This week we continued to explore the structure of atoms by focusing on the electron. Understanding the locations and energies of electrons will help us to understand how atoms, molecules, and compounds behave.
We learned about the Bohr model, which is used to understand the basics of the energy of a single electron atom or ion. While it helps us understand the basics, this model does not accurately predict the energy of electrons in multi-electron atoms. To understand that, we will need to delve deeper.
We also saw that electrons (and other forms of matter) can behave with properties of both particles and waves. This can be disconcerting because when we observe objects in the world around us, they seem to only behave as particles. The quantum mechanical world is an odd, but deeply powerful, lens through which to view chemical and physical phenomena...and it is accurate! Don't be discouraged, though, if you don't fully understand how it all works or all of the ramifications of it.
Finally, we saw that we can represent the probability of finding an electron using atomic orbitals. The different shapes and sizes indicate differences in energy for the electrons that occupy them. We will build on atomic orbitals later when we look at chemical bonding (chapter 9 of the eBook).