LESSON OBJECTIVES:

• Describe the ideas of the Ancient

Greeks on the atom and elements.
• Describe the contributions of the
alchemists to the science of
chemistry.
• Cite the contributions of some
notable scientists to the
understanding of the structure of the
atom.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 LESSON OBJECTIVES:
• Describe the nuclear model of the
atom and the location of its major
components (protons, neutrons, and
electrons).

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Activity: Time Traveller’s Choice

If you were given a

chance to time travel,
to what time and place
will you go? Why?

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists

Imagine you were given the

chance to time travel to Greece in
the fifth century BCE. Describe the
events that happened during that
time.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists

Why is the Ancient Greeks’

concept of an atom important?

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Activity: Guess the Name of the
Scientist

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• Empedocles asserted that the properties
of materials are imparted by the different
proportions of the “four elements” that
comprise them.
• For example, the hardness and dryness of
a stone are attributed to its high
composition of the element earth.
• The softness and the life of animals come
from their high water and fire
compositions.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• Aristotle supported this idea and added the
fifth element which he called aether or ether.
• His ideas greatly influenced the alchemists
during 300 BC until the end of the 17th
century.
• The alchemist intertwined chemical questions
with mythical and spiritual concepts to
transmute base metals into gold, discover
a universal cure for diseases, and
discover a means of prolonging life.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• However, none of these efforts succeeded.
• Nevertheless, alchemy had still contributed
numerous techniques and concepts to chemistry
such as the systematic logical approaches,
the knowledge of medicinal chemistry, and
the development of industrial chemistry.
• Practical and simple small-scale processes,
such as soap making, glass manufacturing,
charcoal production, and pigment and dye
manufacturing, have all originated during the
period of alchemy.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Activity: Word Umbrella

