Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

A1-Phys-23-1-A1 > 18: Looking Inside the Atom > Flashcards

18: Looking Inside the Atom Flashcards

1
Q

Rutherford experiment disproved which model for the atom?

describe the model

A

The Thompson model or plum pudding model

atoms were a plum pudding with electrons embedded throughout a positive sphere

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

how do you investigate the structure of an atom

A

with scattering experiments

particles are accelerated to a high energy and directed at a target

there are detectors surrounding the target track to identify particles created and those scattered in coliision

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Describe Rutherford’s experiment

A

A stream of alpha particles from a radioactive source was fired at a very thin gold foil.

The angles at which the particles were scattered were recorded

some passed straight through (so most atom is empty space)

but a few of the alpha particles bounced right back from the foil being scattered at angles greater than 90 degrees

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What could Rutherford conclude after his experiment?

A

The atom is mainly empty space.

the core must be massive on an atomic scale to deflect alpha particles through large angles, but its much smaller than an atom as very few particles deflected through more than 90 degrees

alpha particles deflected due to electric repulsion between positively charged alpha particles and positive core in gold atoms.

The centre of the atom must have a large, positive charge. Rutherford named this the nucleus.

The nucleus must be tiny, but massive (mass).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

what happens to the deflection angle if the alpha particles are slowed down

how is scattering affected if the nuclei has less electric charge

relationship between scatter angle and inverse square law

what happens to the deflection angle if the alpha particles have more energy

A

if alpha particles are slowed down more would be deflected at greater angles since the nucleus would be able to turn them back more easily

nuclei of smaller electric charge scatter alpha particles less strongly

the pattern of number of alpha particles scattered at different angles fits the pattern expected from the inverse square law for electric repulsion

angle decreases and fraction deflecting through an angle decreases because the nucleus cannot deflect as easily because the deflecting force acts for less time

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What did Rutherford discover about charge at the centre of the atom? How did he know?

A

Some of the alpha particles were deflected through large angles, so the centre of the atom must have a large positive charge to repel them.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What value do you need when you are estimating the distance of closest approach of an alpha particle that has been fired at a gold nucleus?

A

The alpha particles initial kinetic energy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

kinetic energy of alpha particle at its closest approach

A

0 kinetic energy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

what is electrical potential energy equal to at a large distance from the nucleus

A

at a large distance from the nucleus, alpha particle electrical potential energy is equal to its initial kinetic energy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

equation for initial kinetic energy

charge on alpha particle

charge on gold particle

A

alpha: 2e = 2 *(1.6*10-19)
gold: 79e = 79 * (1.6*10-19)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What value do you need to find the charge of the nucleus?

A

The atom‘s proton number, Z

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is the charge on an alpha particle?

A

+2e

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What holds the nucleus together? What stops the nucleus flying apart due to the overall positive charge?

A

The strong interaction force

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What are hadrons?

A

Particles feel the strong interaction e.g. protons and neutrons

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What are hadrons made of?

A

Fundamental particles called quarks. Must be more than one quark

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Name four different hadrons

A

Protons, neutrons, sigmas, mesons

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Which particle is the only stable hadron?

A

The proton

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What will all hadrons, except for protons, do?

A

Decay into other particles

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What does the neutron decay into?

A

It is an unstable particle that decays into a proton

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

A neutron decaying into a proton is an example of what kind of decay? what is this caused by?

A

It is an example of beta minus decay which is caused by the weak interaction

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is the half life of a free neutron?

A

Half life of 15 minutes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is a free neutron?

A

A neutron that isn’t held in the nucleus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Describe leptons

A

They are fundamental particles that don’t feel that strong interaction. They interact with other particles via the week interaction and gravity (and the electromagnetic force if they’re charged)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What are the two types of lepton we need to know about and what are the symbols?

