Introduction

• The inherent instability of the Rutherford atom
• Bohr’s quantization of the atom
• Quantum numbers and quantum jumps
• An explanation of the periodic table

We will revisit the atom, and learn how the decisive blow in the battle between Thomson’s plum pudding model and Rutherford’s nuclear model was dealt by a student of them both.

We will learn about yet another success of quantum ideas, this time to explain the inner (and outer) workings of the atom. We’ll discover the great applicability of Niels Bohr’s atomic model, and see how it explains atomic spectra, the photoelectric effect, the periodic table, and the formation of molecules.

Finally, we’ll stumble upon a nifty way of explaining why the atom is quantized in the first place, only to learn that it cannot possibly be true.