Niels Bohr Atomic Model
Niels Bohr Atomic Model: His full name was Niels Heinrich David Bohr. he was born on October 7, 1885, in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. His father’s name was Christian and was a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen.
Niels Bohr’s education
He became interested in physics, and studied at the University of Copenhagen, from where he earned a master’s degree in physics in 1911. He later traveled to England, where he studied at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge.
The main inspiration for studying there was the English-born chemist Joseph John Thomson, who received the Nobel Prize in 1906 for his discovery of the electron. Bohr intended to translate his doctoral thesis into English, which was closely related to the study of electrons. However, Thomson showed no real interest in Bohr, which is why the latter decided to leave, set his own course at the University of Manchester.
nordic institute of theoretical physics
In 1916 Bohr traveled to Copenhagen and began giving classes in theoretical physics at the University of Copenhagen, where he studied, in his hometown.
Bohr had received enough funding to create 1920 the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics. The Danish physicist headed the institute from 1921 to 1962, the year he died. Later, the institute change its name and was named the Niels Bohr Institute in honor of its founder. Very soon, the institute became a reference for the most important discoveries that were being made at the time concerning the atom and its movement.
school of Copenhagen
The 1920s were very important for Niels Bohr, as it was during those years that he issued two of the core principles of his theories: the principle of correspondence, issued in 1923, and the principle of complementarity, added in 1928.
During the 1930s Bohr settled in the United States and focused on publicizing the field of nuclear fission. It was in this context that Bohr determined the fissile characteristic of plutonium.
Niels Bohr was in Copenhagen in 1940 and, as a result of World War II, was forced to flee to Sweden with his family three years later, as Bohr had Jewish origins.
The Contributions and Discoveries of Niels Bohr
Model and structure of the atom
Niels Bohr’s atomic model is considered one of his greatest contributions to the world of physics and to science in general. He was the first to show the atom as a positively charged nucleus and to have orbiting electrons.
Bohr managed to discover the mechanism of the inner workings of an atom: electrons are able to freely orbit around the nucleus. The number of electrons present in the outermost orbit of the nucleus determines the properties of the physical element.
To obtain this atomic model, Bohr applied Max Planck’s quantum theory to the atomic model developed by Rutherford, resulting in the model that earned him the Nobel Prize. Bohr presented the atomic structure as a small solar system.
Quantum concepts at the atomic level
Bohr’s atomic model, consider revolutionary, was the method used to achieve this: the principles of quantum physics and their relationship to atomic phenomena. With these applications, Bohr was able to determine the movements of electrons around the atomic nucleus, as well as the changes in their properties. In the same way, through these concepts, he was able to derive the notion of how matter is able to absorb and emit light from its most imperceptible internal structures.
