For the art and science project, I decided to make a map of a metro station that represents the hydrogen spectrum. I decided to paint with acrylic paint on two different sizes of canvases and made a train out of a sponge. My project is based on quantum theory that we learned in class and the perception of reality. My inspiration came from a map of the STM metro station and the work of René Magritte.
The name of the metro is called A.S.H., which stands for the Atomic Spectrum of Hydrogen. The map that I drew is like the Bohr model, which was developed by the Danish physicist Neils Bohr. His model shows that electrons travel around the nucleus in circular orbits. So, each orbit that is painted in grey, in both of the canvases, represents an energy level. Or, it can also be called stationary state, meaning that each orbit is fixed or quantized. In addition, I painted a red circle in the middle to indicate a hydrogen atom.
On the big map of the metro, there are four different colored lines that are red, purple, light purple and blue-green. The metro lines that I want to portray are the visible lines of a hydrogen spectrum. And, on the smaller map, I added the yellow and the blue lines, which they represent the ultraviolet and the infrared. However, I separated them because when you look at the map of the metro. It only shows the main train stations in a bigger view and, at the bottom, there is a smaller version of the map but with the extended train stations. This is like when observing on the atomic spectroscope, the purple, the light purple, the red, and the blue-green are visible to the naked eye, but not the ultraviolet and the infrared, which they are invisible.
Imagine that a train travels from one station to another just like an electron that goes from one energy level to another. This is called a transition between stationary states in an atom. The electrons can only travel or jump to one orbit to another, but never stop in between two orbits. It also applies to a train traveling to its next destination, but it cannot stop in between two stations.
I added a train on the map that it is made out of a sponge and painted with acrylic paint. On the roof of the train, it is said, "This is not a train". I wrote that because I was inspired of the work of René Magritte. For example, he painted an apple that was said, "This is not an apple". Magritte is trying to show in his painting that the apple is not an apple, but a representation of it. Therefore, the train that I made is not a train, but a representation of a train.
The metro of the map inspired me to understand well the concept of the hydrogen spectrum by drawing the Bohr model. Each energy level is quantized, and electrons can only jump to one stationary state to another and travel around the nucleus in a circular orbit. And, I was also inspired of the work of René Magritte about his perception of reality. Therefore, I am happy that the time and effort that I worked on was a success.