QTOPIC-1

HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY

Specific
Time Intervals Events Description
Times
King Hammurabi' Known metals were recorded and listed in conjunction
1700 BC s reign over with heavenly bodies.
Babylon
Prehistoric Times -
Democritus proclaims the atom to be the simplest unit
Democritus of
430 BC of matter. All matter was composed of atoms.
ancient Greece
Beginning of the Christian Era

Aristotle declares the existence of only four elements:

(Black Magic)
fire, air, water and earth. All matter is made up of these
Aristotle of
300 BC four elements and matter had four properties: hot, cold,
ancient Greece
http://tqd.advanced.org/2690/hist/ dry and wet.
black.html

Influenced greatly by Aristotle's ideas, alchemists

attempted to transmute cheap metals to gold. The
300 BC - The Advent of the
substance used for this conversion was called
300 AD Alchemists
Beginning of the Christian Era - the Philosopher's Stone.

Although Pope John XXII issued an edict against gold-

13th Century
End of 17th Century making, the gold business continued. Despite the
(1200's) - 15th Failure of
alchemists' efforts, transmutation of cheap metals to
Century the Gold Business
gold never happened within this time period.
(Alchemy) (1400's)
Alchemists not only wanted to convert metals to gold,
http://tqd.advanced.org/2690/hist/ but they also wanted to find a chemical concoction that
alchemy.html 1520 Elixir of Life would enable people to live longer and cure all ailments.
This elixir of life never happened either.

The disproving of Aristotle's four-elements theory and

the publishing of the book, The Skeptical
End of 17th
Death of Alchemy Chemist (by Robert Boyle), combined to destroy this
Century
early form of chemistry.

Johann J. Beecher believed in a substance

called phlogiston. When a substance is burned,
phlogiston was supposedly added from the air to the
flame of the burning object. In some substances, a
product is produced. For example, calx of mercury plus
phlogiston gives the product of mercury.
Phlogiston Theory
End of 17th Century - 1700's
Charles Coulomb discovered that given two particles
Coulomb's Law separated by a certain distance, the force of attraction or
Mid 19th Century
repulsion is directly proportional to the product of the
two charges and is inversely proportional to the distance
(Traditional Chemistry) between the two charges.

Joseph Priestley heated calx of mercury, collected the

colorless gas and burned different substances in this
colorless gas. Priestley called the gas "dephlogisticated
http://tqd.advanced.org/2690/hist/ air", but it was actually oxygen. It was Antoine
traditional.html Lavoisier who disproved the Phlogiston Theory. He
Disproving of the
1774-1794 renamed the "dephlogisticated air" oxygen when he
Phlogiston Theory
realized that the oxygen was the part of air that
combines with substances as they burn. Because of
Lavoisier's work, Lavoisier is now called the "Father of
Modern Chemistry".

John Dalton publishes his Atomic Theory which states

Dalton's Atomic that all matter is composed of atoms, which are small
1803
Theory and indivisible.

Heinrich Geissler creates the first vacuum tube.

1854 Vacuum Tube
Mid 19th Century -

Present 1879 Cathode Rays William Crookes made headway in modern atomic
theory when he used the vacuum tube made by Heinrich
Geissler to discover cathode rays. Crookes created a
(Modern Chemistry or glass vacuum tube which had a zinc sulfide coating on
the inside of one end, a metal cathode imbedded in the
20th Century Chemistry) other end and a metal anode in the shape of a cross in
the middle of the tube. When electricity was run through
the apparatus, an image of the cross appeared and
the zinc sulfide glowed. Crookes hypothesized that there
must have been rays coming from the cathode which
caused the zinc sulfide to fluoresce and the cross to
http://tqd.advanced.org/2690/hist/ create a shadow and these rays were called cathode rays.
modern.html
Eugene Goldstein discovered positive particles by using
a tube filled with hydrogen gas (this tube was similar to
Thomson's tube...see 1897). The positive particle had a
1885 The Proton charge equal and opposite to the electron. It also had a
mass of 1.66E-24 grams or one atomic mass unit. The
positive particle was named the proton.

Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered x-rays while

researching the glow produced by cathode rays.
Roentgen performed his research on cathode rays within
a dark room and during his research, he noticed that a
1895 X-rays bottle of barium platinocyanide was glowing on a shelf.
He discovered that the rays that were causing the
fluorescence could also pass through glass, cardboard
and walls. The rays were called x-rays.

Henri Becquerel was studying the fluorescence of

pitchblend when he discovered a property of the
1896 Pitchblend pitchblend compound. Pitchblend gave a fluorescent
light with or without the aid of sunlight.

