What Is The Principal Quantum Number?

848 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History and origin of atomic structure

Description

Quantum numbers were developed to characterize electrons – its electron configuration, movement and position in an atom. Each electron has a unique set of quantum numbers. Of the four quantum numbers, our focus in this lesson is the principal quantum number.

!!!What is the Principal Quantum Number?

Let us imagine an apartment building with multiple floors – the more floors there are, the more people can reside in the building, and each person’s address is different, based on the room and floor they occupy.

Just like each person or family occupies different floors in the apartment building, for electrons, they occupy different principal electron shells. How do we know which principal electron shell these electrons occupy? The …show more content…

If you occupy a higher floor, and if there is no elevator, you need to spend more energy going to where you need to be. In the same way, as __’’n’’__ increases, this means that the energy of the electron also increases.

!!!Visualizing the Principal Quantum Number

When there are more floors in an apartment building, that means more people can occupy the building and spread out more on the floors. If there are not as many floors, the people occupying the building are more concentrated in a smaller space. The same can be said about the principal quantum number and electron density.

The principal quantum number tells us not only the energy of an electron, but also gives us an idea about the electron density around the nucleus of an atom. In the illustration below, it shows on the left, ‘’when the principal quantum number is smaller, that the electron density is more concentrated closer to the atom, which means the electron cloud is smaller. On the right, the electron density is more spread out when the principal quantum number is larger, and the electron cloud is larger’’. Principal Quantum Number and Electron …show more content…

This means that ‘’the energy needed to remove an electron, the __ionization energy__, is smaller due to the lower attraction between the nucleus and the electron’’

The space in between each floor of an apartment building is a space that people cannot occupy. Electrons also have a space that they cannot occupy, called a ‘’node’’. A __node__ is an area where there is zero probability of finding an electron. The principal quantum number also tells us about the number of ‘’nodes’’ in an

Show More
Related

  • Essay On Alice In Quantumland

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alice finds herself in a place named Quantumland. In Quantumland, each attraction demonstrates something different used in science. To be able to understand Quantum Land, Alice is told she must first has to travel to the Heisenberg Bank. She began asking questions, when a guard tells Alice she can’t skip in line. She quickly becomes confused because she is not standing in a line. She then saw electrons begin to morph together and others vanish. The Bank Manager begins to explain to Alice that the bank is in charge of distribution of energy loans to all virtual particles. In order for a particle to exist it must have a certain minimum energy, called its rest mass energy (Gilmore 14). The electrons are about to get loans of energy from the Heisenberg Bank which allows them to exist for

    Read More

  • Energy Story, Conducting Solutions, By Rodney Schreiner

    410 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "Energy Story" uses an explanation of atoms and tells us the parts of an atom and its structure. In the text it

    Read More

  • Spintronics Essay

    1283 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the past century, investigations of quantum and particle physics phenomena have proven to show the most significant concepts and ideas in the physical and sub-atomic world. However, the discoveries yet to be made are endless. One of the most fascinating concepts in the sub-atomic universe is the idea of spintronics. Spintronics is the quantum study of the independent angular momentum (not to be confused with the orbital angular momentum of the electron) of a particle, typically that of an electron (Introduction). An electron is a fundamental particle, with a negative charge, and is independently studied in the process of spintronic devices. The spin angular momentum of electrons is ±½ћ. Devices that use the properties

    Read More

  • Alan Cromer’s Connected Knowledge

    1426 Words  | 3 Pages

    The amazing transformation the study of physics underwent in the two decades following the turn of the 20th century is a well-known story. Physicists, on the verge of declaring the physical world “understood”, discovered that existing theories failed to describe the behavior of the atom. In a very short time, a more fundamental theory of the ...

    Read More

  • An Adventure of the Quantum Universe in Alice in Quantumland by Robert Gilmore

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...hes. In Alice and Quantumland, the principles or concepts of quantum mechanics are compared with the macro world; one can find great similarities and even greater dissimilarities between the world wherein electrons rule, and the world wherein human beings live. The author, Robert Gilmore, creates an allegory based off the principles of quantum mechanics using the original story of Alice in Wonderland. Through Alice’s adventure in Quantumland she comes across some ideas or features that contradict real world ideas. These ideas are the following: Electrons have no distinguishing spin, the Pauli Exclusion Principle, Superposition, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and . All of these features are comprised essentially of the same universal concept--that the quantum world does not require definity whereas the macro world uses it as a pillar of society and civilization.

