Atomic Structure

Atoms are the building blocks of elements. They are the smallest parts of an element that chemically react. The first atomic theory, proposed by John Dalton in 1808, regarded atom as the ultimate indivisible particle of matter. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, it was proved experimentally that atoms are divisible and consist of three fundamental particles: electrons, protons and neutrons. The discovery of sub-atomic particles led to the proposal of various atomic models to explain the structure of atom.

Thomson in 1898 proposed that an atom consists of uniform sphere of positive electricity with electrons embedded into it. This model in which mass of the atom is considered to be evenly spread over the atom was proved wrong by Rutherford’s famous alpha-particle scattering experiment in 1909. Rutherford concluded that atom is made of a tiny positively charged nucleus, at its centre with electrons revolving around it in circular orbits. Rutherford model, which resembles the solar system, was no doubt an improvement over Thomson model but it could not account for the stability of the atom i.e., why the electron does not fall into the nucleus. Further, it was also silent about the electronic structure of atoms i.e., about the distribution and relative energies of electrons around the nucleus. The difficulties of the Rutherford model were overcome by Niels Bohr in 1913 in his model of the hydrogen atom. Bohr postulated that electron moves around the nucleus in circular orbits. Only certain orbits can exist and each orbit corresponds to a specific energy. Bohr calculated the energy of electron in various orbits and for each orbit predicted the distance between the electron and nucleus. Bohr model, though offering a satisfactory model for explaining the spectra of the hydrogen atom, could not explain the spectra of multi-electron atoms. The reason for this was soon discovered. In Bohr model, an electron is regarded as a charged particle moving in a well defined circular orbit about the nucleus. The wave character of the electron is ignored in Bohr’s theory. An orbit is a clearly defined path and this path can completely be defined only if both the exact position and the exact velocity of the electron at the same time are known. This is not possible according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Bohr model of the hydrogen atom, therefore, not only ignores the dual behaviour of electron but also contradicts Heisenberg uncertainty principle. 

Erwin Schrödinger, in 1926, proposed an equation called Schrödinger equation to describe the electron distributions in space and the allowed energy levels in atoms. This equation incorporates de Broglie’s concept of wave-particle duality and is consistent with Heisenberg uncertainty principle. When Schrödinger equation is solved for the electron in a hydrogen atom, the solution gives the possible energy states the electron can occupy [and the corresponding wave function(s) (ψ) (which in fact are the mathematical functions) of the electron associated with each energy state]. These quantized energy states and corresponding wave functions which are characterized by a set of three quantum numbers (principal quantum number n, azimuthal quantum number l and magnetic quantum number ml) arise as a natural consequence in the solution of the Schrödinger equation. The restrictions on the values of these three quantum numbers also come naturally from this solution. The quantum mechanical model of the hydrogen atom successfully predicts all aspects of the hydrogen atom spectrum including some phenomena that could not be explained by the Bohr model.

According to the quantum mechanical model of the atom, the electron distribution of an atom containing a number of electrons is divided into shells. The shells, in turn, are thought to consist of one or more subshells and subshells are assumed to be composed of one or more orbitals, which the electrons occupy. While for hydrogen and hydrogen like systems (such as He+, Li2+ etc.) all the orbitals within a given shell have same energy, the energy of the orbitals in a multi-electron atom depends upon the values of n and l: The lower the value of (n + l ) for an orbital, the lower is its energy. If two orbitals have the same (n + l ) value, the orbital with lower value of n has the lower energy. In an atom many such orbitals are possible and electrons are filled in those orbitals in order of increasing energy in accordance with Pauli exclusion principle (no two electrons in an atom can have the same set of four quantum numbers) and Hund’s rule of maximum multiplicity (pairing of electrons in the orbitals belonging to the same subshell does not take place until each orbital belonging to that subshell has got one electron each, i.e., is singly occupied). This forms the basis of the electronic structure of atoms.

Laws of Motion

We saw that uniform motion needs the concept of velocity alone whereas non-uniform motion requires the concept of acceleration in addition. So far, we have not asked the question as to what governs the motion of bodies. In this chapter, we turn to this basic question.

