Name : Sharmila A/P Suresh

ID Num : 012022021658

“ The Creation Of The Modern Atomic Theory ; Remarkable Revolution Over Time “

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were many scientists that defines atomic theory
using atomic models. Each and everyone of them has their own ideas on atomic theory which
contains their own merits and demerits on creating their own modern atomic models.

First and foremost, one of the atomic theory was introduced by John Dalton. His theory
is well known as the “ Dalton’s Atomic Theory “. In this theory he has suggested that the all
matter are made up of atoms which were indivisible and indestructible. He also has been stated
in this theory that the atoms of an element were exactly the same but the atoms in different
elements have their own size and mass as well.

According to Dalton’s theory , chemical reactions involve a rearrangement of

atoms to form products. According to the postulates proposed by Dalton, the atomic structure
comprised atoms, the smallest particle responsible for the chemical reactions to occur. There
are few postulates of his theory ,

I) Every matter is made up of atoms

ii) Atoms are indivisible
iii) Specific elements have only one type of atoms in them
iv) Each atom has its own constant mass that varies from element to element
v) Atoms undergo rearrangement during a chemical reaction
vi) Atoms can neither be created nor be destroyed but can be transformed from one form to
another.

His theory also explained the Law of chemical Reactions namely the Law of
Conservation of Mass, Law of Constant Properties, Law of Multiple Proportions and Law of
Reciprocal Proportions. There were few demerits in the Dalton's theory such as the theory was
unable to explain the existence of isotopes, the structure of atom not explained, the particles in
the atom rhat are proved are divisible as well.

Next, the modern atomic theory was also explained by Sir Joseph John Thomson
describing his model “ Thomson Atomic Model “ , on atomic structure in the early 1900s. Then ,
he was awarded ‘Nobel Prize’ for the discovery of electrons. His work was based on the
experiment called ‘ cathode ray experiment ‘.
 Cathode ray experiment has a tube made up of glass which has two openings , one for
the vacuum pump and the other for the inlet through which a glass is pumped in. The role of the
vacuum pump is to maintain “partial vacuum” inside the glass chamber. A higher voltage power
supply is connected using electrodes ( cathode and anodes ) is fitted in the glass tube.

As an observation of this theory, when a high voltage power supply is switched on, there
were rays emerging from the cathode towards the anode. This was confirmed by the
’Fluorescent spot’ on the screen used. These rays will be called as the ’Cathode Rays’. When
the external electric field is applied , the cathode rays get deflected towards the positive
electrode, but in the absence of electric field , they travel in a straight line. When the rotor
blades are placed in the path of the cathode rays, they seem to rotate. This proves that the
cathode rays are made up of particles of a certain mass, so that they have some energy. As a
conclusion, Thompson concluded that cathode rays are made up of negatively charged particles
called electrons. Thomson described the atomic structure as a positively charged sphere into
which negatively charged electrons were embedded. It is commonly referred to as the “plum
pudding model” because it can be visualized as a plum pudding dish where the pudding
describes the positively charged atom and the plum pieces describe the electrons.

However, there are also limitations of Thompson’s Atomic Structure which the atomic
model is not clearly explain on the stability of an atom. Also, further discoveries of other
subatomic particles, couldn’t be placed inside his atomic model.
Besides that, the Rutherford Atomic Theory also modified the atomic structure with the
discovery of another subatomic particles called Nucleus. His atomic model was based on the
Alpha ray scattering experiment. Based on the Rutherford’s structure of atom , he proposed his
own structure which the nucleus is at the center of an atom , where most of the charge and
mass are concentrated, the atomic structure is spherical, and electrons revolve around the
nucleus in a circular orbit.

Follows as the rest scientist, Rutherford’s atomic structure idea has their limitations as
well. First, if the electrons have to revolve around the nucleus, they will spend energy and that
too against the strong force of attraction from the nucleus, a lot of energy will be spent by the
electrons and eventually, they will lose all their energy and will fall into the nucleus so the
stability of atom is not explained. Second, if the electrons continuously revolve around the
nucleus, the type of spectrum expected is a continuous spectrum but all we could see will be a
line spectrum only.

As per the image above , Rutherford’s Atomic Model more advanced compare to the
previous two scientist which is the identifications of Nucleus , Neutron ( neutral charged
subatomic particles ), Proton ( positively charged subatomic particles), Electron Orbits and
Electrons.
 On the other hand, more widely used atomic model was introduced by Neils Bohr which
describes the atomic structure of an element based on Planck’s theory of quantization. This is to
explain on how electrons can have stable orbits around the nucleus. Compared to the
Rutherford’s model, Bohr’s model was more stable because the Rutherford’s model according
to classical mechanics and electromagnetic theory, any charged particle moving on a curved
path emits electromagnetic radiation; thus, the electrons would lose energy and spiral into the
nucleus. To remedy the stability problem, Bohr modified the Rutherford model by requiring that
the electrons move in orbits of fixed size and energy.

Bohr’s theory was based on the electrons inside atoms are placed in discrete orbits called ”
stationary orbits ”. The energy levels of these shells can be represented via quantum numbers.
Electrons revolve around the nucleus in these stationary orbits only and the energy of orbits has
been quantized.

Bohr’s theory also has its limitations such as Bohr’s atomic structure works only for
single electron species and also When the emission spectrum of hydrogen was observed under
a more accurate spectrometer, each line spectrum was seen to be a combination of no of
smaller discrete lines.

In line with all this creation of theory , the dual nature of matter works in the end. Double
split experiment was a prove by Thomas. Quantum numbers also used in atomic identification.
Other than that , there are also few principles to calculate the mass of atoms such as Aufbau’s
principle, Pauli’s exclusion principle, and many more.

In conclusion, there are few theories created by the scientist to overlap one theory to
another to produce a more accurate atomic calculation which we are using in today Chemistry.
Refferences

https://byjus.com/jee/atomic-structure/#:~:text=Dalton's%20Atomic%20Theory,-The
%20English%20chemist&text=According%20to%20the%20postulates
%20proposed,Atoms%20are%20indivisible.

https://www.britannica.com/science/atom/The-beginnings-of-modern-atomic-theory