ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER
ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER
➢The idea that matter is made
up of atoms is an idea of
Democritus
➢Democritus proposed that the
fundamental unit of matter is an
atomos, a minute particle that is
uncuttable
➢This idea did not sit well with
the Greeks, because for them,
matter is continuous
ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER
➢This idea did not sit well with
the Greeks, because for them,
matter is continuous
➢They rejected the atomos and
embrace that matter is
essentially made from four
fundamental elements
ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER
➢Philosophers kept to
their 4-element view of
matter for 2,000 years
until the 1800’s when
John Dalton, an English
chemist, resurrected
“ATOMOS”
JOHN DALTON (1766 - 1844)
➢Argued strongly that
matter is made up of atoms
of many type which can be
combined and rearranged
to produce different
materials
➢His most notable idea was
the proposition that atoms
of different elements
combine in simple whole
number ratios
JOHN DALTON (1766 - 1844)
➢Dalton envisioned
atoms as hard
spheres like billiard
balls. Dalton’s
theory atoms is
sometimes called
The Billiard Ball
Model
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
1. Elements are made of atoms
➢ An idea by Democritus, but the first
scientific demonstration was done by
Dalton through his book A New System
of Chemical Philosophy in 1808
➢ His idea of an element is a substance
which cannot be decomposed further by
chemical means, such as heat, electricity,
or reaction with another chemical
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
[Link] of an element are identical in
shape and mass
➢Atoms of from the same element have the
same properties (e.g. weight)
➢Today, the idea that atoms from the same
element are exactly alike is no longer held
valid
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
[Link] of different elements have
different masses
➢ This idea was also held by ancient Greeks
but only through speculation
➢ It was Dalton who first figured out how to
obtain these masses
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
4. Atoms combine in whole number ratios
➢ Atoms of a particular element can combine in more than
one ratio with another element to produce more than one
compound
➢ For example, if A and B are distinct elements, then
1 atom of A + 1 atom of B = Compound C
1 atom of A + 2 atoms of B = Compound D
2 atoms of A +1 atom of B = Compound E
The ratios in this chemical reaction are 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
[Link] are neither created nor destroyed
➢ In chemical reactions, atoms of one element do
not change into an atom of a different element.
They stay as themselves even when combined
➢ This idea was first proposed by Antoine
Lavoisier in his paper The Law of Conservation
of Mass in chemical reactions
STRUCTURE OF ATOM DISCOVERED
➢Dalton’s Billiard Model of
atoms was subsequently
superseded by Thomson’s
Plum-Pudding Theory in
which an atom, previously
envisioned as one entity, is
now demonstrated to be
composed of even smaller
charged particles
JOHN JOSEPH THOMSON (1856 - 1940)
➢The discovery that atoms contain
charged particles compelled the
scientific community to embrace the
atomic structure of matter
➢J.J. Thompson discovered the existence
of electrons in 1897 when performing a
series of experiments to study the
characteristics of electric discharge in a
high voltage vacuum cathode-ray tube
JOHN JOSEPH THOMSON (1856 - 1940)
➢J.J. Thomson proposed
that an atom is a sphere
of positive charge
surrounded by
negatively charged
electrons
ERNEST RUTHERFORD
➢Rutherford was studying
the nature of radioactivity
and matter when he
discovered another
particle lodged in an atom
➢This particle came to be
called nucleus
ERNEST RUTHERFORD
➢Rutherford was observing the scattering of
radiation particles directed toward a thin sheet
of gold, and a narrow beam of radioactive
particles was aimed at the sheet
➢Most of the particles went straight through but
he discovered that some were deflected at
large angles, some were even reflected back
ERNEST RUTHERFORD
➢This, he proposed, was only possible
if an atom contained in a region which
carried a huge mass and had a
positive charge
➢He called this region the nucleus of
an atom
CONTRIBUTIONS OF RUTHERFORD TO NUCLEAR
THEORY
1. Atoms have a tiny, massive,
and positively charged
nucleus surrounded by
electrons
2. The volume of an atom is
mostly empty space
3. An atom contains a discrete
unit of positive charge called
a proton
➢Today, the number of protons in the nucleus is
called the _________________
➢Atoms of the same element contain the same
number of protons in the nuclei
➢The number of protons in relation to the number of
electrons determines he charge of an atom
A neutral atom has equal number of protons and
electrons
A positive atom has more protons than electrons
A negative atom has more electrons than protons
➢Rutherford
speculated about
the existence of a
neutral particle
inside the nucleus
➢In 1932, this
particle was
identified by James
Chadwick
➢It was called
NEUTRON
HENRY MOSELY (1887 – 1915)
➢An English physicist
who demonstrated that
the important
properties of an
element are associated
with its atomic number
and not its atomic
weight
HENRY MOSELY (1887 – 1915)
➢Through X-ray spectroscopy, he
aimed and fired electrons at a
metal plate, causing metal atoms to
release x-rays
➢He discovered that the frequency
of x-ray radiation is proportional to
the element’s atomic number
➢He described this relationship
mathematically in what is now
called Moseley’s Law
HENRY MOSELY (1887 – 1915)
➢Since Mendeleev’s time, the Periodic Table of
Elements had been arranged according to the
atomic weight of elements
➢Because of Moseley’s discovery, it was arranged
according to the atomic number of elements
➢His discovery firmly established that chemical
properties of elements rests mainly on their atomic
numbers
TRANSMUTATION OF ELEMENTS
➢The alchemist’s quest to transmute ordinary metals into
gold gets a solid theoretical foundation from Moseley’s
discovery
➢If the identity of an element is defined by the number of
protons in its nucleus, that identity can be changed by
adding or subtracting protons from its nucleus
➢This essentially is how elements can be transmuted from
one element to one another
TRANSMUTATION OF ELEMENTS
NIELS BOHR (1885 - 1962)
➢In 1913, he begun studying
the structure of atoms on the
basis of Rutherford’s
discovery of the nucleus
➢He wondered if a nucleus
can be compared with the
sun, and electrons with the
planets orbiting around it
NIELS BOHR (1885 - 1962)
➢Bohr used the quantum concept of Planck and
Einstein together with Rutherford’s nuclear model to
describe the behavior of electrons around the
nucleus
➢Essentially, Bohr’s model proposes that at the
center of the atom is a positively charged nucleus
surrounded by electrons that move in circular orbits
around the nucleus
NIELS BOHR (1885 - 1962)
➢The energy of an electron depends on the orbit it
occupies
Lower energies for electrons in lower orbit (closer to the
nucleus)
Higher energies for electrons in outer orbit
➢Electrons emit light when it jumps from higher to lower
orbit
➢Electrons absorb energy when jumping from a lower to
higher orbit
NEXT TOPIC: NUCLEAR MODEL AND THE
SYNTHESIS OF NEW ELEMENTS
