ISO-8859-1
Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom
Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom
(p. 2 of 4)
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Bohr proposed that because only specific amounts of energy were absorbed and emitted, electrons could only exist in specific energy levels. Consider the following three scenarios:
1) No interaction
Electromagnetic radiation can go straight through the hydrogen atom without being affected.
2) Absorption
When the energy of the photon matches exactly the energy gap between two energy levels, an electron can absorb the energy of the photon and jump to the higher energy level. For example, the diagram below represents an electron in n = 1 absorbing a photon and jumping to n = 2.
Fig. 1: Mechanism of photon absorption.
3) Emission
When an excited electron falls back to a lower energy level, a photon is emitted which matches exactly the energy gap between the two energy levels
Fig. 2: Mechanism of photon emission.
Let's relate this to what we saw on the previous page. Click Run in the model below to review the first photon absorption and emission we saw.
The combination of photon absorption followed by photon emission in the model corresponds to Figure 1 and Figure 2 above respectively (Note: While all the principles and concepts discussed in this activity are accurate, it should be noted that the colors of the photons being absorbed and emitted do not match what would be observed in reality. For example, when an electron transitions from n = 1 to n = 2 in hydrogen, it would absorb a photon in the ultraviolet region, not the visible as shown here).
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