Let us first guess the answer based on our common experience. To move a football at rest, someone must kick it. To throw a stone upwards, one has to give it an upward push. A breeze causes the branches of a tree to swing; a strong wind can even move heavy objects. A boat moves in a flowing river without anyone rowing it. Clearly, some external agency is needed to provide force to move a body from rest. Likewise, an external force is needed also to retard or stop motion. You can stop a ball rolling down an inclined plane by applying a force against the direction of its motion.

In these examples, the external agency of force (hands, wind, stream, etc) is in contact with the object. This is not always necessary. A stone released from the top of a building accelerates downward due to the gravitational pull of the earth. A bar magnet can attract an iron nail from a distance. This shows that external agencies (e.g. gravitational and magnetic forces ) can exert force on a body even from a distance.

In short, a force is required to put a stationary body in motion or stop a moving body, and some external agency is needed to provide this force. The external agency may or may not be in contact with the body. 

Mechanical Properties of Solids at a Glance

1. Stress is the restoring force per unit area and strain is the fractional change in dimension. In general there are three types of stresses (a) tensile stress — longitudinal stress (associated with stretching) or compressive stress (associated with compression), (b) shearing stress, and (c) hydraulic stress. 

2. For small deformations, stress is directly proportional to the strain for many materials. This is known as Hooke’s law. The constant of proportionality is called modulus of elasticity. Three elastic moduli viz., Young’s modulus, shear modulus and bulk modulus are used to describe the elastic behaviour of objects as they respond to deforming forces that act on them.

A class of solids called elastomers does not obey Hooke’s law.

3. When an object is under tension or compression, the Hooke’s law takes the form

F/A = Y∆L/L

where ∆L/L is the tensile or compressive strain of the object, F is the magnitude of the applied force causing the strain, A is the cross-sectional area over which F is applied (perpendicular to A) and Y is the Young’s modulus for the object. The stress is F/A.

4. A pair of forces when applied parallel to the upper and lower faces, the solid deforms so that the upper face moves sideways with respect to the lower. The horizontal displacement ∆L of the upper face is perpendicular to the vertical height L. This type of deformation is called shear and the corresponding stress is the shearing stress. This type of stress is possible only in solids.

In this kind of deformation the Hooke’s law takes the form

F/A = G × ∆L/L

where ∆L is the displacement of one end of object in the direction of the applied force F, and G is the shear modulus.

5. When an object undergoes hydraulic compression due to a stress exerted by a surrounding fluid, the Hooke’s law takes the form

p = B (∆V/V), 

where p is the pressure (hydraulic stress) on the object due to the fluid, ∆V/V (the volume strain) is the absolute fractional change in the object’s volume due to that pressure and B is the bulk modulus of the object.

6. In the case of a wire, suspended from celing and stretched under the action of a weight (F) suspended from its other end, the force exerted by the ceiling on it is equal and opposite to the weight. However, the tension at any cross-section A of the wire is just F and not 2F. Hence, tensile stress which is equal to the tension per unit area is equal to F/A.

7. Hooke’s law is valid only in the linear part of stress-strain curve.

8. The Young’s modulus and shear modulus are relevant only for solids since only solids have lengths and shapes.

9. Bulk modulus is relevant for solids, liquid and gases. It refers to the change in volume when every part of the body is under the uniform stress so that the shape of the body remains unchanged. 

10. Metals have larger values of Young’s modulus than alloys and elastomers. A material with large value of Young’s modulus requires a large force to produce small changes in its length. 

11. In daily life, we feel that a material which stretches more is more elastic, but it a is misnomer. In fact material which stretches to a lesser extent for a given load is considered to be more elastic.

12. In general, a deforming force in one direction can produce strains in other directions also. The proportionality between stress and strain in such situations cannot be described by just one elastic constant. For example, for a wire under longitudinal strain, the lateral dimensions (radius of cross section) will undergo a small change, which is described by another elastic constant of the material (called Poisson ratio).

13. Stress is not a vector quantity since, unlike a force, the stress cannot be assigned a specific direction. Force acting on the portion of a body on a specified side of a section has a definite direction.