<p>Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding <a data-lesson="atomic-structure-symbolism" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="atoms-molecules-ions" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/atoms-molecules-ions/atomic-structure-symbolism">atomic structure</a> and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_104468" style="width: 280px"><a href="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/a9493b40-c52b-4fca-87d2-0dcfdbd14f92"><img alt="Niels_Bohr" class="size-full wp-image-104468" height="396" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/a9493b40-c52b-4fca-87d2-0dcfdbd14f92" width="280"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Niels Bohr, physicist in 1922. Image credit: public domain</p></div>
<h2>Bohr's Model of the Atom</h2>
<p>There were, however, some problems with Rutherford's model: for example it could not explain the very interesting observation that atoms only emit light at certain wavelengths or frequencies. Niels Bohr solved this problem by proposing that the <a data-lesson="orbital-shapes-and-valence-electrons" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="chemistry-essential-ideas" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/chemistry-essential-ideas/orbital-shapes-and-valence-electrons">electrons</a> could only orbit <a data-lesson="the-nucleus-2" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="chemistry-essential-ideas" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/chemistry-essential-ideas/the-nucleus-2">the nucleus</a> in certain special orbits at different <a data-lesson="energy" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="thermochemistry" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/thermochemistry/energy">energy</a> levels around the nucleus.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 618px"><img alt="b1d7b05867833151f26940c1c3449a04.png" height="370" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/c2d77bbb-79e5-4d06-aa54-0edfa47d61e2" width="618"/><p class="wp-caption-text">Bohr's model of the atom.</p></div>
<h2>James Chadwick</h2>
<p>Rutherford predicted (in 1920) that another kind of particle must be present in the nucleus along with the proton. He predicted this because if there were only positively charged protons in the nucleus, then it should break into bits because of the repulsive <a data-lesson="physical-properties-and-intermolecular-forces" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="organic-molecules" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/organic-molecules/physical-properties-and-intermolecular-forces">forces</a> between the like-charged protons! To make sure that the atom stays electrically neutral, this particle would have to be neutral itself. In 1932 James Chadwick discovered the neutron and measured its mass.</p>
<h2>Other Models of the Atom</h2>
<p>Although the most commonly used model of the atom is the Bohr model, scientists are still developing new and improved theories on what the atom looks like. One of the most important contributions to <a data-lesson="early-ideas-atomic-theory" data-subject="chemistry" data-tutorial="atoms-molecules-ions" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/chemistry/atoms-molecules-ions/early-ideas-atomic-theory">atomic theory</a> (the field of science that looks at atoms) was the development of quantum theory. Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Born and many others have had a role in developing quantum theory.</p>
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Bohr's Model and Others

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Bohr's Model and Others

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