Lecture

Atomic Structure: Fundamentals

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In course

MSE-101(a): Materials:from chemistry to properties

Ce cours permet l'acquisition des notions essentielles relatives à la structure de la matière, aux équilibres et à la réactivité chimique en liaison avec les propriétés mécaniques, thermiques, électriques et magnétiques des matériaux. ...

Description

This lecture covers the basics of atomic structure, starting from the concept of indivisible particles proposed by ancient philosophers to the modern understanding of protons, neutrons, and electrons forming the nucleus. It explains the atomic hypothesis, the Bohr model, quantum mechanics, and the wave-particle duality of light. The lecture also delves into the electromagnetic nature of light, the photoelectric effect, and the emission of photons by excited hydrogen atoms.

Instructor

Véronique Michaud

Background: 1994 Habilitation à diriger des recherches ( INPG, France) 1991 PhD in Materials Engineering ( MIT, USA) 1987 Ingénieur Civil des Mines ( Ecole des Mines de Paris, France) Activities: Since January 2018: Associate Dean of Engineering, in charge of Education June 2012-Dec.2017: Head of the Materials Science and Engineering Section Since April 2017: Associate Professor at EPFL 2009-2017 : Professeur Titulaire at EPFL 1997-2009: Researcher at EPFL 1994-1997 : Chef de Travaux au laboratoire MSS-MAT, Ecole Centrale Paris (France) 1991-1994 : Post-doctoral research associate, MIT (USA) Author of about 300 publications of which 140 in peer-reviewed journals

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Atomic physics: Topics in atomic physics

Nuclear physics: Topics in nuclear physics

Related concepts (32)

Atomic number

The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol Z) of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (np) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every atom of that element. The atomic number can be used to uniquely identify ordinary chemical elements. In an ordinary uncharged atom, the atomic number is also equal to the number of electrons.

Atomic mass

The atomic mass (ma or m) is the mass of an atom. Although the SI unit of mass is the kilogram (symbol: kg), atomic mass is often expressed in the non-SI unit dalton (symbol: Da) – equivalently, unified atomic mass unit (u). 1 Da is defined as of the mass of a free carbon-12 atom at rest in its ground state. The protons and neutrons of the nucleus account for nearly all of the total mass of atoms, with the electrons and nuclear binding energy making minor contributions.

Ground state

The ground state of a quantum-mechanical system is its stationary state of lowest energy; the energy of the ground state is known as the zero-point energy of the system. An excited state is any state with energy greater than the ground state. In quantum field theory, the ground state is usually called the vacuum state or the vacuum. If more than one ground state exists, they are said to be degenerate. Many systems have degenerate ground states.

Atomic theory

Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. The concept that matter is composed of discrete particles is an ancient idea, but gained scientific credence in the 18th and 19th centuries when scientists found it could explain the behaviors of gases and how chemical elements reacted with each other. By the end of the 19th century, atomic theory had gained widespread acceptance in the scientific community. The term "atom" comes from the Greek word atomos, which means "uncuttable".

Atomic nucleus

The atomic nucleus is the small, dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom, discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford based on the 1909 Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment. After the discovery of the neutron in 1932, models for a nucleus composed of protons and neutrons were quickly developed by Dmitri Ivanenko and Werner Heisenberg. An atom is composed of a positively charged nucleus, with a cloud of negatively charged electrons surrounding it, bound together by electrostatic force.

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