The structure of matter has been the focus of study and thinking since the dawn of modern civilization. The word atom comes from the Greek word that sounded the same and it meant indivisible; that is, the smallest unit of matter, mass, or however the Greeks called it.
The current meaning of the atom is derived from its evolution in the 19th century, and in the last century it was discovered that there were subatomic particles, and hence began the elaboration of the current structure of the atom, or interrelation of the types of smallest elementary particles that make up the atom.
Given the importance of the evolution of the different atomic models developed, let's briefly comment on the history of the atom in chronological order before showing the current atom model put forth by Global Mechanics.
450 BC – Atomic model of Democritus
The philosophical development by Democritus postulated the impossibility of an infinite division of matter and the consequential need for there to be a smallest unit of which all things would consist.
It is interesting to think that for 2,500 years Democritus was considered to be absolutely right; the truth is that it seemed to be so but now one of the most important theories or ideas in Global Mechanics proposes the exact opposite.
In the current model of the Theory of Global Equivalence, all substances make up a unique particle called Globus that consists of an unbreakable three dimensional reticular network that is spread throughout the universe.
1808 – Atomic model of Dalton
The development of the Dalton model was already pointing the way to the modern atom but as one solitary particle, although it was not very clear at first if the atomic model of Dalton was supposed to be an atom or a molecule.
1897 – Atomic model of Thomson
The following major step in the history of the modern atom was the atomic theory of Thomson with the division of the atom between positive and negative charges, like a fruitcake or garlic soup, with electrical forces of attraction.
1911 – Atomic model of Rutherford
The Rutherford model separates the nucleus with positive charge from electrons with negative charge. Electrons are located in circular or elliptical orbits around the nucleus. The neutron was theoretically added to the Rutherford model in 1920 and was experimentally developed in 1932.
The Rutherford model is the visual image we all have of the modern atom, but it had two problems:
It contradicted the Maxwell laws of electromagnetism in which charged particles in movement should be constantly emitting photons. Therefore, electrons should lose energy and fall towards the nucleus of the atom.
The atomic theory of Rutherford did not explain the atomic spectrum.
Modelo atómico de Rutherford
1913 – Atomic model of Bohr
The atomic theory of Bohr introduced substantial improvements to the Rutherford model by incorporating energy aspects derived from Planck energy and from Einstein's photoelectric effect.
Although a detailed description of the Bohr model is complicated, the following characteristics are relevant in regards to the model that Global Mechanics is going to introduce:
- Electrons are situated in stable circular orbits; that is, where orbits do not emit energy and not all are allowed.
- The orbits or electrons that are allowed in the Bohr' atomic model have an angular momentum that is an exact multiple of hbar (Planck constant divided by 2π)
- Electrons emit or absorb a photon by changing atomic orbits in which the energy depends on the difference of energy of the orbits and they do not need to go through intermediate stages.
- In the Bohr atom, the electron orbits follow the rules of Classic Mechanics but the orbit changes do not.
Regardless of the enormous success of this model in many aspects, the problem with the Bohr model and all of Quantum Mechanics is that they go on adding assumptions throughout history but without explaining the reasons to justify them, just that they work and better explain reality; which, although is not bad, does not help very much with understanding reality if the reasons are based on misleading physics principles.
They could have tried a plausible explanation for a change.
1916 – Atomic model of Sommerfeld
With the development of the Sommerfeld model, sublevels are included in the Bohr atom structure, circular orbits are dismissed and, to a certain extent, Einstein's Theory of Relativity is incorporated.
The Sommerfeld model also makes electrons out to be electrical current and it does not explain why orbits must be elliptical. I think they are ellipsoids and that Sommerfeld is right in that the electron is a special kind of electromagnetic wave, which is called a wavon in Global Mechanics.
1926 – Schrödinger model, or current model according to Wikipedia
The Schrödinger model alters the philosophy of orbits surely because of its new contributions to the atomic theory of De Broglie regarding the wavy nature of mass in 1924, and describes electrons with wave functions. This configuration allows us to determine the probability of finding the electron in a specific point in space. Therefore, we get orbitals of spatial density of probability of finding an electron.
This model of the Schrödinger atom is much better adapted to observations; however, by giving up the previous image of the shape of orbits we move away from an intuitive explanation regarding the causes for such arbitrary orbits. At the same time, Schrödinger goes into the world of probabilities and of mathematical abstraction which, in large doses, could end up being very detrimental or negative.
2008 – Evolution of the current model of an atom
In the following section, this online book of Global Mechanics proposes a new step in the evolution of the modern model of the atom in an attempt to continue to make progress in what we know about a physics reality that is as beautiful and simple as it is complex.
