History and
Models of the Atom
Democritus
• Believed universe made of invisible units
called atoms
• Named them Atoms
• 400 BC
• Aristotle said “He’s a quack!!!”
• Took 2000 yrs to be proved right!
Dalton’s Atomic Theory
John Dalton
(1766 – 1844)
Wrote the first atomic theory
1. All elements are composed of tiny indivisible
particles called atoms
2. Atoms of the same element are identical.
Atoms of any one element are different from
those of any other element.
3. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole-number
ratios to form chemical compounds
4. In chemical reactions, atoms are combined, separated, or
rearranged – but never changed into atoms of another element.
FYI……….Isotopes
Dalton was wrong about all
elements of the same type being
identical
Atoms of the same element can
have different numbers of neutrons.
Thus, different mass numbers.
These are called isotopes.
Frederick Soddy
Frederick Soddy (1877-1956)
proposed the idea of isotopes in
1912 (note this was close to 30 years after Dalton’s original idea)
Isotopes are atoms of the same element having
different masses, due to varying numbers of
neutrons.
Soddy won the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1921 for his work with
isotopes and radioactive materials.
The “Billiard Ball” Model
proposed by John Dalton in 1804
this theory proposed that matter was
composed of small, spherical particles
but evidence was later gathered that matter
was composed of even smaller bits
New Evidence
during the 1900s evidence was discovered regarding
charges:
atoms have positive (Rutherford’s contribution) and
negative (Thomson’s contribution) parts
charges interact:
as a result, revisions to Dalton’s model had to be
made
Thomson: “Plum Pudding” or
“Chocolate Chip Cookie” Model
using available data on the atom, J.J. Thomson
came up with the idea of having charges embedded
with Dalton’s Billiard Balls
Also used cathode ray experiment to discover the
existance of the electron
positive negative
(evenly distributed)
“chocolate”
“dough”
part
note: this model kept Dalton’s key ideas intact
Discovery of the Electron
In 1897, J.J. Thomson used a cathode ray
tube to deduce the presence of a negatively
charged particle: the electron
Click on me:
http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/chemistry/essentialchemistry/flash/ruther14.swf
Conclusions from the Study of the
Electron:
A. Cathode rays have identical properties
regardless of the element used to produce
them. All elements must contain identically
charged electrons.
B. Atoms are neutral, so there must be
positive particles in the atom to balance the
negative charge of the electrons
C. Electrons have so little mass that atoms
must contain other particles that account
for most of the mass
Mass of the Electron
Robert Millikan
Mass of the
electron is
9.11 x 10-28 g
The oil drop apparatus
1916 – Robert Millikan determines the mass of the electron: 1/1840 the
mass of a hydrogen atom; has one unit of negative charge
Click on me or copy and paste into a browser: http://highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=swf::100%25::100%25::/sites/dl/free/
0072512644/117354/02_Millikan_Oil_Drop.swf::Milikan%2520Oil%2520Drop
Nuclear Model
Ernest Rutherford discovered a huge flaw in
the previous concept of the atom during his
now famous gold foil experiment
Rutherford
Discovered the Nucleus
and the Positive Protons
Surmised atoms are
made of mostly empty
space
Didn’t know about the
Neutrons
Famous Gold Foil
Experiment
Click on me:
http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/chemist
ry/essentialchemistry/flash/ruther14.s
wf
Gold Foil Experiment
• Particles shot through thin sheet of gold
• Most shots went straight through
• A small amount were deflected
• Hence… The atoms must be made of mostly empty space with a
small dense nucleus
Further explanation of Nuclear Model
If previous models were correct alpha particles would
have passed straight through the the gold
Rutherford’s problem:
In the following pictures, there is a target hidden by a
cloud. To figure out the shape of the target, we shot
some beams into the cloud and recorded where the
beams came out. Can you figure out the shape of the
target?
Target Target
#1 #2
The Answers:
Target #1 Target #2
Nuclear Model
Rutherford found that most (99%) of the alpha particles that he
shot at the gold went straight through
From these experiments Rutherford concluded that the atom
had a dense positive core, with the rest composed of mostly
empty space with the occasional negatively charged electron
-
-
-
+
- -
note: this model completely changed the definition of atom
Rutherford’s Findings
* Most of the particles passed right through
* A few particles were deflected
* VERY FEW were greatly deflected
“Like howitzer shells
bouncing off of tissue
paper!”
Conclusions:
#1 The nucleus is small
#2 The nucleus is dense
#3 The nucleus is positively
charged
Niels Bohr
Discovered that electrons
exist in several distinct
layers or levels
“Jimmy Neutron Model”
Travel around nucleus like
planets travel around sun
Electrons Orbit
Electrons can jump between
levels with energy being
added/released
Bohr Model
Niels Bohr proposed that electrons revolve
around the central positive nucleus (like
planets in the solar system)
negative electrons
3 positive protons
Bohr Model
Bohr also suggested that the electrons can only
revolve in certain orbits, or at certain energy levels
(ie, the energy levels are quantized)
no energy level in between steps
Heisenberg and Schrodinger
Found that Electrons
live in fuzzy regions or
“clouds” not distinct
orbits
Improved on Bohr’s
findings
Electron location can
not be predicted
Quantum Mechanical
Model
Quantum Mechanical Model
the current understanding of the atom is based on
Quantum Mechanics
this model sees the electrons not as individual
particles, but as behaving like a cloud - the electron
can be “anywhere” in a certain energy level
Remember back to CPE with electrons behaving
like bees in a beehive
Quantum Mechanical Model
electrons can be found
anywhere in these “shells”
note: the electrons
are still quantized
no electrons can
be found here
FYI: Chemistry
most things we do can be explained using
Dalton’s and/or Bohr’s model
the Quantum Mechanical model, although
most accurate, is complex even at a
university level (conceptually and
mathematically)
Click on me or copy and paste into browser:
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/people_n2/science_n2/atomic_theory.html
to learn more about quarks & hadrons (its
located near the bottom of the page)
