Name : Taufik Qodar Romadiansyah

Class : XI IA 3
Absent : 35
The Atomic Theories
The idea that the elements are capable of being split up into very tiny particles was
first evolved by the Greeks. The word atom comes from the greek word atomos which means
indivisible and the idea that the elements are made up of atoms is called the atomic theory. A
scientific theory is a scientific idea which has been accepted by scientists after due
consideration. When an idea is first proposed it is called a hypothesis (note. theories are not
facts but thoughts). A scientific law is a generalised statement of observed facts.

A. Early Atomic Theory by Democritus and Leucippus
Democritus and Leucippus ideas are the first pioneer of development atomic theory.
They are Greek Philosophers. Leucippus was a teacher of Democritus. The beginning is,
someday, Leucippus invited Democritus to discuss about grainy sands, if the grainy sands
stepped to have formed a spread out area which is like a carpet, is it possible seawater also
consist of tiny-indivisible grains? According to Democritus, atoms composing a substance or
matter are identical in dimension or size and shape and every atom cannot be divided
anymore to be the simpler particles. So, Democritus proposed a concept that is every
substance is composed by atom (smallest part of substance). This concept is development of
Leucippus idea.




The figure of Democritus


B. Daltons Atomic Theory
John Dalton is now called the father of modern atomic theory for his efforts. His atomic
theories were introduced in 19th century England. In September of 1803, John Dalton wrote his first
table of atomic weights in his daily logbook. In 1830, he stated his most well-known quote (at the
top of this webpage). Two years after he developed his atomic weights, he published them in a book
called "A New System of Chemical Philosophy. In it he was the first to propose that elements be
identified with symbols. However, only 3 or 4 pages in the third chapter discussed the atomic theory
he proposed. The theory proposed a number of basic ideas:
1. Every matter is composed of the smallest particles called atoms
2. An atom cannot be subdivided into smaller particles having the same characteristics.
3. Atoms of certain element have identical characteristic and mass. Different elements have
different mass of atoms
4. Compound is composed of two or more different atoms
5. Chemical reaction is the combination and separation of atoms of element or compound in a
reaction.
Modern atomic theory is, of course, a little more involved than Dalton's theory but the
essence of Dalton's theory remains valid. Today we know that atoms can be destroyed via
nuclear reactions but not by chemical reactions. Also, there are different kinds of atoms
(differing by their masses) within an element that are known as "isotopes", but isotopes of an
element have the same chemical properties. Many heretofore unexplained chemical
phenomena were quickly explained by Dalton with his theory. Dalton's theory quickly
became the theoretical foundation in chemistry. Dalton's model was that the atoms were tiny,
indivisible, indestructible particles and that each one had a certain mass, size, and
chemical behavior that was determined by what kind of element they were.

C. Thomsons Atomic Theory
Thomson presented three hypotheses about cathode rays based on his 1897
experiments :
1. Cathode rays are charged particles (which he called "corpuscles").
2. These corpuscles are constituents of the atom.
3. These corpuscles are the only constituents of the atom.
At the end of the nineteenth century, a scientist called J.J. Thomson discovered the electron. This is
a tiny negatively charged particle that is much, much smaller than any atom. An atom is the smallest
particle of an element that can still be defined as that element. When he discovered the electron.
Electrons are tiny, negatively charged particles that orbit the nucleus of an atom in energy levels (or
shells). Thomson was experimenting by applying high voltages to gases at low pressure. He noticed
an interesting effect. Thomson did experiments on the beams of particles in his tube. They were
attracted to a positive charge, so Thomson correctly concluded that they must be negatively charged
themselves. Other experiments showed that it would take about 2000 electrons to weigh the same
as the lightest atom, hydrogen. He called the tiny, negatively charged particles electrons.
But where had these tiny particles come from? Since they were so small, Thomson suggested that
they could only have come from inside atoms. So Dalton's idea of the indestructible atom had to be
revised.
Thomson proposed a different model for the atom. He said that the tiny negatively charged
electrons must be embedded in a cloud of positive charge (after all, atoms themselves carry no
overall charge, so the charges must balance out). Thomson imagined the electrons as the bits of
plum in a plum pudding (rather like currants spread through a Christmas pudding but with lots
more space in between). Rutherford suggested that the atom might resemble a tiny solar system,
with a massive, positively charged center circled by only a few electrons. Later this nucleus was
found to be built of new kinds of particles (protons and neutrons), much heavier than electrons.

The biography of
John Dalton

The figure of John Thomson


D. Rutherfords Atomic Theory
The next development came about 10 years later. Two of Ernest Rutherford's students, Hans
Geiger and Ernest Marsden, were doing an experiment at Manchester University with radiation.
They were using the dense, positively charged particles (called alpha particles) as 'bullets' to fire at a
very thin piece of gold foil. They expected the particles to barge their way straight through the gold
atoms unimpeded by the diffuse positive charge spread throughout the atom that Thomson's model
described.
Ernest Rutherford is considered the father of nuclear physics. Indeed, it could be said that
Rutherford invented the very language to describe the theoretical concepts of the atom and the
phenomenon of radioactivity. Particles named and characterized by him include the alpha particle,
beta particle and proton. Rutherford overturned Thomson's atom model in 1911 with his well-
known gold foil experiment in which he demonstrated that the atom has a tiny, massive nucleus.
His results can best explained by a model for the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged
core called a nucleus, in which nearly all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative
constituents, called electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around the Sun.














The figure of Ernest Rutherford