WHITEFIELD GLOBAL SCHOOL

PHYSICS NOTES – CLASS XII

ATOMS AND NUCLEI (CHAPTER 12 & 13)

Introduction
THOMSONS MODEL OF AN ATOM
In 1898, J. J. Thomson proposed the first model of atom.
According to this model, the + v e charge of the atom is uniformly distributed
throughout the volume of the atom and the negatively charged electrons are embedded
in it like seeds in a watermelon.
This model is also known as plum pudding model of the atom. This model was able to
explain that an atom is electrically neutral.
LIMITATIONS :
❖ Its assumption that the total mass of an atom is uniformly distributed all over
the atom was inconsistent with some of the experimental results.
❖ It could not explain the origin of spectral series of hydrogen and other atoms.
❖ It could not explain large angle scattering of alpha particles from thin metal
foils, as observed by Rutherford.
After some years, Rutherford proposed a new model of atom based on Alpha-Particle
Scattering experiment.

Rutherford Atomic Model

• Rutherford Atomic Model – The plum pudding model is given by J.
J. Thomson failed to explain certain experimental results associated
with the atomic structure of elements.
• Ernest Rutherford, a British scientist conducted an experiment and
based on the observations of this experiment, he proposed the atomic
structure of elements and gave Rutherford Atomic Model.
• In 1911, Ernst Rutherford suggested some experiments to H. Geiger
and E. Marsden.
• RUTHERFORD’S - RAY SCATTERING EXPERIMENT
❖ An alpha particle is a helium nucleus containing 2 protons and 2
neutrons.
❖ It has 4 units of mass and two units of positive charge.
Rutherford argued that, to deflect the α-particle backwards, it must
experience a large repulsive force.
This force could be provided if the greater part of the mass of the atom and
its positive charge were concentrated tightly at its centre. Then the
incoming α-particle could get very close to the positive charge without
penetrating it, and such a close encounter would result in a large deflection.
This agreement supported the hypothesis of the nuclear atom. This is why
Rutherford is credited with the discovery of the nucleus.
Since the nucleus of gold is about 50 times heavier than an α-particle, it is
reasonable to assume that it remains stationary throughout the scattering
process. Under these assumptions, the trajectory of an alpha-particle can
be computed employing Newton’s second law of motion and the Coulomb’s
law for electrostatic force of repulsion between the alpha-particle and the
positively charged nucleus.

The magnitude of this force is F = (

where r is the distance between the α-particle and the nucleus.

The force is directed along the line joining the α-particle and the nucleus.
The magnitude and direction of the force on an α-particle continuously
changes as it approaches the nucleus and recedes away from it.
Rutherford Atomic Model
Based on the above observations and conclusions, Rutherford proposed the
atomic structure of elements. According to the Rutherford atomic model:
1. The positively charged particles and most of the mass of an atom was
concentrated in an extremely small volume. He called this region of
the atom as a nucleus.
2. Rutherford model proposed that the negatively charged electrons
surround the nucleus of an atom. He also claimed that the electrons
surrounding the nucleus revolve around it with very high speed in
circular paths. He named these circular paths as orbits.
3. Electrons being negatively charged and nucleus being a densely
concentrated mass of positively charged particles are held together
by a strong electrostatic force of attraction.
Limitations of Rutherford Atomic Model
Although the Rutherford atomic model was based on experimental
observations it failed to explain certain things.
• Rutherford proposed that the electrons revolve around the nucleus in
fixed paths called orbits. According to Maxwell, accelerated charged
particles emit electromagnetic radiations and hence an electron
revolving around the nucleus should emit electromagnetic radiation.
This radiation would carry energy from the motion of the electron
which would come at the cost of shrinking of orbits. Ultimately the
electrons would collapse in the nucleus. Calculations have shown that
as per the Rutherford model, an electron would collapse in the
nucleus in less than 10-8 seconds. So Rutherford model was not in
accordance with Maxwell’s theory and could not explain the stability
of an atom.
• One of the drawbacks of the Rutherford model was also that he did
not say anything about the arrangement of electrons in an
atom which made his theory incomplete.
• Although the early atomic models were inaccurate and failed to
explain certain experimental results, they were the base for future
developments in the world of quantum mechanics.
BOHR MODEL OF THE HYDROGEN ATOM
• The model of the atom proposed by Rutherford assumes that the
atom, consisting of a central nucleus and revolving electron is stable
much like sun-planet system which the model imitates. However,
there are some fundamental differences between the two situations.
While the planetary system is held by gravitational force, the
nucleus-electron system being charged objects, interact by
Coulomb’s Law of force. We know that anobject which moves in a
circle is being constantly accelerated – the acceleration being
centripetal in nature.
• According to classical electromagnetic theory, an accelerating
charged particle emits radiation in the form of electromagnetic
waves. The energy of an accelerating electron should therefore,
continuously decrease. The electron would spiral inward and
eventually fall into the nucleus. Thus, such an atom can not be stable.
• Further, according to the classical electromagnetic theory, the
frequency of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the revolving
electrons is equal to the frequency of revolution. As the electrons
spiral inwards, their angular velocities and hence their frequencies
would change continuously, and so will the frequency of the light
emitted. Thus, they would emit a continuous spectrum, in
contradiction to the line spectrum actually observed.
• Clearly Rutherford model tells only a part of the story implying that
the classical ideas are not sufficient toexplain the atomic structure.
• It was Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962) who made certain modifications in
this model by adding the ideas of the newly developing quantum
hypothesis.
• Bohr combined classical and early quantum concepts and gave his
theory in the form of three postulates.
BOHR’S POSTULATES OF ATOMIC MODEL

