Problems with the Bohr Model

When Bohr tested the equations he had developed for hydrogen with other atoms but they did not
work for the other atoms that had more than one electron.

Bohr suggested that the electrons were in precise orbits, but Heisenberg pointed out a problem with
this idea about the electrons. When you bounce light off an electron you change the electron which
means that you can never know precisely where an electron is located.

This idea is now known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

Another scientist named de Broglie suggested that electrons act like waves, similar to light.

As a result of Heisenberg and de Broglies findings it was apparent that changes needed to be made to
the nuclear model of the atom.

Erwin Schrodinger developed a new theory to explain the behaviour of electrons.

He used Bohrs idea of energy levels, but instead of using circular obits as Bohr had done, he said that
the electrons could be found in regions he called orbitals.

These are similar to Bohrs orbits because, like in Bohrs theory, they are where you would find the
electrons. However, they are different because the word orbit implies a precise, circular path and
Schrodinger showed that this was not true.

You cannot tell exactly where an electron is in an orbital, just the region where it is probably located.

Real World Model for Schrodingers Electrons

In order to imagine the nature of orbitals consider a bird feeder in the middle of a back yard that is
visited by one bird. Suppose a bird watcher tracks the position of the bird every five minutes on his map
of the back yard. Could this information be used to predict exactly where the bird will be at any given
time?
The Hydrogen Atom According to Schrodinger
For the hydrogen atom, a plot of the lowest energy orbital looks like a cloud. It is thick in the middle and
wispy at the edges. This orbital is in level 1. It is called the 1s orbital.

It looks like a spherical cloud. If hydrogens electron absorbs energy it can move to level 2. In level 2
there are four orbitals where the electron can be found.

The 2s orbital is like the 1s orbital and is spherical but is larger than the 1s orbital.

Level 2 also has orbitals that resemble dumbbells. These are called the 2px, 2py, and 2pz orbitals.

In level 3 there are 9 orbitals: In level 4 there are 16 orbitals:

3s, 3px, 3py, 3pz, 3dxy, 3dyz, 3dzx, 32 & 3 2 a 4s, three 4p, five 4d and seven 4f (f orbitals
shown below)

And the levels go on and on.

In summary, Bohrs idea of energy levels was fundamentally correct, but his ideas about the nature and
behaviour of electrons needed improving.