A

Electrons and neutrinos
e and ν (nu)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Describe neutrinos
They have zero, or almost 0, mass and zero electric charge – so they don’t do much. Neutrinos only take part in week interactions. They can pass right through Earth without anything happening to it
26
What is lepton number?
The number of leptons
27
What is conserved in a particle reaction?
Lepton number and baryon number Energy, charge and momentum
28
Classifying particles: if there is only one fundamental particle what can it be?
A fermion or a boson
29
Classifying particles: if the are more than one fundamental particle what is the particle?
Composite
30
Classifying particles: what two types of fermion can you have?
Leptons and quarks
31
Classifying particles: What is a composite particle composed of quarks called?
Hadron
32
Classifying particles: what two types of hadrons are there? What is the difference between the two?
If there are two quarks it is a meson If there are three quarks it is a baryon
33
What are the six different quarks?
Up and down Charm and strange Top and bottom
34
What are the six types of leptons?
Electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino Electron, muon, tau
35
What are the four types of bosons?
Week force, strong force, photon, gluon
36
What is a positron?
Positrons have identical mass to electrons but they carry a positive charge An anti-electron
37
Does every particle have an anti-particle? Describe the mass and charge of the antiparticle?
Yes (but not bosons). Same mass, but with opposite charge
38
What has a baryon number of +1?
Matter baryons
39
What has a baryon number of -1?
Anti-matter baryons
40
What has a baryon number of zero?
Anything that isn’t a baryon
41
What has a lepton number of +1?
Matter leptons
42
What has a lepton number of -1?
Antimatter leptons
43
What has a lepton number of zero?
Anything that isn’t a Lepton
44
What is the relative charge of a proton, neutron, electron, neutrino?
Proton +1 Neutron 0 Electron -1 Neutrino 0
45
What is the relative charge of the antiproton, antineutron, positron, antineutrino?
Antiproton -1 Anti-neutron 0 Positron +1 Antineutrino 0
46
What can you assume about neutrinos in particle collisions?
That they have zero mass and zero charge
47
From energy you can create matter and what?
Antimatter
48
What happens when energy is converted into mass?
You get equal amounts of matter and antimatter
49
What is pair production?
When you fire two protons at each other at high-speed and you’ll end up with a lot of energy at the point of impact. This energy might be converted into more particles. If an extra proton is formed then there will always be in antiproton to go with it. It’s called pair production
50
What is each particle antiparticle pair produced from?
A single photon
51
When/where does pair production happen?
If one gamma ray photon has enough energy to produce that much mass. It also tends to happen in a nucleus, which helps conserve momentum
52
What is the most common pair to be produced in a proton collision? Why?
Electron positron pairs because they have a relatively low rest mass
53
How can you calculate the minimum energy, and therefore the minimum frequency and maximum wavelength, a photon must have a pair production to occur?
Use E equals MC squared
54
What is the opposite of pair production?
Annihilation
55
When does annihilation occur?
When a particle meets it antiparticle
56
Describe annihilation
All the mass of the particles and antiparticles gets converted to energy, in the form of a pair of identical photons
57
Why do we not see many antiparticles?
Generally they can only exist for a fraction of a second before they annihilate
58
How can you work out the minimum energy of each photon produced in annihilation? What assumption do you have to make?
The combined energy of the photons will be equal to the combined energy of the particles, so 2 E = 2MC² Assume that the particles have negligible kinetic energy
59
What can you use to observe the pair production and annihilation?
A cloud chamber
60
What is a cloud chamber?
A large box filled with alcohol, or water, vapour
61
Explain how you can use a cloud chamber to observe pair production and annihilation
When a high energy particles passed through the cloud chamber, they ionised alcohol particles along their path The vapour in the cloud chamber condenses around these ions, forming a trail of alcohol droplets (a ‘cloud’) along the path of the charged particle
62
Most cloud chambers include a magnetic field at right angles to the direction of particle motion. Why?
A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force, so the path of charged particles, like electrons and positrons, will bend as they pass through the chamber. Positively and negatively charged particles are deflected in opposite directions.
63
What happens to a particle speed as it travels through the cloud chamber? What does this mean about the shape of their trail?
They slow down, as ionising alcohol particles uses energy. This means the paths of charged particles when the magnetic field is present are spirals, rather than circles
64
Which photons don’t produce trails? Why?
Gamma ray photons are only weekly ionising – they pass through the alcohol of the cloud chamber without interacting with it very much
65
Describe and explain what happens when antiproton enters a cloud chamber
The antiproton and proton collide. Hadrons are created and shoot off from the point of collision There are an equal number of clockwise and anticlockwise hadron tracks because charge is conserved