• (i) Bohr’s first postulate was that an electron in an atom could revolve
in certain stable orbits without the emission of radiant energy, contrary
to the predictions of electromagnetic theory. According to this
postulate, each atom has certain definite stable states in which it can
 exist, and each possible state has definite total energy. These are
called the stationary states of the atom.
• (ii) Bohr’s second postulate defines these stable orbits. This postulate
states that the electron revolves around the nucleus only in those
orbits for which the angular momentum is some integral multiple of
h/2π where h is the Planck’s constant (= 6.6 × 10–34 J s). Thus the
angular momentum (L) of the orbiting electron is quantized. That is:
L = n h/2π
(iii) Bohr’s third postulate incorporated into atomic theory the early
quantum concepts that had been developed by Planck and
Einstein.
It states that an electron might make a transition from one of its specified
non-radiating orbits to another of lower energy.
When it does so, a photon is emitted having energy equal to the energy
difference between the initial and final states. The
frequency of the emitted photon is then given by :
hν = E i – E f
where Ei and Ef are the energies of the initial and final states and E i > E
f.
NUMERICALS
 NUCLEI
INTRODUCTION
• In the previous chapter, we have learnt that in every atom, the
positive charge and mass are densely concentrated at the centre of
the atom forming its nucleus.
• The overall dimensions of a nucleus are much smaller than those of
an atom. Experiments on scattering of α-particles demonstrated that
the radius of a nucleus was smaller than the radius of an atom by a
factor of about 104 .
• This means the volume of a nucleus is about 10–12 times the volume
of the atom. In other words, an atom is almost empty. If an atom is
enlarged to the size of a classroom, the nucleus would be of the size of
pinhead.
• Nevertheless, the nucleus contains most (more than 99.9%) of the
mass of an atom. Does the nucleus have a structure, just as the atom
does?
• If so, what are the constituents of the nucleus?
• How are these held together? In this chapter, we shall look for
answers to such questions. We shall discuss various properties of
nuclei such as their size, mass and stability, and also associated
nuclear phenomena such as radioactivity, fission and fusion
❖ Accurate measurement of atomic masses is carried out with a mass
spectrometer.
❖ The measurement of atomic masses reveals the existence of different
types of atoms of the same element, which exhibit the same chemical
properties, but differ in mass. Such atomic species of the same
element differing in mass are called isotopes. (In Greek, isotope
means the same place, i.e. they occur in the same in the periodic table
of elements.)
❖ It was found that practically every element consists of a mixture of
several isotopes. The relative abundance of different isotopes differs
from element to element.
❖ Chlorine, for example, has two isotopes having masses 34.98 u and
36.98 u, which are nearly integral multiples of the mass of a
hydrogen atom. The relative abundances of these isotopes are 75.4
and 24.6 per cent, respectively.
❖ Thus, the average mass of a chlorine atom is obtained by the
weighted average of the masses of the two isotopes, which works out
to be = 75.4 34.98 24.6 36.98 100 × + × = 35.47 u which agrees with
the atomic mass of chlorine.
❖ Even the lightest element, hydrogen has three isotopes having masses
1.0078 u, 2.0141 u, and 3.0160 u.
❖ The nucleus of the lightest atom of hydrogen, which has a relative
abundance of 99.985%, is called the proton. The mass of a proton is
27 1.00727u = 1.67262 x kg .
❖ This is equal to the mass of the hydrogen atom (= 1.00783u), minus
the mass of a single electron (me= 0.00055 u).
❖ The other two isotopes of hydrogen are called deuterium and tritium.
Tritium nuclei, being unstable, do not occur naturally and are
produced artificially in laboratories.
❖ The positive charge in the nucleus is that of the protons. A proton
carries one unit of fundamental charge and is stable. It was earlier
thought that the nucleus may contain electrons, but this was ruled
out later using arguments based on quantum theory.
❖ All the electrons of an atom are outside the nucleus. We know that
the number of these electrons outside the nucleus of the atom is Z, the
atomic number. The total charge of the atomic electrons is thus (–
Ze), and since the atom is neutral, the charge of the nucleus is (+Ze).
The number of protons in the nucleus of the atom is, therefore,
exactly Z, the atomic number.
Discovery of Neutron
• In 1932 by James Chadwick observed emission of neutral radiation
when beryllium nuclei were bombarded with alpha-particles.
• It was found that this neutral radiation could knock out protons from
light nuclei such as those of helium, carbon and nitrogen. The only
neutral radiation known at that time was photons (electromagnetic
radiation).
• Application of the principles of conservation of energy and
momentum showed that if the neutral radiation consisted of photons,
the energy of photons would have to be much higher than is available
from the bombardment of beryllium nuclei with α-particles.
• The clue to this puzzle, which Chadwick satisfactorily solved, was to
assume that the neutral radiation consists of a new type of neutral
particles called neutrons. From conservation of energy and
momentum, he was able to determine the mass of new particle ‘as
very nearly the same as mass of proton’.
• The mass of a neutron is now known to a high degree of accuracy.
 • It is = 1.00866 u = 1.6749× kg .
• Chadwick was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his
discovery of the neutron. A free neutron, unlike a free proton, is
unstable.
Basic Properties of Neutron

