Seatwork 3: Elements, Atoms, and molecules

Name: Shannon Erika Drew A. Edano Date: November 2, 2022

Section: Psychology 2 - C Prof: Sir Reenier Ledesma

Direction: Search for the following:

Exercise 1: What is atomic theory?
- The atomic theory states that all matter comprises very small or tiny particles called the atoms or in
singular form, an atom which dates back to ancient philosophy, more specifically during BCE.
Exercise 2: What is Dalton’s Atomic Theory?
- Almost the same as the general atomic theory but has a few other notions and principles to it, Dalton’s
atomic theory which re-emerged in the early nineteenth century, also states that all matter comprises
very small or tiny particles called the atoms or in singular form, an atom but he also introduced the
concepts of compounds and how elements all play a role in them, etc.
Exercise 3: Who proposed and what is plum pudding in atomic theory?
- J.J. Thomson was the one who proposed the plum pudding in atomic theory. The theory was illustrated
in the form of a plum pudding; it featured a positive sphere of matter, which in a plum pudding
represents bread with negative electrons embedded in it, which represents the plum in the pudding or
bread.
Exercise 4: Who and how did the term nucleus arise?
- It was Ernest Rutherford who coined the term, nucleus. The term arouse when Rutherford was
experimenting on a thin sheet of gold foil in which he shot a beam which consisted of alpha particles at
the sheet, there he observed the pattern and saw the particles scattered afterwards he concluded his
findings which leads to many discoveries but the one that got many people’s attention was the nucleus.
Exercise 5: Give a chronological pathway on the discovery of what we know now as the structure of an atom.
- Democritus, a Greek philosopher who suggested that matter was composed of indivisible
particles in what he called “atomos”.
- Then a model introduced by J.J. Thomson used the plum pudding model that inside an atom
there were electrons scattered, much like plums scattered inside the pudding, he suggested or
stated rather that electrons were positively and negatively charged. Basically J.J. Thomson
discovered the electron and gave a model which was the plum pudding model.
- Then there was Ernest Rutherford, he experimented with a gold foil and alpha particles with a
detector field surrounding both subjects to see how the alpha particles are scattered. He shot
the particles at the gold foil and some of the alpha particles passed through, while some
headed in the direction they came from. This made him make up a theory that there is a
positively charged electron in the center of an atom which he later on called the nucleus and
suggested that 99.9% of the atom is empty and the outer rim was surrounded by negatively
charged electrons. That was why some of the alpha particles passed through the atom and
when it hits the center, due to the positive charge it reflects it back or scatters it in another
direction, also the positive electron would also be later on called the proton. Basically, Ernest
Rutherford contributed a machine that disseminates particles through or on an atom and alpha
rays, also the discovery of the so-called nucleus.
- Then there was R. A. Millikan measured the charge and mass of an electron individually by
studying the motion of each single oil drop that has taken charge from ions in the air.
- Then there was Henri Becquerel, who first observed radioactivity which Marie and Pierre Curie
also studied. Radioactivity is the burst of high-energy radiation of an atom with it, the discovery
of subatomic particles and energy are found in atoms.
- Then there was Henry Mosely who discovered the atomic number of an element using x-rays
which helped form the periodic table.
- Then there was Niels Bohr, he made the liquid drop model to support and understand the
structure of an atom or atoms in general. He also contributed to the early development of
quantum mechanics or we also call quantum physics. Bohr suggested that electrons have
energy levels with a specific amount of energy.