Learning Objective: To learn about the nature of the electron, an atom's reactive component. The article also helps to understand why the elctrons behave differently as a sub-atomic particle with its dual wave-particle behaviour, ushering in a new field of quantum mechanics.
Skill Level – Intermediate
Prerequisites:
Rutherford's atomic model
Neil Bohr's model of an atom
Related –
Millikan Oil-Drop Experiment
Theories supporting wave-particle duality of electrons (de Broglie Hypothesis, Schrödinger's Wave Mechanics, Born's Probabilistic Interpretation, and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle)
Experiments discovering electrons (Cathode Ray, and Goldstein's Canal Ray)
Experiments supporting the particle nature of the electron (Photoelectric effect, and Compton Scattering)
Experiments supporting the wave nature of electrons (Davisson-Germer, and Double-Slit Experiment with Electrons)
Chapter: Atom
Author's Note: So far, we have only covered a few basics on the nuclear components of an atom. From this section onwards, we will explore electrons from an organic chemistry perspective. In this section, we learn why the rules of the macroscopic world fail at the subatomic level. We finally head towards the location of the electrons around the nucleus, in spaces called orbitals. The orbitals are regions around an atom where an electron is most likely to be found.
The Electron - An atom's reactive component
Many laws of the macroscopic world fail at the sub-atomic level. For example, the concept of electrons spinning around the nucleus like particles was reworked when DeBroglie, in 1924, showed that electrons also exhibit wave-like behaviour. With this, the concept of an electron spinning around the nucleus in a fixed orbit and radius was overruled.
The electron, with its wave-particle duality, had a peculiar motion. It was found in different locations around the nucleus, as if popping in and out, and tunnelling through them, but without existing in between them. Therefore, the path the electron takes or will take could not be predicted.
The effort to measure the electron’s exact speed and location accurately also failed. There was uncertainty in many aspects since finding one parameter would always disturb the other, leading Heisenberg to propose a theory known as the uncertainty principle.
According to the uncertainty principle, the electron position at any given instant, or its path cannot be determined simultaneously.
Mathematically Heisenberg expressed it as-
∆x. ∆p ≥h/4π
where, ∆ refers to the uncertainty in position (x) and momentum (p) of the electron, and h is Planck's constant.
One way to understand why such an error occurs is to know how we see.....
In the hope of detecting an electron.....
Or else, the electron moves so fast.....
The related works in understanding electrons’....
The solution to the equations matched.....
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