66
What are the antiparticles of hadrons made up from?
Anti quarks
67
Which quarks are protons and neutrons made up from?
Up (u) and down (d)
68
What is the relative charge of an up and a down quark?
Up +2/3 Down -1/3
69
What is the relative charge of an anti-up and an anti-down quark?
Anti-up -2/3 Anti-down +1/3
70
Where did evidence for quarks come from?
Came from hitting protons with high energy electrons. The way the electrons scattered showed that there were three concentrations of charge (quarks) inside the proton
71
What 3 quarks are a proton made up of? An anti-proton?
Proton: up, up, down Anti-proton: anti-up, anti-up and an anti-down
72
What 3 quarks are neutrons made from? Antineutrons?
Neutrons: up, down, down Anti: anti-up, anti-down and an anti-down
73
If you blasted a proton with enough energy, could you separate out the quarks? Why?
No. The energy just gets changed into more quarks and anti-quarks. It’s pair production and it makes mesons
74
What is quark confinement?
The fact that you can never get free quarks. Adding energy to try and split the quarks in a proton up, just makes a new quark, anti-quark pair. Eg. A new meson
75
Gluons provide force between…
Quarks
76
What are gauge bosons?
Exchange particles. Virtual particles which are used to let one particle ‘know’ that another one is there
77
What are the four fundamental forces?
Strong, electromagnetic, weak, gravity
78
What are the gauge bosons for each force?
Strong: gluon Electromagnetic: photon Weak: W-, W+, Z0 Gravity: Graviton?? No evidence yet for it
79
Which particles are effected by each force?
Strong: hadrons only Electromagnetic: charged particles only Weak: all types Gravity: all types
80
Because gluons cause a force, you can think of them as [] as well as particles
Fields
81
What happens as you try and separate quarks? In terms of gluons. What happens if you keep pulling?
You increase the energy of the gluon field, increasing the attraction between them If you keep pulling, eventually the energy in the gluon field will be enough that it produces a quark-antiquark pair
82
Particle accelerators cause…
High energy collisions
83
What is a linear accelerator?
A particle accelerator that is a long straight tube containing a series of electrodes
84
Describe how a linear accelerator works
Alternating current is applied to the electrodes so that their charge continuously changes between positive and negative The ac-current is timed so that the charged particles are always attracted to the next electrode in the accelerator and repelled from the previous one A particle’s speed will increase each time it passes and electrode – so if the accelerator is long enough particles can be made to approach the speed of light The high energy particles leaving a linear accelerator collide with a fixed target at the end of the tube
85
What is a cyclotron?
It is a circular particle accelerator
86
How do cyclotrons work?
A cyclotron uses 2 semicircular electrodes to accelerate protons or other charged particles across the gap An alternating potential difference is applied between the electrodes – as the particles are accelerated from one side to the other their energy increases, i.e. they are accelerated. A magnetic field is used to keep the particles moving in a circular motion The combination of the electric and magnetic fields makes the particles spiral outwards as the energy increases
87
What is the advantage of a synchrotron compared with a cyclotron or a linear accelerator ?
A synchrotron can produce particle collisions with much higher energies than either a linear accelerator or cyclotron
88
What keeps the particles moving in a circular path in focused beams in a synchrotron?
Electromagnets
89
How can synchrotrons produce particles with energy is reaching from 500 GeV to several TeV?
Are using electromagnets
90
Explain how a synchrotron works
The beam travels around a very large circle. The beam is accelerated by electrodes. detectors are placed around the circle Magnets are used to focus and deflect the beam Two beams can be accelerated in opposite directions for collision beam experiments
91
Which equation you can use to find a force experience by a particle, due to the magnetic field, in a synchrotron or a cyclotron?
F=qvB
92
What is the disadvantage of a synchrotron?
They are really expensive to build and run, so they need to be funded internationally
93
What are inertial frames?
Reference frames that aren’t accelerating. Einstein’s theory of special relativity only works in inertial frames
94
No particle that has mass can...
Move at the speed greater than or equal to the speed of light, c
95
Which two assumptions does Einstein’s theory of special relativity rely on?
Physical laws have the same form in all inertial frames The speed of light in free space is invariant
96
What happens when you increase the kinetic energy of a mass, like a particle in an accelerator?
The object becomes more massive
97
What do particle accelerators have to do to compensate for the relativistic mass of the accelerating particles?
They have to alter their magnetic and electric fields
98
Electrons in atoms have [] energy levels
Discrete
99
Describe an electron on an energy level
Electrons in an atom can only exist in certain well-defined energy levels. Each level is given a number, called the principal quantum number of the electron in that state, with n=1 representing the electron’s lowest possible energy – its ground state
100
Why are all the electron energies negative when talking about energy levels?
