ATOM

a closer look
 Dalton’s Billiard Ball Model of an
atom

Substances are composed of tiny,

indestructible particles called atoms.
Dalton’s Billiard Ball Model
"Could anything at
first sight seem
more impractical
than a body which
is so small that its
mass is an
insignificant
fraction of the
mass of an atom
of hydrogen?"

J.J. Thomson
THE CATHODE RAY TUBE
Thomson’s Plum-Pudding Model of
an atom

An atom is a sphere of positively charged

substance with imbedded electrons.
Thomson’s Plum Pudding
or Raisin Bread Model
“It was as incredible as if
you had fired a 15-inch
shell at a piece of
tissue paper and it
came back and hit
you.”

Ernest Rutherford
THE ALPHA SCATTERING EXPERIMENT
Nature of alpha particles

• very tiny particles

• positively charged

Results of the alpha scattering experiment

• most of the alpha particles passed right through the

metallic foil
• few of the alpha particles passed through at an angle
• Very few bounced straight back
Rutherford’s conclusion

• The atom is mostly empty space

• The atom’s positive charges are concentrated in the
nucleus
• This nucleus is a small, dense core located in the
center of the atom
 Rutherford’s Nuclear Model of an
atom

All the positive charge and most of the mass

of the atom are concentrated in a very
small space called the nucleus. Electrons
occupy the surrounding space.
Rutherford’s Planetary or Nuclear Model
1932
James Chadwick discovered neutrons

Nature of neutrons

• Very high-energy particles

• Electrically neutral
• Slightly heavier than protons
• Found at the nucleus of an atom
 A

Z
Symbol

A : mass number
: total number of neutrons and protons
present in the nucleus

Z : atomic number
: number of protons in the nucleus
 The Bohr Model of the Hydrogen
Atom

The electron moves about the nucleus in

definite orbit.
Bohr Model or Orbit Model
The Quantum Mechanical Model of
an atom

The atom is consists of a positively charged,

compact, very high density center called
the nucleus. Surrounding the nucleus is a
negatively charged region of space which
has a very low density.
de Broglie & Schrödinger's Electron Cloud
or Quantum Mechanical Model