CHAPTER 3

THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE

DISCOVERY OF ELECTRON
(CROOKES’S TUBE OR DISCHARGE TUBE EXPERIMENT)
INTRODUCTION
Heinrich Geisseler, a German instrument engineer, initiated the work on the passage of electric current
through the gases at very high voltage by making a discharge tube. William Crookes, a British scientist,
modified and improved the discharge tube that much that it is often known as Crookes’s Tube. J. J.
Thomson also worked on Crookes’s Tube and discovered the electron in 1897.
CROOKES’S TUBE
Crookes’s Tube is a glass tube having two metallic plates which work as electrodes. One electrode is the
cathode and the other electrode is anode. A vacuum pump is also attached to the tube to reduce the
pressure.
EXPERIMENT
It is observed that the gases do not conduct electric current at ordinary pressures unless a very high voltage
is applied. At few thousands volts, when the pressure is reduced to 1 cm of Hg a spark is observed like a
flash of lightening. On further reduction of pressure to about a few mm of Hg, spark disappears and
electrodes are seen to glow and the rest of the discharge stream is dark. At about 1 mm of Hg, the tube is
mostly filled with a glow extending from the positive electrode and is called positive column. The color of
the glow depends upon the gas filled in the tube. When the pressure is reduced to 0.001 mm of Hg the
glow disappears and the walls of discharge tube begin to glow with the brilliant green light.
CONCLUSION
Crookes’s tube experiment shows the passage of radiations between two electrodes at very low pressures.
The source of these radiations is cathode that is why these radiations are called Cathode Rays.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CATHODES RAYS

Cathode rays have following characteristics:
1. Cathode rays emerge from cathode and can be focussed by using a concave cathode.
2. They travel in straight line and produce shadow if an object is placed in their way.
3. They penetrate thin foils of aluminium or gold without perforation.
4. They can be deflected by the electromagnetic field.
5. They carry negative charge.
6. They can exert mechanical pressure and are of particle nature.
7. They are independent of the nature of gas filled in the tube and material of which the electrodes are
made.
8. They can produce fluorescence.
9. Their charge to mass ratio (e/m) is constant and its value is 1.76 × 10 8 coulombs /gram.
10. Cathode rays were named as electron by Stoney.

DISCOVERY OF PROTON
INTRODUCTION
In 1886 Goldstein discovered positive rays which were named as proton. He performed experiments on the
Crookes’s Tube.
EXPERIMENT
Goldstein used a discharge tube in which he used perforated cathode. He observed that when high voltage
was applied at very low pressures, some rays were found behind the cathode besides cathode rays.
OBSERVATION
These rays were found to have positively charged and were known as positive rays. Since these rays passed
through the perforation of cathode, they were also called canal rays. The positive rays were not emitted
from anode; these rays actually consist of positive ions. When cathode rays strike on gas atoms, they eject
the electrons from the gas atoms and make them positive ions.
PROPERTIES OF POSITIVE RAYS
Positive rays have following properties:
1. Positive rays were appeared behind the cathode in Crookes’s Tube.
2. They are deflected by electromagnetic field and turn towards negative pole. Therefore they are positively
charged.
3. Their charge to mass ratio (e/m) depends upon the nature of gas.
4. The mass of positive rays is either equal to hydrogen atom or simple integral multiple of it.
5. They are 1836 times heavier than electron.
6. They are particle in nature.
CONCLUSION
The positive rays are known as protons (Greek: proton means first).

RUTHERFORD’S ATOMIC MODEL

INTRODUCTION
In 1911, Lord Earnest Rutherford performed an experiment in order to determine the structure of atom. He
concluded his experiments in the form of an atomic theory known as Rutherford’s Atomic Model.
EXPERIMENT
Rutherford bombarded α particles on a very thin film of gold. A photographic film was also placed to track
the α particles. The flashes on the screen caused by the individual particles were counted to determine the
relative number of particles deflected at various angles.
He observed that most of the α particles penetrated the foil and emerged undeflected on the other side. A
number of particles deflected at varying angles. Very few particles i.e. one particle out of 800 particles
bounced back.
MAIN ASSUMPTIONS
Rutherford on the basis of his experiment assumed that:
1. Most of space in an atom is empty.
2. Total mass of the atom is present in the nucleus.
3. The nucleus carries positive charge.
4. The size of nucleus is very small as compared to the size of the atom.
5. The negatively charged electrons revolve around the nucleus in circular orbits.
WEAKNESS OF RUTHERFORD’S ATOMIC MODEL
The weaknesses of Rutherford’s Atomic Model are given in the following:
1. According to classical electromagnetic theory, charged particle emits energy if it is moving. If revolving
electron emits energy, its energy contents would decrease and it would fall into the nucleus. But in actual
practice it does not happen.
2. If electron is emitting energy continuously then the spectra of atoms should be continuous spectra but in
actual practice the spectra of atoms are line spectra.
CONCLUSION
Rutherford’s Atomic Model provides experimental evidence for the presence of small positively charged
nucleus containing most of the mass.

X – RAYS & ATOMIC NUMBERS

W. Roentgen discovered X – rays in 1895. In Crookes’s Tube, he observed that in Crookes’s Tube, when
electrons (cathode rays) are bombarded on the anode then radiations of very high energy were produced.
Roentgen named these unknown rays as X - rays . These rays are also called Roentgen rays.
X – rays are electromagnetic radiations of very high frequency. The frequency of X – rays depends upon the
material of anode.
ATOMIC NUMBER
In 1913, Moseley provided that the frequency of X – rays increases with the increase in positive charge on
the nucleus of an atom of an element. This number of positive charge on the nucleus of an atom is called
atomic number denoted by Z. Since positive charge is present on the proton therefore atomic number is
the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
BOHR’S ATOMIC MODEL
INTRODUCTION
Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist proposed a new model for the structure of an atom in 1913.
MAIN POSTULATES
Main postulates of Bohr’s Atomic Model are discussed in the following:
1. The electron revolves around the nucleus in fixed circulars orbits.
2. The electron neither gains energy nor loses energy as long as it is revolving in an orbit. Therefore orbit is
also known as ‘stationary state’. The orbits have definite energy, therefore they are also callled energy
levels.
3. When an electron absorbs energy equal to the energy difference of two energy levels, it jumps to higher
energy level. If it jumps back to lower energy level, it emits energy equal to the energy difference of the
two energy levels.
∆E = E2 – E1 = hv

Where,
E1 = initial state energy level
E2 = final state energy level
∆E = change in energy
h = Planck’s constant = 6.625 × 10-34 J. S. = 6.625 × 10-27 erg sec
v = frequency of energy
This postulate explains the line spectrum produced by the atoms.
4. In stationary state the product o momentum and circumference, known as ‘action’ is equal to Planck’s
constant or any of its integral multiple.
Momentum × Circumference = Planck’s constant
mv × 2πr = nh
mvr = n h / 2 π
where
mvr = angular momentum
Angular momentum of electron is integral multiple of h / 2 π. It shows that angular momentum is quantized
for a stationary orbit.