J.J. Thomson placed the Crookes' tube within a

magnetic field. He found that the cathode rays were
negatively charged and that each charge had a mass
ratio of 1.759E8 coulombs per gram. He concluded that
all atoms have this negative charge (through more
experiments) and he renamed the cathode rays
electrons. His model of the atom showed a sphere of
The Electron and positively charged material with negative electrons stuck
Its Properties in it. Thomson received the 1906 Nobel Prize in physics.
1897

Radioactive Marie Curie discovered uranium and thorium within

Elements pitchblend. She then continued to discover two
previously unknown elements: radium and polonium.
These two new elements were also found in pitchblend.
She received two nobel prizes for her discovery; one was
in chemistry while the other was in physics.

Robert Millikan discovered the mass of an electron by

introducing charged oil droplets into an electrically
charged field. The charge of the electron was found to be
Mass of the 1.602E-19 coulombs. Using Thomson's mass ration,
1909
Electron Millikan found the mass of one electron to be 9.11E-28
grams. Millikan received the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics
for this discovery.

Ernest Rutherford sent a radioactive source through a

magnetic field. Some of the radioactivity was deflected
to the positive plate; some of it was deflected to the
negative plate; and the rest went through the magnetic
field without deflection. Thus, there were three types of
radioactivity: alpha particles (+), beta particles (-)
and gamma rays (neutral). By performing other
Three Types of experiments and using this information, Rutherford
1911
Radioactivity created an atomic model different from Thomson's.
Rutherford believed that the atom was mostly empty
space. It contains an extremely tiny, dense positively
charged nucleus (full of protons) and the nucleus is
surrounded by electrons traveling at extremely high
speeds. The Thomson model was thrown out after the
introduction of the Rutherford model.

Henry Moseley attempts to use x-rays to determine the

number of protons in the nucleus of each atom. He was
Protons within a
1914 unsuccessful because the neutron had not been
Nucleus
discovered yet.

James Chadwick discovers the neutron.

The Neutron Enrico Fermi bombards elements with neutrons and

1932 produces elements of the next highest atomic
Neutron number. Nuclear fission occurred when Fermi
Bombardment and bombarded uranium with neutrons. He received the
Nuclear Fission 1938 Nobel Prize in physics.

Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot-Curie discovered that

Artificial radioactive elements could be created artificially in the
1934 Radioactive lab with the bombardment of alpha particles on certain
Elements elements. They were given the 1935 Nobel Prize.

1940's Manhattan Project Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi both warned the
 United States about Germany's extensive research on
atomic fission reaction. Below the football field at
the University of Chicago, the United States developed
the very first working nuclear fission reactor. The
Manhattan Project was in process.

ATOMS: INSIDE OUT

OVERVIEW
Scientists have proven, however, that the atom is composed of even smaller particles. From experiments conducted in the latter part of the
19th century to the early half of the 20th century, scientists collected evidence that atoms are composed of three types of particles, namely,
(1) protons, (2) electrons and (3) neutrons. These components of the atom are collectively referred to as subatomic particles. In recent years,
scientists have discovered that protons and neutrons consist of even smaller particles. There are still many things about the atom and what is inside
it that scientists are discovering. These extremely small particles are being studied using an extremely big structure that serves as their instrument.
To get you started, prepare yourself to turn the atoms inside out!

What makes up an atom? How do these components differ from each other?
How are these components arranged inside the atom?
How is an atom different from an ion?

A magnet has two ends, two poles, the north and the south. Put the north ends of two magnets next to each other and the magnets
move apart. How about putting the two south ends next to each other? Yes, the same observation would be made as when both north ends are next
to each other. How about when you place the north and south ends next to each other, what will happen? They attract each other. These
observations indicate that like ends or poles repel, unlike ends or poles attract. Electric charges (or simply charges), either positive charge
or negative charge, behave similarly, that is, like charges repel or push away each other and unlike charges attract or pull toward each other.

Objects are electrically neutral, or simply, neutral, but they carry electrical charges. Atoms, of which all objects are made, are electrical in
nature. Atoms contain particles with positive and negative charges. The proton carries a positive charge (+1). The electron carries a
negative charge (-1). Atoms, in their most stable state are neutral with an equal number of protons and electrons. So, let us say an
atom has 5 electrons, how many protons does this atom have? How about if the atom has 64 protons, how many electrons does this atom have?

