PHY 004: MODERN PHYSICS

LECTURE I
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment
harge of an electron I. Charge of electron
– very important
application of
uniform electric
field between two
plate – Robert
Millikan (1868-
1953)

A. Purpose: to
find charge of
2

an electron
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

1. Fine oil sprayed into air in top – gravity causes them

to fall

3
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

2. A few enter the hole

4
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment
3. Potential difference between plates is applied – exerts
a force on the charged drops

5
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

4. Top plate is positive enough that negative drops will

rise

John D. Bookstaver
St. Charles Community College 6
St. Peters, MO
 2006, Prentice Hall, Inc.
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

5. Potential difference adjusted to suspend (float) particle

-
E*q = m*g

7
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

6. Electric field was determined from potential difference

between two plates (E = V/d)

-
Eq mg
V
q  mg
d
q dg

m V

8
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment
7. Found velocity of charge when field was turned off.
Using velocity, mg was found. Using E & mg, the
charge could be calculated.

9
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

8. The drops had a variety of charges. So, he ionized the

air, added or removed electrons. The change in
charge was always a multiple of -1.6 x 10-19 C. Thus,
the charge on one electron.

10
 Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment

9. Showed that charge is quantized – an object can only

have charge with a magnitude that is some integral of
the charge of an electron.

Eq  mg
V
q  mg
d
q dg

m V
11
 HISTORY OF THE ATOM

1910 Ernest Rutherford

oversaw Geiger and Marsden

carrying out his famous experiment.

they fired Helium nuclei at a piece of

gold foil which was only a few
atoms thick.
they found that although most of 12
 Rutherford’s Gold Foil
Experiment

Most of the atom is empty space

The majority of the mass is located

in a small, dense region
13
Rutherford’s Scattering Expt
Hypothesis

Apparatus Results (data)

Analysis 14
Conclusion: A Nucleus!
 Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment
 Building on this idea, he proposed the
nuclear theory of the atom, with three
basic parts:
1. Most of the atom’s mass and all of its
positive charge are contained in a small
core called a nucleus.
2. Most of the volume of the atom is
empty space, throughout which tiny,
negatively charged electrons are dispersed.
3. There are as many negatively charged
electrons outside the nucleus as there
are positively charged particles (named
protons) within the nucleus, so that the
atom is electrically neutral.
15
 The Neutrons
 Although Rutherford’s model was highly
successful, scientists realized that it was
incomplete.

 Later work by Rutherford and one of his

students, British scientist James Chadwick
(1891–1974), demonstrated that the
previously unaccounted for mass was due
to neutrons, neutral particles within the
nucleus.

16
 The Neutrons

 The mass of a neutron is similar to that of

a proton.
 However, a neutron has no electrical
charge.
 The helium atom is four times as
massive as the hydrogen atom because
o it contains two protons
o and two neutrons.
 Hydrogen, on the other hand, contains
only one proton and no neutrons.

17
 Subatomic Particles
 All atoms are composed of the same
subatomic particles:
 Protons
 Neutrons
 Electrons
 Protons and neutrons, as we saw earlier,
have nearly identical masses.
 The mass of the proton is 1.67262 × 10–27
kg.
 The mass of the neutron is 1.67493 × 10–
27
kg.
 The mass of the electron is 9.1 × 10–31 18
 Subatomic Particles

 The charge of the proton and the electron

are equal in magnitude but opposite in
sign. The neutron has no charge.

19
 Composition of the Atom
 Atom - the basic structural
unit of an element

 The smallest unit of an

element that retains the
chemical properties of that
element
 Electrons, Protons, and Neutrons
Atoms consist of three primary
particles
Electrons
Protons
neutrons
• Nucleus - small, dense, positively charged
region in the center of the atom
- protons - positively charged particles
- neutrons - uncharged particles

21
 Characteristics of Atomic Particles
Electrons are negatively charged
particles located outside of the nucleus
of an atom
Protons and electrons have charges
that are equal in magnitude but
opposite in sign
A neutral atom that has no electrical
charge has the same number of protons
and electrons
Electrons move very rapidly in a
relatively large volume of space while
the nucleus is small and dense 22
 LIMITATIONS OF RUTHERFOR
ATOMIC MODEL
 He could not explain the stability of
an atom. Rutherford model
suggested , an electron would collapse
into the nucleus in less than 10-
8
seconds
 Rutherford model did not say
anything about the arrangement of
electrons in an atom which made his
theory incomplete.
23
•Rutherford's model couldn't explain the existence of distinct spectral lines in the hydrogen spectrum.

LIMITATIONS OF RUTHERFOR
ATOMIC MODEL
 Rutherford's model couldn't explain the
existence of distinct spectral lines in the
hydrogen spectrum.

