Atomic Structure :  

Development of the Atom

1803 - John Dalton - Atomic Theory
1. Matter is made up of indivisible atoms.
2. All atoms of an element are identical.
3. Atoms are neither created nor destroyed.
4. Atoms of different elements have different weights and chemical
 
properties.
5. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole numbers
to form compounds.

1897 - J.J. Thompson

 Found that cathode rays could be deflected by an electric field
 Showed that cathode "rays" were actually particles
 Same charge to mass ratio regardless of metal used for
cathode/anode
or gas used to fill the tube.
 Concluded that particles were a universal component of matter.

 Electron -  (originally called corpuscles by Thompson)

particles
given off by the cathode; fundamental unit of negative
electricity
 Raisin Pudding Model -
o Matter is electrically neutral and electrons are much
lighter than atoms.
o Conclusion:  There must be positively charged
particles which also must carry the mass of the
atom.  Dalton's model is now incorrect because
Raisin Pudding atoms are divisible.
Model

1899 - Ernst Rutherford

 Studied absorption of radioactivity.

 Alpha radiation - positive charge - absorbed by a few hundredths of

a cm or metal foil
 Beta radiation - negative charge - could pass through 100x as much
foil before it was absorbed
 Gamma rays - no charge - could penetrate several cm of lead

1907-1911 - Rutherford updated Thomson's Raisin Pudding Model of the

atom.

 Studied the deflection of alpha particles as they were

targeted
at thin gold foil sheets.
o Most of the alpha particles penetrated straight
through.
 
o However few were deflected at slight angles.
o Even fewer (only about 1 in 20,000) were
deflected at
angles over 90 .

         

 Conclusion:  The positive charge and mass of an atom were concentrated in the
center and only made up a small fraction of the total volume.  He named this
concentrated center the nucleus (Latin for little nut).
 Rutherford was also able to estimate the charge of an atom by studying the deflection
of alpha particles.  He found that the positive charge on the atom was approximately
half of the atomic weight.

1913 - A. van den Broek

 Suggested that the positive charge on atoms should be compared to their atomic
numbers, not their atomic weights.
 o At the time, atomic number (Z) only specified an element's location on the
periodic table.  Today, the atomic number is, by definition, the number of
protons in an atom.

1932 - James Chadwick

 Proved that neutrons, neutral particles in the nucleus that made up
approximately half the mass of an atom, did exist.

Summary of Subatomic Particles

  Symbol   Charge   Mass

Particle
Electron e- -1 0.0005486 amu
Proton p+ +1 1.007276 amu
Neutron n 0 1.008665 amu

Atomic Rules
 The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom is equal to the atomic number (Z).
 In a neutral atom, the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons.
 The mass number (M) of an atom is equal to the sum of the number of
protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
 The number of neutrons is equal to the difference between the mass number (M)
and the atomic number (Z).

 Atomic number: protons (and electrons if neutral)

 Mass number: protons + neutrons (neutrons = mass number - atomic

number)