The properties of the three subatomic particles are summarized in Table 2.

particle (symbol)
Charge Mass, grams Location in the Atom
Electrons (e-) -1 9.109 x 10-28 Outside nucleus
Protons (p+) +1 1.672 x 10-24 Nucleus
Neutrons (n0) 0 1.675 x 10-24 Nucleus

Subatomic particle (symbol) Charge Mass, grams Location in the Atom

Electrons (e-) -1 9.109 x 10-28 Outside nucleus

Protons (p+) +1 1.672 x 10-24 Nucleus

Neutrons (n0) 0 1.675 x 10-24 Nucleus

Protons and neutrons are “massive indeed”. Electrons are very much lighter than the protons and neutrons, to the point that
its mass does not significantly contribute to the mass of the entire atom. In effect, the mass of the electron is negligible. The massive part of the
atom, then, comes from the masses of the protons and neutrons . Collectively, the protons and neutrons are called nucleons. The
nucleons, tightly packed together, form the nucleus in the center of the atom. Thus, most of the mass of the atom is contained in its
nucleus.
When the idea of the atom was first proposed by the ancient Greeks, they thought it was a particle with no parts. However, towards the 19th
century, J.J. Thomson was able to discover that atoms have negatively-charged particles, which he called electrons. It led him to propose
a new model for the atom, which he called the plum pudding model. Thomson proposed that the negatively-charged electrons were embedded in
a kind of cloud or soup of positive charge, as shown in the figure on the right. Since plums and puddings are not commonly known in the
Philippines, it may work better for you that we use the other name for the model, the raisin bread model.
In science, models, based on observations from experiments are tested further, sometimes by other scientists, to determine their validity. A
group of scientists composed of Ernest Rutherford, Johannes "Hans" Wilhelm Geiger and Ernest Marsden tested Thomson’s model
by bombarding a very thin sheet of gold foil with positively-charged alpha particles. Their experiment is referred to as the alpha particle
scattering experiment.
Similarly, the way the alpha particles “bumped”, or did not “bump”, the particles in the atoms of the gold foil led Rutherford’s team to
propose another model for the atom, the nuclear model. In the raisin bread model, where the electrons with very small mass were scattered in a
cloud of positive charge, there was no region within the atom where there would be an appreciable net concentration of charge that would cause the
alpha particles to be deflected. To account for the few deflections and the rare occasions of very large deflections, Rutherford, in 1911, suggested a
different structure of the atom where all the positive charge and nearly all the mass of the atom were concentrated in a very tiny region called the
nucleus at the center of the atom. The rest of the atom, where the tiny electrons with very small mass moved, was largely empty space through
which the alpha particles could travel undeflected.
This model replaced the one proposed by Thomson and is the model that we hold to this time, with respect to the placement of the nucleus in the
atom.
The nuclear model of the atom proposed by Rutherford in 1912 is still the picture of the atom that we hold today. Observations made
afterward in experiments concerning the atom support the model.
The other puzzle about the atom concerns the electrons. Imagine again the atom as 100 meters in diameter, the nucleus, around one millimeter in
diameter at the center and the electrons are in this vast space around the nucleus
One of the models of the electrons in atoms is the planetary model where the electrons were thought to move in orbits around the
nucleus similar to the way planets like the earth move around the sun. This has since been found to be incorrect. The behavior of electrons in the
space around the nucleus is not simple to describe. What we do know, however, are the following:
(1) The electron although it is negatively charged does not collapse into the positively charged nucleus;
(2) There is attraction between the nucleus and the electron, evidence of which is that energy is required to remove an electron from the atom.
Notwithstanding the complex behavior of electrons in atoms, we continue to use a model of electronic structure (or the way electrons are
“arranged” in the atom) to help us understand and study the way atoms combine to form the millions of compounds discovered to date.
While the number of protons is the same with atoms of a particular element, the number of neutrons may vary. Atoms having the
same number of protons but different number of neutrons are referred as isotopes. The isotopes are identified through their mass
number which is the sum of the number of protons and the number of neutrons in an atom.
Atomic mass is the mass of an atom of a particular element . It is the average of the mass numbers of the naturally occurring isotopes
of the element multiplied with their respective abundance.

Atomic Model
Joseph John Tompson (e-)

Ernest Rutherford (nucleus)

pp

Eugen Goldstein (p+)

James Chadwick (neutron)

The figure below shows another short hand notation. Information on the subatomic particles may be derived from this shorthand. The base
is the element’s symbol. The left subscript denotes the atomic number (3) which is same as the number of proton (3), and
electron (3). The left superscript denotes the Mass number (7) wherein the number of neutrons (4) maybe derived.
7
3 Li +1
MOLECULES- group of atoms bonded together, representing the smallest fundamental unit of a chemical compound that can take part in a
chemical reaction.
Examples: water molecules H2O
Diatomic molecules, H2, O2, N2, I2, Br2, Cl2, F2,
H2 means H-H
O2, means O=O

IONS- are charged atoms, meaning a neutral atom has lost or gained electrons giving the atom an electric charge. Gaining electrons makes the
atom negatively charged, and losing electrons makes the atom positively charged. ... For example, lithium loses 1 electron to become Li+1