 .He could not explain exact position of

the electrons around the nucleus i.e
distribution of electron around the
nucleus.
24
 Bohr Model
• In 1913, the Danish scientist Niels
Bohr proposed an improvement.
• In his model, he placed each
electron in a specific energy level.
• According to Bohr’s atomic model,
electrons move in definite orbits around the
nucleus, much like planets circle the sun.

• These orbits, or energy levels, are located at

certain distances from the nucleus.
 Classical system of Atomic
Model
Let’s consider atoms as a quasi sun/planet model
(only one planet so that it is just a two body problem.
The force balance of circular orbits for an electron
“going around” a stationary nucleolus
For the centripetal
force in a circular orbit

where v is the tangential velocity of the electron.

Circular motion is accelerated, accelerated charges need to
radiate energy off according to Maxwell, loosing kinetic
energy

26
26
 The Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom
Niels Bohr’s general assumptions:
1) “Stationary states” (orbiting electron does not radiate energy) exist in the
hydrogen atom.
2) E = E1 − E2 = hf
3) Classical laws of physics do not apply to transitions between stationary
states, the electron just “jumps” makes a “quantum leap”
4) Angular momentum is quantized in units of h/2π , in the future simply
called h-bar 
5) One form of the correspondence principle, at very high quantum numbers
(the indices in (2)) binding energies become so low that transitions
between stationary states can be achieved without us noticing their
discrete quantum nature, energy changes seem to be continuous again
All of these assumptions are consistent with the assumption that the electron
is a classical particle, as supported by J.J. Thomson’s experiments and
the rest of classical physics
27
  
r e
U U r  F dr
v
4 0 me r


without k bound system

just classical physics,

not good enough
new physics
has to be the same as
this r from classical
force balance, allows
n us to resolve for
v quantized condition for tangential
quantized energy
me r velocity and radius of orbit
levels, perhaps some later
homework or quiz question
n e

me r 4 0 me r

28
 Is diameter of the hydrogen atom for stationary
states, n = 1, 2, 3, …

The smallest diameter of the hydrogen atom is two

times the Bohr radius ≈ 1 Å = 0.1 nm

 n = 1 gives its lowest energy state (called the

“ground” state), there is formally no E0 since
quantum numbers start with 1 and are positive
integers

But some books may call it E0 nevertheless, E1 is also called 1 Rydberg, needs 29
to be divided by h and c in order to get the Rydberg constant in m-1
 Transitions in the Hydrogen Atom

Lyman series
The atom will remain in the
excited state for a short time
before emitting a photon and
returning to a lower stationary
state. Most hydrogen atoms exist
in n = 1 at room temperature.
From previous slide
Balmer series (of formula fame)
E = E1 − E2 = hf
When sunlight passes through the
atmosphere, hydrogen atoms in
water vapor absorb the
wavelengths (visible), seen as
dark lines in absorption spectrum.
30
 Limitations of the Bohr Model

The Bohr model was a great step towards a quantum theory of matter, explained the
spectral lines of hydrogen comprehensively but it had its limitations.

1) Works only for single-electron atoms and ions that have a single electron left. Only
modification in all equations Ze instead of e, where Z is the number of positive charges in the
nucleus
2) Could neither account for the intensities nor the fine structure of the spectral lines (they are
actually doublets) for hydrogen when atoms were put into magnetic fields (Nobel prize to
Lorentz and Zeeman 1902)
3) Could not explain the binding of atoms into molecules
4) Contained unexplained quantum jumps – that’s not good physics, just a step in the right
direction, i.e. energy and many other physical entities in bound systems need to be quantized

The reason for all of this is that the model is build on the basis of the particle nature
of matter.

31
 Rydberg Equation
• As more scientists discovered emission lines at infrared and ultraviolet
wavelengths, the Balmer series equation was extended to the Rydberg
equation, actually on the basis of this equation, people went out looking
for more lines :

Aside:

RH  R
me
 2 me c
R  
2h
1.09737 107 _ m  1
me M

me  M

with μ as reduced
mass of the
elecron, α as fine
structure constant,
and M mass of the
Can be applied to isotopes of hydrogen by modifying R slightly nucleus 32
 Bohr showed the
energy a H atom can
have is equal to:
1
En = -RH ( )
n2

Ephoton = DE = Ef - Ei
1
Ef = -RH ( 2 )
nf
1
Ei = -RH ( 2 )
ni
1 1
DE = RH( 2 )
ni n2f
RH is the Rydberg constant
n is the principal quantum number
 Structure and spectra of hydrogenic atoms
 Hydrogenic atoms: atoms having only one electron (H, He+, Li2+, …) → the Schrödinger
equation can be solved
 Many-electron atoms → impossible to solve the Schrödinger equation → approximations
are needed to solve the SE (Hartree-Fock Theory, Density Functional Theory, etc..).