mn = 1.00866 u = 1.6749 × 10‒27 kg

• A free neutron, unlike a free proton, is unstable.
• It decays into a proton, an electron and a antineutrino (another
elementary particle), and has a mean life of about 1000s. It is,
however, stable inside the nucleus.
COMPOSITION OF THE NUCLEUS
• The composition of a nucleus can now be described using the
following terms and symbols:
• (i) Atomic Number Z :Atomic number of an element is the number of
protons present inside the nucleus of an atom of the element.
Atomic number = Number of protons = Number of electrons

(ii) Mass Number A :Mass number of an element is the total number of

protons and neutrons inside the atomic nucleus of the element.
Mass number = Number of protons + Number of neutrons
= Number of electrons + Number of neutrons
i.e. A=Z + N
Z - atomic number = number of protons
N - neutron number = number of neutrons.
A - mass number = Z + N = total number of protons and neutrons(
Nucleons)

• Nuclear species or nuclides are the specific nucleus of an atom and

are represented by the notation
 where X is the chemical symbol of the species.
For example, the nucleus of gold is denoted by
It contains 197 nucleons, of which 79 are protons and the rest 118 are
neutrons.
• Isotopes: The atoms of an element having same atomic number but
different mass numbers. are called isotopes. The nuclei of isotopes of
a given element contain the same number of protons, but differ from
each other in their number of neutrons.
e.g., 1H1, 1H2, 1H3 are isotopes of hydrogen.
Deuterium, which is an isotope of hydrogen, contains one
proton
and one neutron.
The chemical properties of elements depend on their electronic
structure. As the atoms of isotopes have identical electronic structure
they have identical chemical behaviour and are placed in the same
location in the periodic table.
• Isobars: The atoms of different elements having same mass numbers
but different atomic numbers, are called isobars.
e.g., 1H3, 2He3 and 11Na22, 10Ne22 are isobars.

