1.

1 Atomic Theory
Atomic Theory
Around 400 BC, Democritus, a Greek Philosopher, proposed that matter was made up of small, hard
indivisible particles, which he called atoms (from the ancient Greek adjective atomos, “indivisible”).
Democritus offered no real evidence to support his idea, and it was not widely believed.

The development of modern atomic theory begins in the late 1700’s. The word “atom” was applied to the
basic particle that constituted a chemical element, because the chemists of the era believed that these were
the fundamental particles of matter. Around the turn of the 20 th century, through various experiments with
electromagnetism and radioactivity, physicists discovered that the so-called “indivisible atom” was actually a
conglomerate of various subatomic particles (chiefly, electrons, protons, and neutrons) which can exist
separately from each other.

A Brief History of Modern Atomic Theory

❖ Different models of Atoms:
Year Scientist Contribution
• Matter is composed of tiny
1803- indivisible particles called
1808 atoms.
• All atoms of one element
are identical but are
different from atoms of
other elements.
• Chemical reactions consist
of rearranging atoms in
simple whole number
ratios.
Supporting Evidence
• Law of Mass
Conservation
(Lavoisier, 1789)
• Law of Constant
Composition (Proust,
1799)
• Law of Multiple
Proportions (Dalton)

John Dalton

Billiard’s Ball Model

1904 • Atom consist of a large • Experiments with

sphere of uniform positive cathode ray (Crookes)
charge embedded with tubes showed that:
smaller negatively charged o “Canal rays”
particles (corpuscles) (positive
• The total positive charge of charge) were
the sphere equals the total different when
negative charge of the different gases
corpuscles. where used
o “cathode rays”
(negative
Joseph J. Thomson charge) were
always identical
regardless of
the nature of
the electrodes
or gas used.
 Plum Pudding Model or Raisin
Pudding Model

1911 • Rutherford’s gold foil

experiment performed
by Hans Geiger and
Ernest Marsden using
positively charged
alpha particles
• Most alpha particles
passed through the
gold foil suggesting that
an atom is largely
empty space
Ernest Rutherford • A very small positively • Some alpha particles
charged nucleus were deflected
containing most of the significantly suggesting
mass of the atom that the positive charge
• A very large volume of an atom must be
around the nucleus in concentrated in a very
which electrons move small sphere
• A nucleus containing • A very small number of
positively charged protons alpha particles actually
• A number of protons equal bounced back
to the number of electrons
• He later postulated the
existence of a neutral
particle in the nucleus to
make up for the calculated
mass deficiency in the
atoms studied.

1913 • Emission spectra of

hydrogen:
o Lyman Series
(ultraviolet) –
corresponds to
excited
electrons falling
back to the
lowest energy
level (smallest
orbit) known as
 Neil Bohr Planetary Model the ground
state.
• Electrons move around the o Balmer series
nucleus in fixed orbits (like (visible) –
planets around the sun). corresponds to
An electron in a particular excited
orbit has constant energy. electrons falling
• An electron can absorb from higher
energy and move to a energy levels to
higher energy orbit of the first excited
larger radius (excited level.
electrons) o Paschen and
• An excited electron can fall Brackett Series
back to its original orbit by (Infrared) –
emitting energy as excited
radiation. electrons falling
• Electrons can only exist in back to the 2nd,
certain discrete energy 3rd, 4th energy
levels. levels.

1932 • Bombarded beryllium

• The discovery of
James Chadwick • The nucleus of an atom
contains neutrons,
electrically neutral particles
with a mass similar to that
of a proton.
with alpha particles and
discovered Rutherford’s
missing neutral
particles.
neutrons explained the
existence of isotopes,
first observed in 1920
by Francis Aston when
he invented the mass
spectrograph.

Current Quantum Mechanical Model of • Schrödinger Equations

the Atom
• Electrons occupy orbitals,
volumes of space around
the nucleus with a high
probability of finding the
electron.
• Energy levels are made up
of energy sublevels.
for the hydrogen atom
shows (1926):
• There are discrete
energy levels
• There is a significant
probability of finding an
electron of an atom at
any position within a
spherical volume
surrounding the
nucleus
• Wolfgang Pauli adapted
the Schrodinger
Equation for atoms
 • Each sublevel contains a containing more than 1
set of orbitals. electron – Pauli
• No orbital can contain Exclusion Principle
more than 2 electrons
(Pauli Exclusion Principle)

1.2 The Periodic Table of Elements

The vertical column is called (main) groups and are labeled with Roman Numerals. The horizontal
rows are called periods and are indicated by Arabic Numeric numerals.

The symbol O represents oxygen. The atomic number

of the element (8) is given above the name. Below
the symbol is the atomic weight 15.999 g/mol.

https://sciencenotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PeriodicTableWallpaper2017.png

The Periodic Table of Elements

History:
Name of Scientist/s: Discovery:
Sir Humphrey Davy and Michael Faraday Electrochemistry
Anton Laurent Lavoisier Periodic Table Set-up
Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner Dobereiner’s Triad
Beguyer de Chancourtois Telluric helix
Robert Wilhelm Bunsen; Gustav Robert Spectroscopy
Stanislao Cannizzaro Diatomic Elements
 John Newlands Law of Octaves
Dmitri Ivanoch Mendeleev Periodic Table
John William Strutt; Sir William Ramsay Noble gases
Henry Moseley Atomic Numbers

Modern Periodic Law: “the chemical and the physical properties of the elements are periodic functions of
atomic number

PERIODIC TRENDS
Electrons are held in an atom or ion by the electrostatic attraction between the positively charged nucleus and
the negatively charged electrons. In multi-electron species, the electrons do not experience the full positive
charge of the nucleus due to shielding by electrons which lie between the electron of interest and the nucleus.
The amount of positive charge that actually acts on an electron is called the effective nuclear charge.

Atomic Radius
There are several ways to define the atomic radius of an atom:
1. Covalent radius (rcov) – the half-distance between the nuclei of two atoms joined in a covalent bond
2. Van der Waals radius (rvdw) – the half-distance between the nuclei of two atoms of neighboring molecules
3. Metallic radius (rmet) – for metallic elements, the half-distance between the nuclei of two neighboring
atoms in the solid metal

Ionization Energy
Recall that the ionization energy (actually the first ionization energy) is the energy required to remove an
electron from the outermost occupied orbital of a gaseous atom.

Electron Affinity
Electron affinity is the change in energy that occurs when an electron is added to a neutral, gaseous atom.

Electronegativity
Electronegativity is the ability of an atom in a molecule to draw electrons to itself.