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Summary Questions

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18 views

Summary Questions

Uploaded by

Richard Gray
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Summary Questions

1. What are two postulates of Dalton’s Atomic Theory that are no longer valid?
a. All matter is composed of atoms. Atoms are indivisible and indestructible.
In today’s technology, it has allowed us to find smaller particles than atoms themselves, which
are Neutrons, Protons, and Electrons with quarks being the absolute smallest. Also, they are now
destructible by the means of nuclear reactions.
b. All atoms of a given element have the same mass.
With today’s findings, there have been discoveries of Isotopes, which are different types of
atoms (only differing by the number of neutrons), of the same element, such as Carbon-12 which
is different than Carbon-14.
2. State the contribution of the following scientists to our current model of the atom:

(a) J.J. Thomson


He discovered the electron (which he called a corpuscle) in 1897.
He suggested the plum-pudding model of the atom, i.e. electrons embedded in a sea of positive
charge.
(b) Ernest Rutherford
In 1909, he suggested that most of the mass of the atom was in a tiny positively-charged nucleus
in the middle of the atom.
(c) Niels Bohr
In 1913, he suggested that electrons could only orbit the nucleus at certain distances depending
on their energy.
(d) James Chadwick
When he hit alpha particles (helium nuclei) against beryllium, strong penetrating radiation was
emitted. There was a hypothesis that this could be electromagnetic radiation of high energy.
However, in 1932 James Chadwick showed that in the reaction, it was a neutral particle with a
mass of a proton. This particle was named the neutron.
3. Why is the current model of the atom called the ʽCloudʾ model?
As far as the earlier theories are concerned, the atom consists of a central and heavy nucleus
centered by several electrons. Earlier theories used to treat electrons, and other tiny particles as
fixed solid “lumps,”.
On the other hand, modern quantum theory specifies them as statistical “clouds”. Moreover, one
can measure their speed exactly along with their locations. However, we can’t do them at the
same time.
Schrödinger used mathematical equations to describe the likelihood of finding an electron in a
certain position. The quantum mechanical model of the atom uses complex shapes of orbitals
(sometimes called electron clouds), volumes of space in which there is likely to be an electron.
So, this model is based on probability rather than certainty.

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