ATOMS: Development of the Atomic Theory

Democritus

 460 BC - Greek philosopher proposes the existence of the atom

 He pounded materials until he made them into smaller and smaller parts
 He called them atoma which is Greek for “indivisible”.

John Dalton

 1803 - British chemist; elements combine in specific

proportions to form compounds.
 Proposed Solid Sphere Model or Bowling Ball Model

His Theory0

 All substances are made of atoms that cannot be created, divided, or

destroyed.
 Atoms join with other atoms to make new substances.
 Atoms of the same element are exactly alike, and atoms of different
elements are different in mass and size.

JJ Thomson

1897 - English chemist and physicist; discovered 1st

subatomic particles Plum Pudding Model or Raisin Bun
Model Proposed by J.J. Thomson

His Theory:

 Atoms contain negatively charged particles called electrons and positively

charged matter.
 Created a model to describe the atom as a sphere filled with positive matter
with negative particles mixed in
 Referred to it as the plum pudding model

Ernest Rutherford

1912 - New Zealand physicist discovered the nucleus Nuclear

Model Proposed by Ernest Rutherford

His Theory:

 Small, dense, positively charged particle present in nucleus called a proton

 Electrons travel around the nucleus, but their exact places cannot be
described.
 Niels Bohr

 1913 - Danish physicist; discovered energy levels

 Bohr Model or Planetary Model

His Theory:

 Electrons travel around the nucleus in definite paths

and fixed distances.
 Electrons can jump from one level to a path in another level.

Erwin Shrodinger

 1924 - Austrian physicist; developed the

electron cloud model
 Electron Cloud Model Proposed by Erwin
Schrodinger

His Theory:

 The exact path of electrons cannot be

predicted.
 The region referred to as the electron cloud, is an area where electrons
can likely be found.

James Chadwick

 1932 - English physicist; discovered neutrons

His Theory:

 Neutrons have no electrical charge.

 Neutrons have a mass nearly equal to the mass of a proton.
 Unit of measurement for subatomic particles is the atomic mass unit (amu).

Modern Theory of the Atom

 Atoms are composed of three main subatomic particles: the electron, proton,
and neutron.
 Most of the mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus of the atom.
 The protons and neutrons are located within the nucleus, while the electrons
exist outside of the nucleus.
 In stable atoms, the number of protons is equal to the number of electrons.
 The type of atom is determined by the number of protons it has.
 The number of protons in an atom is equal to the atomic number.
 The sum of the number of protons and neutrons in a particular atom is called
the atomic mass.
 Valence electrons are the outermost electrons.