ATOMIC STRUCTURE

History of the Atom

Democritus develops the idea of atoms 460 BC

- He pounded up materials in his pestle and mortar until he had reduced
them to smaller and smaller particles which he called:
“ATOMOS” (Greek for indivisible)
- He also believed that different atoms:

• Are different in sizes

• Have different properties

- other philosophers of that time did not agree with his theories.

John Dalton 1808

- “Father of Atomic Theory”
- Suggested that all matter was made up of tiny spheres that were able to
bounce around with perfect elasticity and called them “ATOMS”

Dalton’s Atomic Theory (1803)

Postulates

1. All matter is composed of extremely small particles called atoms.

2. All atoms of a given element are identical, having the same
(size, mass, and chemical properties)
3. All atoms of different elements are different
4. Atoms cannot be created, divided into smaller particles, or destroyed
5. Atoms combine in definite whole number ratios to make compounds

Dalton’s Atomic Model

Based on Dalton’s Atomic Theory (postulates), most scientists in the
1800s believed that the atom was like a tiny solid ball that could not be
broken up into parts.
Joseph John Thompson
- Found that atoms could sometimes eject a far smaller negative particle which he
called an “ELECTRON”

- 1904

Thompson develops the idea that an atom was made up of electrons scattered
unevenly within an elastic sphere surrounded by a soup of positive charge to
balance the electron's charge like plums surrounded by pudding.

PLUM PUDDING MODEL

Cathode Ray Tubes

• Thomson put the tube in

a magnetic field. He
predicted that the
stream would travel in a
straight path.
• Instead, he found that
the path curved away
from a negatively
charged plate and
• Like charges repel each other, and
toward a positively
objects with unlike charges attract each
charged plate
other, Thompson concluded that the
Why?
stream of charged particles had
electrons in them.
Ernest Rutherford 1910
- They fired Helium nuclei at a piece of gold foil which was only a few atoms thick

- They found that although most of them passed through. About 1 in 10,000 hit
The Gold Foil Experiment

- They found that while most of the helium nuclei passed through the foil, a small
number were deflected and, to their surprise, some helium nuclei bounced
straight back.

• Rutherford’s new evidence allowed him to propose a more detailed

model with a central nucleus.
• He suggested that the positive charge was all in a central nucleus. With
this holding the electrons in place by electrical attraction

Niels Bohr 1913

- studied under Rutherford at the Victoria University in Manchester.

- Bohr refined Rutherford's idea by adding that the electrons were in orbits.
Rather like planets orbiting the sun. With each orbit only able to contain a set
number of electrons.
 ATOMIC THEORY AND SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
ATOMIC MODELS

elements atomos atomos atomic theory

Empedocles Aristotle Democritus John Dalton
Matter was Introduced Matter is Atoms can be
composed of quintessence composed of subdivided into
four elements as the 5th invisible and smaller particles
- earth, air, element indestructible
fire, and water particles

Modern Atomic Theory

1. Elements are composed of minute, discrete, and invisible particles called

atoms which maintain their identity in all physical and chemical changes.
2. Atoms cannot be destroyed nor created
3. Atoms of the same element are identical but atoms of one element are
different from those of all other element.
4. A compound is made up of a combination of different kinds of atoms
following a specific ratio.

Law of Conservation of Mass

• Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) “Father of Modern Chemistry”

• The mass of the products in a chemical rxn is equal to the mass of the
reactants.
• Matter can neither be destroyed nor created
• No mass is lost in the reaction
 Law of Constant Composition

• Joseph Proust (1754-1826)

• Element form compounds in fixed proportions by mass, and
by extension, by atoms
• When two atoms chemically react to form a new molecule, they don’t
just randomly mix. Rather, they tend to follow a specific formula

- When two atoms chemically react to form a new

molecule, they don’t just randomly mix. Rather,
they tend to follow a specific formula.

o All samples of a pure compound

contain the same element in the
same proportion by mass
o Samples that have the same mass
ratio are not necessarily the same
substance.

Law of Multiple Proportions

• John Dalton (1766-1844)

• If two elements (A and B) combine to form different compound, the
different masses of one element (B) that combine with a fixed mass
of another (A) can be expressed as a ratio of small whole numbers
such as 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, and so on
• Carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide
• The ratio of the masses of oxygen that combine with a given mass of
carbon is 1:2.

When two elements react to form more than one compound, a fixed mass of one element will react
with masses of the other element in a ratio of small, whole numbers
Exactly 16.00 g of oxygen reacts completely with 7.00 g of nitrogen.

a. How many grams of oxygen will react with 3.00 g of nitrogen?

b. Show that the reaction between O and N conforms with the law of
conservation of mass
c. What other Law is illustrated in the problem?

Lead (Pb) reacts with oxygen (O) to form two compounds. In one compound, 5.96
g of Pb is combined with 0.922 g of O; for the other 19.78 g of Pb is combined
with 1.526 g of O. Prove that these data conform with the law of multiple
proportion.