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History of Atom

The document traces the history of ideas about atomic structure from ancient Greece to the present, including Democritus' idea of indivisible atoms, John Dalton's billiard ball model of atoms, J.J. Thomson's discovery of electrons, Ernest Rutherford's nuclear model from his gold foil experiment, and Niels Bohr's proposal that electrons orbit the nucleus in fixed paths. Modern atomic theory includes the concept of electron clouds and orbitals to describe the probabilistic locations of electrons around the atomic nucleus.

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33 views

History of Atom

The document traces the history of ideas about atomic structure from ancient Greece to the present, including Democritus' idea of indivisible atoms, John Dalton's billiard ball model of atoms, J.J. Thomson's discovery of electrons, Ernest Rutherford's nuclear model from his gold foil experiment, and Niels Bohr's proposal that electrons orbit the nucleus in fixed paths. Modern atomic theory includes the concept of electron clouds and orbitals to describe the probabilistic locations of electrons around the atomic nucleus.

Uploaded by

Erickajeine Luna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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History of Atomic

Structure
Ancient Philosophy
• Who: Aristotle, Democritus
• When: More than 2000 years ago
• Where: Greece
• What: Aristotle believed in 4 elements: Earth,
Air, Fire, and Water. Democritus believed
that matter was made of small particles he
named “atoms”.
• Why: Aristotle and Democritus used
observation and inferrence to explain the
existence of everything.
• The eminent
philosophers of
the time,
Aristotle and
Plato, had a more
respected, (and Aristotle and Plato favored the earth, fire,
ultimately wrong) air and water approach to the nature of
matter. Their ideas held sway because of
theory. their eminence as philosophers. The
atomos idea was buried for
approximately 2000 years.
Democritus

Aristotle
Alchemists
• Who: European Scientists
• When: 800 – 900 years ago
• Where: Europe
• What: Their work developed into what is now
modern chemistry.
• Why: Trying to change ordinary materials
into gold.
Alchemic Symbols
Particle Theory
• Who: John Dalton
• When: 1808
• Where: England
• What: Described atoms as tiny particles that
could not be divided. Thought each element
was made of its own kind of atom.
• Why: Building on the ideas of Democritus in
ancient Greece.
• The atomic
model has
changed
throughout the
centuries,
starting in 400
BC, when it
looked like a
billiard ball →
John Dalton
1808

• The next year we


are going to is 1855
• The scientist that
we are looking for
is Sir William
Crookes
1855: Sir William Crookes invented a
tube that showed him some interesting
things
Crookes
• Crookes could actually see some sort of
particle beam going from the negative
cathode to the positive anode.
• It wasn’t until 1897 that this “tube” was
used to change Dalton’s Billiard Ball
Model.
1897: J.J. Thomson
• J.J. Thomson took
the Crookes tube
and experimented
with it. He held a
magnet to the side
of the tube and tried
to direct the beam of
light.
• The results were
astounding
Discovery of Electrons
• Who: J. J. Thompson
• When: 1897
• Where: England
• What: Thompson discovered that electrons
were smaller particles of an atom and were
negatively charged.
• Why: Thompson knew atoms were neutrally
charged, but couldn’t find the positive
particle.
Thomson Model
• He proposed a model of
the atom that is
sometimes called the
“Plum Pudding” model.
• Atoms were made from a
positively charged
substance with negatively
charged electrons
scattered about, like
raisins in a pudding.
J. J. Thompson
Atomic Structure I
• Who: Ernest Rutherford
• When: 1911
• Where: England
• What: Conducted an experiment to isolate
the positive particles in an atom. Decided
that the atoms were mostly empty space, but
had a dense central core.
• Why: He knew that atoms had positive and
negative particles, but could not decide how
they were arranged.
– Most of the positively
charged “bullets” passed
right through the gold
atoms in the sheet of gold
foil without changing
course at all.
– Some of the positively
charged “bullets,” however,
did bounce away from the
gold sheet as if they had hit
something solid. He knew
that positive charges repel
positive charges.
Rutherford
• Rutherford reasoned
that all of an atom’s
positively charged
particles were
contained in the
nucleus. The
negatively charged
particles were
scattered outside the
nucleus around the
atom’s edge.
Ernest Rutherford
Atomic Structure II
• Who: Niels Bohr
• When: 1913
• Where: England
• What: Proposed that electrons traveled in
fixed paths around the nucleus. Scientists
still use the Bohr model to show the number
of electrons in each orbit around the nucleus.
• Why: Bohr was trying to show why the
negative electrons were not sucked into the
nucleus of the atom.
Niels Bohr
Bohr’s Atom

electrons in orbits

nucleus
Electron Cloud Model
• Electrons travel around the nucleus in
random orbits.
• Scientists cannot predict where they will be
at any given moment.
• Electrons travel so fast, they appear to form
a “cloud” around the nucleus.
Electron Cloud:

• A space in which
electrons are likely to be
found.
• Electrons whirl about the
nucleus billions of times
in one second
• They are not moving
around in random
patterns.
• Location of electrons
depends upon how much
energy the electron has.
Electron Cloud Model
Indivisible Electron Nucleus Orbit Electron
Cloud

Greek X

Dalton X

Thomson X

Rutherford X X

Bohr X X X

Wave X X X
Atomic Structure Timeline
Requirements:
• Must include a title.
• Must include a spot for each of the 7 items.
• Must include at least the Who, When, and
What.
• Must have a picture (color is preferred) for
each item.
Options:
1. Comic book format
2. Standard timeline
Timeline Checklist
• ___ Democritus • ___ Ernst Rutherford
• ___ “Atmos” Particles • ___ Gold Foil Experiment
• ___ Aristotle • ___ Neils Bohr
• ___ Four Element Theory • ___ Orbitals
• ___ John Dalton
• ___ Electron Cloud Model
• ___ Billiard Ball Model
• ___ Crookes
• ___ Crookes’ Tube
• ___ J.J. Thompson
• ___ Plum Pudding Mode

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