Chapter 12. Atoms

Class 12 Physics Chapter 12. Atoms Example Questions and Answers :

Example 12.1 : In the Rutherford’s nuclear model of the atom, the nucleus (radius about  m) is analogous to the sun about which the electron move in orbit (radius  m) like the earth orbits around the sun. If the dimensions of the solar system had the same proportions as those of the atom, would the earth be closer to or farther away from the sun than actually it is ? The radius of earth’s orbit is about  m. The radius of sun is taken as  m.

Example 12.2 :  In a Geiger-Marsden experiment, what is the distance of closest approach to the nucleus of a 7.7 MeV -particle before it comes momentarily to rest and reverses its direction?

Example 12.3 :  It is found experimentally that 13.6 eV energy is required to separate a hydrogen atom into a proton and an electron. Compute the orbital radius and the velocity of the electron in a hydrogen atom.

Example 12.4 : According to the classical electromagnetic theory, calculate the initial frequency of the light emitted by the electron revolving around a proton in hydrogen atom.

Example 12.5 : A 10 kg satellite circles earth once every 2 h in an orbit having a radius of 8000 km. Assuming that Bohr’s angular momentum postulate applies to satellites just as it does to an electron in the hydrogen atom, find the quantum number of the orbit of the satellite.

Example 12.6 : Using the Rydberg formula, calculate the wavelengths of the first four spectral lines in the Lyman series of the hydrogen spectrum.

Class 12 Physics Chapter 12. Atoms Exercise Questions and Answers :

12.1 Choose the correct alternative from the clues given at the end of the each statement:

(a) The size of the atom in Thomson’s model is .......... the atomic size in Rutherford’s model. (much greater than/no different from/much less than.)

(b) In the ground state of .......... electrons are in stable equilibrium, while in .......... electrons always experience a net force. (Thomson’s model/ Rutherford’s model.)

(c) A classical atom based on .......... is doomed to collapse. (Thomson’s model/ Rutherford’s model.)

(d) An atom has a nearly continuous mass distribution in a .......... but has a highly non-uniform mass distribution in .......... (Thomson’s model/ Rutherford’s model.)

(e) The positively charged part of the atom possesses most of the mass in .......... (Rutherford’s model/both the models.)

12.2 Suppose you are given a chance to repeat the alpha-particle scattering experiment using a thin sheet of solid hydrogen in place of the gold foil. (Hydrogen is a solid at temperatures below 14 K.) What results do you expect?

12.3 What is the shortest wavelength present in the Paschen series of spectral lines?

12.4 A difference of 2.3 eV separates two energy levels in an atom. What is the frequency of radiation emitted when the atom make a transition from the upper level to the lower level?

12.5 The ground state energy of hydrogen atom is –13.6 eV. What are the kinetic and potential energies of the electron in this state?

12.6 A hydrogen atom initially in the ground level absorbs a photon, which excites it to the n = 4 level. Determine the wavelength and frequency of photon.

12.7 (a) Using the Bohr’s model calculate the speed of the electron in a hydrogen atom in the n = 1, 2, and 3 levels. (b) Calculate the orbital period in each of these levels.

12.8 The radius of the innermost electron orbit of a hydrogen atom is  m. What are the radii of the n = 2 and n =3 orbits?

12.9 A 12.5 eV electron beam is used to bombard gaseous hydrogen at room temperature. What series of wavelengths will be emitted?

12.10 In accordance with the Bohr’s model, find the quantum number that characterises the earth’s revolution around the sun in an orbit of radius  m with orbital speed  m/s . (Mass of earth = kg.)

Class 12 Physics Chapter 12. Atoms Additional Exercise Questions and Answers :

12.11 Answer the following questions, which help you understand the difference between Thomson’s model and Rutherford’s model better.

(a) Is the average angle of deflection of -particles by a thin gold foil predicted by Thomson’s model much less, about the same, or much greater than that predicted by Rutherford’s model?

(b) Is the probability of backward scattering (i.e., scattering of -particles at angles greater than 90°) predicted by Thomson’s model much less, about the same, or much greater than that predicted by Rutherford’s model?

(c) Keeping other factors fixed, it is found experimentally that for small thickness , the number of -particles scattered at moderate angles is proportional to  . What clue does this linear dependence on  provide?

(d) In which model is it completely wrong to ignore multiple scattering for the calculation of average angle of scattering of -particles by a thin foil?

12.12 The gravitational attraction between electron and proton in a hydrogen atom is weaker than the coulomb attraction by a factor of about  . An alternative way of looking at this fact is to estimate the radius of the first Bohr orbit of a hydrogen atom if the electron and proton were bound by gravitational attraction. You will find the answer interesting.

12.13 Obtain an expression for the frequency of radiation emitted when a hydrogen atom de-excites from level  to level (). For large , show that this frequency equals the classical frequency of revolution of the electron in the orbit.

12.14 Classically, an electron can be in any orbit around the nucleus of an atom. Then what determines the typical atomic size? Why is an atom not, say, thousand times bigger than its typical size? The question had greatly puzzled Bohr before he arrived at his famous model of the atom that you have learnt in the text. To simulate what he might well have done before his discovery, let us play as follows with the basic constants of nature and see if we can get a quantity with the dimensions of length that is roughly equal to the known size of an atom ).

(a) Construct a quantity with the dimensions of length from the fundamental constants , , and . Determine its numerical value.

(b) You will find that the length obtained in (a) is many orders of magnitude smaller than the atomic dimensions. Further, it involves . But energies of atoms are mostly in non-relativistic domain where  is not expected to play any role. This is what may have suggested Bohr to discard  and look for ‘something else’ to get the right atomic size. Now, the Planck’s constant  had already made its appearance elsewhere. Bohr’s great insight lay in recognising that , , and  will yield the right atomic size. Construct a quantity with the dimension of length from , , and  and confirm that its numerical value has indeed the correct order of magnitude.

12.15 The total energy of an electron in the first excited state of the hydrogen atom is about –3.4 eV.

(a) What is the kinetic energy of the electron in this state?

(b) What is the potential energy of the electron in this state?

(c) Which of the answers above would change if the choice of the zero of potential energy is changed?

12.16 If Bohr’s quantisation postulate (angular momentum  ) is a basic law of nature, it should be equally valid for the case of planetary motion also. Why then do we never speak of quantisation of orbits of planets around the sun?

12.17 Obtain the first Bohr’s radius and the ground state energy of a muonic hydrogen atom [i.e., an atom in which a negatively charged muon () of mass about 207  orbits around a proton].