• Isotones : The atoms of different elements having different atomic

numbers and different mass numbers but having same number of
neutrons are called isotones.
e.g. and are called isotones.
Mass – Energy RELATION

• Einstein showed from his theory of special relativity that it is

necessary to treat mass as another form of energy.
Before the advent of this theory of special relativity it was
presumed that mass and energy were conserved
 separately in a reaction.
• However, Einstein showed that mass is another form of energy and
one can convert mass-energy into other forms of energy, say kinetic
energy and vice-versa.
• Einstein gave the famous mass-energy equivalence relation:
E=m
• Here the energy equivalent of mass m is related by the above
equation and c is the velocity of light in vacuum and is approximately
equal to 3× m /s.
• Experimental verification of the Einstein’s mass-energy relation has
been achieved in the study of nuclear reactions amongst nucleons,
nuclei, electrons and other more recently discovered particles.
• In a reaction, the law of conservation of energy states that the initial
energy and the final energy are equal provided the energy associated
with mass is also included. (law of conservation of mass- energy)
• According to this law, the sum of the mass-energy of a system of
particles is the same, before and after an interaction.
• This concept is important in understanding nuclear masses and the
interaction of nuclei with one another.
 Special Features:

IMPORTANCE OF B.E. CURVE

❖ The constancy of the binding energy in the range 30 < A < 170 is a
consequence of the fact that the nuclear force is short-ranged.
❖ A very heavy nucleus, say A = 240, has lower binding energy per
nucleon compared to that of a nucleus with A = 120. ( When we move
from heavy nuclei region to middle region of the plot). Thus if a
 nucleus A = 240 breaks into two A = 120 nuclei, nucleons get more
tightly bound. This implies energy would be released in the process.
This process is called Nuclear fission.
❖ Consider two very light nuclei (A ≤ 10) joining to form a heavier
nucleus. The binding energy per nucleon of the fused heavier nuclei
is more than the binding energy per nucleon of the lighter nuclei.
This means that the final system is more tightly bound than the
initial system. Again energy would be released in such a process of
fusion. This is the energy source of the sun.. This process is called
Nuclear fusion.
Nuclear Forces:
• Nuclear forces are the strong forces of attraction which hold together
the nucleons that is protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom,
inspite of strong electrostatic forces of repulsion between protons.
• To bind a nucleus together there must be a strong attractive force of
a totally different kind.
• It must be strong enough to overcome the repulsion between the
(positively charged) protons and to bind both protons and neutrons
into the tiny nuclear volume.
• Many features of the nuclear binding force are summarized .These
are obtained from a variety of experiments carried out during 1930
to 1950.
IMPORTANT FEATURES OF NUCLEAR FORCES
• The nuclear force is much stronger than the Coulomb force acting
between charges or the gravitational forces between masses. The
nuclear binding force has to dominate over the Coulomb repulsive
force between protons inside the nucleus. This happens only because
the nuclear force is much stronger than the coulomb force. The
gravitational force is much weaker than even Coulomb force.
• It is a very short range attractive force.
• It is non-central. non-conservative force.
• It is independent of charge.
• It is 100 times that of electrostatic force and 1038 times that of
gravitational force.
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
• A nuclear reaction represents the transformation of one stable
nucleus into another nucleus by bombarding the former with suitable
high energy particles.
• Two notable types of nuclear reactions are nuclear fission
reactions and nuclear fusion reactions.
• The former involves the absorption of neutrons (or other relatively
light particles) by a heavy nucleus, which causes it to split into two
(or more) lighter nuclei.
• Nuclear fusion reactions are the processes in which two relatively
light nuclei combine (via a collision) to form a single, heavier nucleus.

NUCLEAR FISSION

• Nuclear fission is the phenomenon of splitting of a heavy nucleus

(usually A greater than 230) into two or more lighter nuclei.
• In this process certain mass disappears that is the sum of the masses
of final products is found to be slightly less than the sum of the
masses of the reactants.
 • This difference in mass is called mass defect m.
• Thus as per Einstein's mass energy relation:
E= m
• In 1938 , Hahn and Strassman discovered that when the nucleus of
is bombarded with thermal neutrons ( these are the low
energy neutrons or slow moving neutrons, having energy 1/40 eV and
velocity 2.2 km/s), it splits up into and with the
emission of three neutrons along with 200 MeV of energy per fission.
• The energy produced from fission reactions is converted into
electricity in nuclear power plants. This is done by using the heat
produced from the nuclear reaction to convert water into steam. The
steam is used to rotate turbines in order to generate electricity.
NUMERICALS
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