    Read More

  • Niels Bohrs Model Of The Hydrogen Atom

    361 Words  | 1 Pages

    Niels Bohr's model of the hydrogen atom, was the primary reason for the understanding of energy levels.Bohr was able to explain the bright line spectrum of hydrogen. Sparked by the recent discovery of the diffraction patterns, scientists believed electrons could be described as waves. Bohr hypothesized that energy is being added to the hydrogen gas in the electricity form, and then leaving the gas in the form of light. He figured the light rays to be quantized, meaning only certain frequencies of the light rays can be seen. In turn, he reasoned that the hydrogen atoms themselves were quantized and, that they only can exist in certain energy levels. When the atoms absorb specific amounts of energy, they exist for a small period of time in higher energy levels. But as soon as these atoms lose their energy, they move back down to the lower levels of energy. His theory went on to state how the hydrogen atom can move up and down the energy levels, one level at a time, and can never stop in between. Every hydrogen atom is made up of a single electron - proton system. Because the negative electron is attracted to the positive proton, potential energy is created inside the atom.He figured that the farther away the electron is from the proton, the greater the potential energy is inside. In conclusion, since hydrogen atoms emit light energy in specific frequencies, the hydrogen atom must be within a specific energy level and nothing else. The different wavelengths help to determine the different colors emitted from the atom. The greater the wavelength, the faster the atom can be filled and jump to a higher level.Bohr developed his theory after studying the work of Einstein's ideas on the photons of energy.

    Read More

  • What Is Quantum Mechanics Essay

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1907, Einstein used Planck’s hypothesis of quantization to explain why the temperature of a solid changed by different amounts if you put the same amount of heat into the material. Since the early 1800’s, the science of spectroscopy had shown that different elements emit and absorb specific colors of light called “spectral lines.” In 1888, Johannes Rydberg derived an equation that described the spectral lines emitted by hydrogen, though nobody could explain why the equation worked. This changed in 1913 when Danish physicist Niel Bohr applied Planck’s hypothesis of quantization to Ernest Rutherford’s 1911 “planetary” model of the atom, which affirmed that electrons orbited the nucleus the same way that planets orbit the sun. Bohr offered an explanation for why electrical attraction does not make the electrons spiral into the nucleus. He said that electrons in atoms can change their energy only by absorbing or emitting quanta. When an electron absorbs a quantum it moves quickly to orbit farther from nucleus. When an electron emits a quantum the electron jumps to a closer

    Read More

  • Physics of White Dwarfs

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Pauli exclusion principle is defined by Dr. Steven S. Zumdahl, "In a given atom no two electrons can have the same set of four quantum numbers." Due to this principle, only two electrons can inhabit a single energy level. The electrons that share the same energy level have opposite intrinsic angular momentums which is more commonly known as "spin". To determine the direction of the spin the angular momentum vector is analyzed.

    Read More

  • Properties and Organization of Elements in the Periodic Table, a chapter summary

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    In chapter seven we learned about the electron structure of an atom. We learned about the Bohr model, electromagnetic energy, and many other related topics. In this essay I will explain in further detail what light really is and how we describe it. I will describe the behavior of electrons in both a hydrogen atom and all atoms. I will explain the arrangement of the elements in the periodic table, state which electrons are chemically important in atoms, and lastly I will describe the properties of atoms and their relation to their electron arrangements. The information provided will be my interpretation of the chapter, and my outlook on what this chapter was about.

    Read More

  • Rate of Reaction Between Marble Chips and Hydrochloric Acid

    1914 Words  | 4 Pages

    The activation energy is reduced so that there is a better chance of particles having enough energy to react. Reactants will need less. energy to react to. 2. What is the difference between a..

    Read More

  • Factors Which Affect the Resistance of a Wire

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    of the atoms, so if there are more or larger atoms then there must be

    Read More

  • Essay On The Discovery Of The Electron

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    about the nucleus of its parent atom and (2) its rotation about its own axis.

    Read More

  • What I have Learned in Chemistry, Grade 10

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    To start off, learning the Bohr-Rutherford diagrams in grade nine was a very big confusion for me. I had never fully understood how many shells should go around the nucleus nor did I know how to do the many calculations. As I progressed into grade ten, the teachings became easier. The review shows an example such as in the the bohr diagram, a nucleus is in the center, which is a little circle, and following that there are shells surrounding it containing electrons. Each ring can only hold a certain amount of electrons, and so the first shell around the nucleus can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, the next shell is able to hold a maximum of 8 electro...

    Read More

  • Quantum Computer Essay

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion the only way the everyday consumer could technically have a quantum computer is by owning 14,000 grams of gold. In reality, the commercial quantum computer will be a coming in a lifetime. Currently, the quantum computer can only calculate elementary math and nothing more. We could use the qubit to build softwares that could theoretically process

    Read More

  • What is Quantum Mechanics?

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    So now it is time for the all import question that everyone wants to know. What is it? Quantum mechanics is not the study of tiny things like cells or microbes. It is the study of even tinier things called particles. The main reason why we have quantum mechanics is because it replaces classical physics for describing events and actions that occur with particles and other objects that are on a very small scale (Tavolacci). We use the quantum theory because Newton’s laws can not accurately explain what happens to objects on a smaller scale and so quantum physics has helped scientists understand a little more about the particles that make up the world (Tavolacci). The quantum theory states that all matter, energy, and radiation are made up of small bundles called quan (or in plural form quanta) hence the name “quantum” mechanics (Tavolacci). The theory also states that electrons move in a defined wave instead of just flying around the nucleus of an atom because if they floated around aimlessly, then the electrons would collide with the nucleus in a fraction of a second and all matter that we know would cease to exist (McCoy). The electrons stay in certain waves based on their energy level. It is much easier to think of this whole process of acting like a solar system. All of the electrons move around...

    Read More

More about What Is The Principal Quantum Number?

Open Document