Why does Bohr's model of the atom violate the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Jan 13, 2018

Well, Bohr's model of the atom assumes fixed orbits AND trajectories for the electron. Simultaneously known orbits and trajectories violate the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

Bohr's model of the nitrogen atom is:

![https://media1.britannica.com/](useruploads.socratic.org)

The problem is, electrons do NOT travel in fixed orbits, and they do NOT travel with fixed trajectories. That is, they should NOT have simultaneously well-known positions x and momenta p_x.

Therefore, it should NOT be that the uncertainties in position and momentum are Deltax = Deltap_x = 0.

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is:

DeltaxDeltap_x >= ℏ//2

The constant ℏ = h//2pi is the reduced Planck's constant, where h = 6.626 xx 10^(-34) "J"cdot"s".

If DeltaxDeltap_x = 0, it cannot be greater than or equal to ℏ//2.

Therefore, the uncertainty Deltax in position, and the uncertainty Deltap_x in momentum, cannot both be zero...

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