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Activity: Word Umbrella

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• As early as 400 BC, some Greek
philosophers, including Democritus,
supported the idea of matter based
on the particle theory.
• They believed that matter is
composed of very small particles
called atoms, which came from the
Greek word atomos, meaning
“indivisible” or “uncuttable.”
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• Aristotle, however, did not believe
in the existence of atoms.
• He asserted that all matter was
continuous, an idea that was
accepted for almost 2000 years.
• But both theories were not supported
by experimental studies and therefore
remained as speculations until the
1800s.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• Empedocles’ four-element theory and
the practice of alchemy came to an
end when The Sceptical Chymist by
Robert Boyle was published in 1661.
• It was then scientists came up with
experimental results that led to what
we know as the atomic theory of
matter.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Atoms from the Eyes of Philosophers and
Scientists
• In 1808, John Dalton came up with a
theory that marked the beginning of
the modern era of chemistry.
• His postulates may be summed up by
what is known as Dalton’s Atomic
Theory.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
1. Elements are made up of tiny visible
particles called atoms.
2. For any pure element, the mass and
other properties of all its atoms are the
same. However, atoms of different
elements differ in mass and other
properties.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
3. Compounds are composed of more
than one element. Therefore, the
constituent atoms in a given compound
are present in a consistent or constant
whole-number ratio.
4. In a chemical reaction, atoms are
neither created nor destroyed. They
simply combine, separate, or
rearrange.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• Dalton’s concepts about matter and
atoms are more detailed than those of
Democritus.
• Though he did not focus on describing
the structure of atom, he realized the
differing properties of elements, taking
hydrogen and oxygen as examples.
• According to Dalton, the atoms of H
are different from those O2.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• The third postulate of Dalton supports
the finding of Joseph Proust about
the composition of matter.
• In 1799, Proust proposed an
important principle that became a
fundamental concept in the
quantitative analysis of chemical
reactions.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• He suggested that when forming a
compound, elements always combine
in similar proportions by mass
regardless of the size of the sample -
a concept now known as the law of
definite proportions.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• If one to examine samples of Carbon
dioxide gas from a vehicle in Manila
and carbon dioxide above the pine
trees in Baguio, both samples of
carbon dioxide will contain the same
ratio of carbon to oxygen, which is
1:2.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• The third postulate also supports the
law of multiple proportions.
• This law illustrates that if the two or
more different compounds are
composed of the same two elements,
then the ratio of the masses of the
second element combined with a
certain mass of the first element is
always a ratio of small whole
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• For example, carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide.
• With a fixed mass of carbon, the ratio
of oxygen masses in the two
substances is 1:2.
• Dalton’s last postulate points out that
when a reaction is done in a closed
container, the total mass before and
after the reaction is the same.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• This principle is known as the law of
conservation of mass, states that
mass is neither created nor destroyed
during a chemical reaction.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• Atom is defined as the tiniest particle
of an element that retains the
chemical properties of that element.
• All atoms are made up of the nucleus
and electrons.
• At the center of an atom is the
nucleus, which is composed of
protons and neutrons.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Structure of An Atom
• These two units are collectively called
nucleons.
• The nucleus is orbited by the atom’s
electrons.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• Establishing the structure of an atom
took a long time and concerted efforts
of many scientists.
• After the postulation of Dalton’s
atomic theory, experiments and
scientific inferences allowed scientists
to conceptualize the structure of the
atom and the properties of its
components particles.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Structure of An Atom
• One of his students, Marie Curie,
proposed the term radioactivity to
describe the ability of a material to
undergo spontaneous emission of
particles or radiation.
• Later on, it was found out the three
types of rays produced by the
radioactive decay of a material -
alpha, beta, and gamma rays.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Structure of An Atom
• After the discovery of X-rays in 1895
by Wilhelm Rontgen, Antoine
Bequerel started studying the
flourescent properties of some
substances.
• He accidentally learned that the
darkening of thickly wrapped
photographic plates occurs after
exposing them to a U compound.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Structure of An Atom
• The alpha rays consist of positively
charged particles, called alpha
particles, and therefore deflected by a
positively charged plate.
• Beta rays consist of beta particles
(high energy electrons) and are
deflected by a negatively charged
plate.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• The gamma ray has high enery as
well.
• Similar to X-rays, gamma rays have
no charge and are not affected by an
external electric or magnetic field.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• In 1897, Joseph John Thompson
presented that electrons have a
negative charge.
• He proposed the “plum pudding”
model of an atom, which illustrated
how the negatively charged
electrons (plums) are mixed with
smeared out positive charges
(pudding).
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Structure of An Atom
• This model explained the neutrality of
an atom.
• However, it was short-lived and was
immediately disproved as more
information regarding the atom and its
nature and composition were
unearthed.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• The result of Ernest Rutherford’s
gold foil experiment in 1911 showed
another view on the structure of the
atom.
• Rutherford used a gold foil in
measuring the scattering of alpha
particles.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• He noticed that most of the alpha
particles passed through the foil with
little or no deflection; a few were
deflected at wide angles.
• The lesser number of deflected alpha
particles suggested that relatively
small positively charged particles in
the gold foil repelled the positive
alpha particles.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Structure of An Atom
• Moreover, Rutherford concluded that
most of the atom is empty, which
allowed most of the alpha particles to
pass through the foil.
• In summary, the gold foil experiment
established that the nucleus is very
dense, very small, and positively
charged.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Structure of An Atom
• Rutherford also concluded that the
electrons are located outside the
nucleus.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Protons and Neutrons
• The positively charged in the nucleus
is called the proton.
• Experiments revealed that the
magnitude of the charge of each
proton is the same as that of an
electron, which is 1.6022 x 10-19
Coulomb.
• Each proton weighs 1.67262 x 10-24
gram.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Protons and Neutrons
• Rutherford and other scientists
thought that there must be another
type of subatomic particle in the
nucleus.
• In 1932, James Chadwick proved the
presence of neutral subatomic
particles, which he named neutrons.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Protons and Neutrons
• In his experiment, Chadwick
bombarded a thin sheet of beryllium
with alpha particles that led to the
emission of a very high-enerygy
radiation that did not deflect upon
passing through a magnetic field and
is thus electrically neutral.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Protons and Neutrons
• In his latter experiments, which were
similar to those of Frederic and Irene
Joliot-Curie, Chadwick found out that
the radiation can knock off protons of a
hydrogen atom from a paraffin target
and recoil the protons with great
velocity.
• He believed that only particles that are
greater in mass than the protons can
recoil from the target.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Protons and Neutrons
• From his results, Chadwick then
concluded that the radiation consisted
of neutral particles that are slightly
heavier than protons, and that these
particles are found in the nucleus,
together with the protons.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Electrons
• Sorrounding the nucleus are negatively
charged particles called electron.
• In a series of experiments by Robert
Millikan in the early 1900s, he found
that an electron has a charge equal to
-1.6022 x 10-19 Coulomb.
• From this result, the mass of an electron
was calculated to be 9.10 x 10-28 gram.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT

 Electrons
• Compared to the mass of a
proton, each electron is
considered 1840 times lighter than
a proton.
• Unlike the nucleus, electrons are
considered elementary particles,
meaning they cannot be broken
down into smaller subunits.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Electrons
• The equal number of protons and
electrons makes an atom electrically
neutral and stable.
• This stability was proven by Niels Bohr
in 1913 using a new model in which
electrons stay in particular orbits where
they do not lose or gain energy.
• This model served as the beginning of
quantum mechanics/
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Electrons
• To easily picture an electron and nucleus
relative to the size of an ato, think of the
Araneta Coliseum as an atom.
• Imagine the nucleus as a calamansi
located at the center of the coliseum.
• On the other hand, the electron can be
smaller than a grain iodized salt moving
around the farthest seats or the general
admission seats.
Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT
 Electrons
• The rest of the coliseum is simply empty
space.

Physical Science HUMSS Bill Reniel A. Ariaso, LPT