Bohr's Model of the Hydrogen atom - The WikiPremed MCAT Course

Our MCAT course is now beginning its transition from the fundamentals of classical physics, including electrostatics, to the beginnings of chemistry in Atomic Theory. As we make this transition from basic physics to chemistry, reflect carefully on preserving the insights that the classical model gives you while keeping in mind that the systems under discussion are quantum electrodynamical. How is the Bohr energy description of the atom similar to the classical description of the potential energy between oppositely charged particles?

Both models present a picture in which oppositely charged particles have a potential energy of zero at infinite separation, with negative values reflecting decreasing potential energy as the electron and nucleus come nearer together.

How is the Bohr model different than the classical model? If the nucleus and electron of a hydrogen atom comprised a 'classical' rather than a quantized electrodynamic system, the potential energy function of an electron would be a continuous, and the emission spectrum, which derives from internal energy changes, would be continuous like a rainbow. On the contrary, however, the observed emission spectrum is a line spectrum corresponding to quantized energy levels for the electron within the atom.

The WikiPremed MCAT Course is a free comprehensive course in the undergraduate level general sciences. Undergraduate level physics, chemistry, organic chemistry and biology are presented by this course as a unified whole within a spiraling curriculum.

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