Bohr Theory example essay topic

The renowned physicist and Nobel Prize recipient Niels Henrik David Bohr, is known primarily for his pioneering work in the field of atomic theory. Bohr was born on October 7, 1885 in Copenhagen, Denmark and grew up in an intellectual atmosphere, being that his father was an eminent physiologist. During his childhood, Bohr demonstrated a fondness for understanding how things worked, and often repaired any instrument he could find. He excelled in his studies and was accepted at the University of Copenhagen and embarked on an impressive academic career in physics.

While at the University, Bohr developed a thesis concerning the determination of surface tension through vibrations of water jets, awarding him a gold medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Science in 1907. After graduating that same year, he completed his dissertation on the electron theory of metals in 1911, and received his doctorate. Bohr went briefly to Cambridge and then to Manchester, England, where he worked under Ernest Rutherford. Building onto Rutherford's work, Bohr developed a new theory of the atom, which he completed in 1913.

The work proposed that electrons travel only in certain orbits and that any atom could exist only in a discrete set of stable states. Basically, the Bohr Theory consists of six parts: The electron travels in a circular path, called an orbit, around the nucleus; In normal conditions, the electron resides in the orbit which is closest to the nucleus and is the position of lowest energy content for the electron (referred to as Ground State); As long as the electron remains in a specific orbit, no energy is gained or lost by the system; If energy is added to the electron, the electron will move to a new orbit farther from the nucleus, and is a position of higher energy content (known as the Excited State); When an electron moves from one orbit to another orbit, the electron is only allowed to exist at very specific distances from the nucleus, or positions of very specific energy content (identified as a Quantum Jump); When as electron is in an excited state, it will always drop down to a lower energy state, and this state will be accompanied by the simultaneous release of energy called electromagnetic radiation. On the opposing hand, two problems are immediately identified. For one, the theory only works for a one-electron system. Secondly, the theory violates the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in that Bohr's theory makes the behavior of the electron entirely too predictable.

Bohr claims it is possible to know exactly where an electron is and what it is doing, while the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that it is not possible. Although Bohr's theory was viewed with skepticism, it earned him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1922 and was eventually expanded by other physicists into quantum mechanics. In the following decades he continued to work on the implications of his theory, notably putting an earlier knowledge of surface tension to use in his "droplet model" of the nucleus, which treats the nucleus as if it were a water droplet held together by its surface tension. Another significant contribution to the scientific world made by Bohr was the development of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at Copenhagen University in 1921, which quickly became a haven for great scientific minds and a center for atomic research. In addition, Bohr became president of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1939, and began to develop a theory of nuclear fission. In 1943 the Germans planned to arrest him and make him work in Germany on an atomic project, but Bohr fled with his family and spent the war years in the United States, where he participated in the British-American atomic bomb project at Los Alamos.

After the war Bohr returned to Denmark and periodically expressed his strong feelings regarding the duties imposed upon humanity by its possession of atomic energy. This granted Bohr the United States Atoms for Peace Award in 1957. He died in his Denmark home on November 18, 1962.