 4
It is represented as,

2)  - decay: Two types:  - decay &  + decay.

  - decay: It is the process of emission of an electron from a
radioactive nucleus. Atomic number increases by 1 and mass
number remains same.
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  It may be represented as,

  + decay: It is the process of emission of a positron from a

radioactive nucleus.
Atomic number decreases by 1 and mass number remains same.
It may be represented as,

 Positrons are particles with the same mass as electrons, but with a charge
exactly opposite to that of electron
 A neutrino () is a subatomic particle that is very similar to an electron, but
has no electrical charge and a very small mass, which might even be zero.
 Antimatter Particle of neutrino is antineutrino represented as

 Neutrinos and antineutrinos are subatomic particles, common around us and in

the universe, where they are the second most abundant of the known particles
(after photons).
3)  - decay: It is the process of emission of high energy  - ray photon
(hundreds of keV or more) during the radioactive disintegration of a
nucleus. It can be represented as,

 NUCLEAR ENERGY
 If nuclei with less total binding energy transform to nuclei with greater
binding energy, there will be a net energy release.
 This is what happens when a heavy nucleus decays into two or more
intermediate mass fragments (fission) or when light nuclei fuse into a
heavier nucleus (fusion.)

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  Exothermic Chemical reactions: In conventional energy sources like coal
or petroleum, energy is released through chemical reactions. The energies
involved are of the order of electron volts per atom.
 Energies involved in nuclear processes are million times larger (in MeVs
per nucleon).
 One kilogram of coal on burning gives 107 J of energy, whereas 1 kg of
uranium, which undergoes fission, will generate on fission 1014 J of energy.
 Nuclear sources will give a million times larger energy than conventional
sources.

Energy released per fission  200 MeV

 Energy first appears as the kinetic energy of the fragments and neutrons.
 Then it is transferred to the surrounding matter appearing as heat.
 The source of energy in nuclear reactors, which produce electricity, is
controlled nuclear fission.
 The enormous energy released in an atom bomb comes from uncontrolled
nuclear fission.

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 Fusion reaction in the sun
 Thermonuclear fusion is the source of energy output in the interior of
stars.
 The interior of the sun has a temperature of 1.5 × 107 K
 Fusion in the sun involves protons whose energies are much above the
average energy

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  The fusion reaction in the sun is a multi-step process in which the hydrogen
is burned into helium.
 Thus, the fuel in the sun is the hydrogen in its core.
 The age of the sun is about 5×109 years.
 Hydrogen will be there in the sun for another 5 billion years.
 After that, the hydrogen burning will stop and the sun will begin to cool and
will start to collapse under gravity, which will raise the core temperature.
 The outer envelope of the sun will expand, turning it into the so called red
giant.

 Controlled thermonuclear fusion

 A sustained and controllable source of fusion power is considerably more
difficult to achieve.
 Controlled Fusion reactor is regarded as the future power source.
 In controlled fusion reactors, the aim is to generate steady power by
heating the nuclear fuel to a temperature in the range of 108 K.
 At these temperatures, the fuel is a mixture of positive ions and electrons
(plasma).
 The challenge is to confine this plasma, since no container can stand such a
high temperature.

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 NUCLEI – PYQS

1) (i) How is the size of a nucleus found experimentally? Write the relation between
the radius and mass number of a nucleus. (ii) Prove that the density of a nucleus
is independent of its mass number. (AI 2023)
(i) Ans: Geiger-Marsden Experiment from previous chapter should be explained with
the diagram. (ii) Proof in SM

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13.

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22. What does one mean by exothermic and endothermic reactions? Give examples.

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