The structure of hydrogenic atoms

Rydberg observed that the lines in the emission spectrum of H fit the expression:

 1 1 
~  H  2
 
2 
 n1 n2 
where  H is the Rydberg constant for H ( H= 109677cm-1). One series is characterized by
n1, within this series the lines are specified with n 2 that can take the values n1+1, n1+2, …
For n1=1 → Lyman series in the ultraviolet region
For n1=2 → Balmer series in the visible region
For n1=3 → Paschen series in the infrared region
Hydrogen spectrum
The gas inside the tube; that emits blue light is mercury, but the same can be done
with H2. The gas pressure in the tubes are low, because of natural radioactivity
and cosmic rays there are always few free electrons and ions. When something
around 2000-3000 volts is applied to these tubes under low pressure, free
electrons and ions are accelerated and collide with the gas molecule H 2 and
dissociate them in excited H atoms. These collisions generate an avalanche of
charged particles. As a result, the gas in the discharge tube contains a lot of
ionized and highly excited atoms. The excited atoms give back this energy in the
form of light, while they are turning back to their ground states. (NB: Neon tubes
are typical examples of discharge tubes) The electromagnetic radiation emitted is
then analyzed by a spectrometer and various emission lines of hydrogen can be
observed in the visible (Balmer series), the ultraviolet (Lyman series) and infra-
red (Paschen series).
 Structure and spectra of hydrogenic atoms

From the experimental law by Rydberg, a general principle is found: the Ritz
combination principle. It states that the wavenumber of any spectral line is the
difference between two terms. NB: it’s only for hydrogenic atoms that the terms have the
form:
R
Tn  H2
n ~  1 1 
 T1  T2 RH  2  2 
 n1 n2 

Bohr frequency condition: when an atom changes its

energy by E, the difference is carried away as a photon
of frequency : E = h

 In the emission spectrum of an atom, a line appearing

at a frequency  corresponds to a change in energy
E=E2-E1= hc (T1-T2) of an atom that is characterized by
the difference between two terms T.
 The atom can only have specific energies:
quantization.
 Symbolic Representation of an
Element

Charge of
particle
Mass
numbe
A C
r
Z X
Atomic Symbol of
number the atom
Atomic number (Z) - the number of
protons in the atom
Mass number (A) - sum of the number
of protons and neutrons 37
 Atomic Calculations
number of protons + number of neutrons = mass
number

number of neutrons = mass number - number of

protons

number of protons = number of electrons IF

positive and negative charges cancel, the atom
charge = 0

38
 Atomic Composition
Calculations
Calculate the number of protons,
neutrons, and electrons in each of the
following:
11
5 B

55
26 Fe

39
 Isotopes
• Isotopes - atoms of the same element having
different masses
– contain same number of protons
– contain different numbers of neutrons 4

Isotopes of Hydrogen

Hydrogen Deuterium Tritium 40

(Hydrogen
1) - (Hydrogen
2) - (Hydrogen - 3)
 Isotopic Calculations
Isotopes of the same element have
identical chemical properties
Some isotopes are radioactive
Find chlorine on the periodic table
What is the atomic number of
chlorine?
17
What is the mass given?
35.45
This is not the mass number of an 41

isotope
 Atomic Mass
What is this number: 35.34?
The atomic mass - the weighted
average of the masses of all the
isotopes that make up chlorine
Chlorine consists of chlorine-35 and
chlorine-37 in a 3:1 ratio
Weighted average is an average
corrected by the relative amounts
of each isotope present in nature
42
 Atomic Mass Calculation
Calculate the atomic mass of
naturally occurring chlorine if
75.77% of chlorine atoms are
chlorine-35 and 24.23% of
chlorine atoms are chlorine-37
Step 1: convert the percentage
to a decimal fraction:
0.7577 chlorine-35
0.2423 chlorine-37 43
Step 2: multiply the decimal fraction by
the mass of that isotope to obtain the
isotope contribution to the atomic mass:
For chlorine-35:
0.7577 x 35.00 amu = 26.52 amu
For chlorine-37
0.2423 x 37.00 amu = 8.965 amu
Step 3: sum these partial weights to get
the weighted average atomic mass of
chlorine:
26.52 amu + 8.965 amu = 35.49 44
 Atomic Mass Determination
Nitrogen consists of two
naturally occurring isotopes
99.63% nitrogen-14 with a
mass of 14.003 amu
0.37% nitrogen-15 with a
mass of 15.000 amu
What is the atomic mass of
nitrogen? 45
 Ions and Charges
Ions - electrically charged
particles that result from a gain or
loss of one or more electrons by
the parent atom
Cation - positively charged
results from the loss of electrons
23Na  23Na+ + 1e-
Anion - negatively charged
results from the gain of electrons
46
19F + 1e-  19F-
 Calculating Subatomic Particles
in Ions
How many protons, neutrons,
and electrons are in the
following ions?
39 
19 K

32 2-
16 S
24 2
12 Mg 47