This is because of the way the zero energy is defined – it is the energy of an electron when it is not bound by an atom. All electrons that are bound to the atom have negative energies. The higher the energy level, i.e. the larger the value of n, the more energy in the electron has and the less negative the energy
101
Relating to energy, when is an electron ionised?
An electron is “free“ and no longer bound to the atom when it has an energy of zero or more – the atom becomes ionised
102
How can an electron moves down an energy level?
By emitting a photon
103
When an electron moves down and energy level, what is the consequence of there being definite energy levels?
The energy of each photon emitted can only take certain values
104
What is the energy carried by each emitted photon equal to?
The difference in energy is between the two levels that the electron has moved between
105
What happens when an atom absorbs a photon?
An electron moves up to another energy level
106
What two things are produced as a result of quantisation of electron energies?
Line emission and absorption spectra
107
Why do you electrons, protons and neutrons obey the Pauli exclusion principle?
They are fermions
108
What is the Pauli exclusion principle? What does this mean for electrons in energy levels?
This states that no to a fermions can be in exactly the same quantum state at the same time. In the context of energy levels, that means no more than two electrons can be in the same energy level at the same time.
109
The spectrum for white light is []
Continuous
110
When do you get a line absorption spectrum?
When light with a continuous spectrum passes through a cool gas
111
Which states will be electrons in a cool gas being?
At low temperatures, most of the electrons in the gas atoms will be in their ground states
112
Which wavelengths are missing from the continuous spectrum when the light comes out the other side of the gas?
Photons of the correct wavelength are absorbed by the atoms to excite the electrons to high energy levels. These wavelength and missing
113
What shows that a wavelength has been absorbed in a spectrum?
Dark lines
114
What do emission spectra show?
The wavelength of the photons emitted when an electron falls into a lower energy level
115
What does an emission spectrum look like?
They are made up of a series of bright lines corresponding to the wavelength of the photons emitted
116
If you compare the absorption and emission spectra of a particular gas, what will you see?
The dark lines in the absorption spectrum match up to the bright lines in the emission spectrum
117
What are line spectra evidence for?
Energy levels
118
What are fluorescent tubes evidence for?
Energy levels
119
When thinking about electrons around a nucleus, what is the consequence of thinking of electrons as both a particle and a wave?
When they orbiting around a nucleus, they ought to behave like standing waves
120
What should the wavelength of the electron waves do? When talking about energy levels
It should fit the circumference of the orbit a whole number of times
121
What is equal to the number of complete waves that fit in the circumference at a certain energy level?
The principal quantum number
122
Why can you think of electrons being standing waves between two fixed walls?
Because you can think of the electrons as being trapped by a potential well made by the nucleus
123
When will an electron be able to escape the potential well of the nucleus?
When it has a total energy of zero or more
124
How did Rutherford know that the nucleus was massive compared to electrons?
Most of the mass must be in the nucleus, since the fast alpha particles (with high momentum) are deflected by the nucleus
125
What did Rutherford find out about the size of the nucleus? How did he know?
Very few particles are deflected by angles greater than 90°, So the nucleus must be tiny.
126
How do you fluorescent tubes work? Quick step-by-step
Free electrons produced They change energy levels, which results in the emission of UV photons Phosphorous coating absorbs these, more electrons change energy levels, causing the emission of visible light photons
127
What do fluorescent tubes do? (one sentence)
They use excited electrons to produce light.
128
How do you fluorescent tubes work? (1): First, more free electrons must be produced, how is this done?
A high voltage is applied across mercury vapour, which accelerates free electrons that ionise some of the mercury atoms, producing even more free electrons
129
How do you fluorescent tubes work? (2): What happens with the newly produced free electrons?
When the free electrons collide with electrons in other mercury atoms, the electrons in the mercury atoms are excited to high energy levels. When they return to their ground states, they emit UV photons
130
How do you fluorescent tubes work? (3): What happens to the UV photons, how does this lead to the emission of visible light?
A phosphorus coating inside the tube absorbs these photons, in turn exciting its electrons to much higher orbits. These electrons then cascaded down the energy levels, emitting photons in the form of visible light
131
Where is the first minimum in electron scattering?
sinθ = 1.22λ/d where λ is the de Broglie wavelength and d = diameter of the nucleus
132
Electron scattering: On the graph of number of electrons scattered, against angle, how do you find the angle of the first minimum?
The first dip in the curve is the angle of the first minimum. You can use that angle for sinθ = 1.22λ/d

A1-Phys-23-1-A1 (60 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions