Bohr's Radii Continued

From the results on the previous page we can obtain the radius of the nth orbit by substituting the classical expression for v2 with Z =1 into the Bohr quantum model

where k = 9.0 x 109 N-m2/C2.

We can rewrite this formula as rn = n2ao where

which is called the Bohr radius.

In the drawing to the right, the first four orbits are drawn to scale. The orbit corresponding to n = 1 has the radius r1 = ao. The electron may not reside in any orbit between these orbits. The radii are quantized meaning that when the electron is in one of these orbits, it does not radiate.

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