What is the main difference between Bohr's model of an atom and the atomic theory that is currently accepted?

Answer 1

The Bohr Model of the structure of an atom states that the centrifugal force that tends to throw the electron outwards is counterbalanced by the electrostatic attraction between the electrons and the protons in the nucleus, therefore inhibiting the natural tendancy to spiral inward. He showed the the emission spectroptomy of an atom with a model known as the emission spectrum, using lines to represent suborbitals.

The Emission Spectrum works well with Hydrogen because it only has one valence electron, however with any other element, it fails miserably.

There are three main problems with the Bohr Model:

1. Wave-Partical Duality; The Bohr Model assumes that electron behave as particles, but in reality, they exhibit both particle AND wave-like properties.

2.Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal: The more you focus on finding position of an electron, the less accurate your definition of its velocity is, and vice versa.

3.Inter-electronic Repulsion; The Bohr model does not take into account the repulsion between electrons in multi-electron atoms. We know that if two electrons are within the same orbital, due to their natural negative charge, they will have a tendancy to repulse eachother.

Schrodinger took these flaws into account and then built a new theory stating the we dont know exactly where an electron is located, nor do we know whether it travels in a circular path, but we CAN estimate the region of space around the nucleus where there is a probability of finding an electron, an orbital.

Answer 2

Bohr assumed that electrons moved in fixed orbits.

Answer 3

a big difference