[Physics] Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom – Energy Levels of the Hydrogen Atom

atomsquantizationquantum mechanics

Why the allowed (stationary) orbits correspond to those for which the orbital angular momentum of the electron is an integer multiple of $\hbar=\frac {h}{2\pi}$?
$$L=n\hbar$$
Bohr Quantization rule of the angular momentum
that leads to energy levels of the Hydrogen atom:
$$E_n=-\frac {Z^2}{1+\frac {m_e}{M_p}} \frac {\Re}{n^2}$$

the question is Why quantum numbers are natural numbers? $$E=nh\nu$$
$$n=0,1,2,3….$$

Best Answer

The Bohr model wasn't the right theory of all of atomic physics but it described the levels of the Hydrogen atom correctly, due to a mathematical coincidence related to this solvable mathematical problem in the full quantum mechanics.

The integrality conditions of the Bohr model were ad hoc – chosen so that the energy levels as seen in the Hydrogen absorption/emission spectra could be matched – but the most justified starting point to derive them was the Sommerfeld-Wilson quantization condition $$ \int_0^T p_r\cdot dq_r = nh $$ where the integral of $p\,dq$ goes over one orbital period. In this form, it is analogous to the statement in the full quantum mechanics – that replaced the Bohr model in the mid 1920 – that the phase space (space parameterized by the positions $q$ and momenta $p$) is composed of cells whose area (or volume) is equal to multiples of $h=2\pi\hbar$ (or powers of $h$, if there are many coordinates). The orbit encircles an area in the phase space and the area should be quantized.

By a coincidence, this is also pretty much equivalent to the quantization of the angular momentum, $L=n\hbar$. In quantum mechanics, similar conditions hold but for slightly different reasons and the quantization of the angular momentum allows half-integral values, too: $J=n\hbar/2$ where $n$ is integer according to quantum mechanics.

One must separate the explanations in the Bohr model from those in the proper quantum mechanics; they're inequivalent because the models are inequivalent, too. And it doesn't make too much sense to think about the origin of the conditions in the Bohr model because the Bohr model is fundamentally not the right theory as we know today.

In the full quantum mechanics, one may encounter several "quantization" facts with the quantum proportional to $h$ or $\hbar$ or $\hbar/2$. All of them have a quantum origin but the detailed explanation is different for each: the quantization of the angular momentum; the elementary cell of the phase space; the unphysical shifts of the action by a multiple of $h$.

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