History of the

Atom
Scientists and Their Contribution
to the Model of an Atom
Who Discovered ATOM?

 Democritus-was the first discovered atom.

 Was born in Abdera thrace around 460 BCE and he died
in Greece he died in age of 90 the father of Democritus
is from a noble family and of a great wealth and
contribute largely towards of the entertainment of the
army xerxes on his return to asia.
Democritus
(460 BC – 370 BC)

 Proposed an Atomic Theory

which states that all atoms
are…
 small
 hard
 indivisible and indestructible
 made of a single material
 John Dalton
(1766 – 1844)

 In 1803, proposed an Atomic Theory

which states:

o All substances are made of atoms;

atoms are small particles that
cannot be created, divided, or
destroyed.
o Atoms of the same element are
exactly alike
o Atoms join with other atoms to
make new substances
The “Billiard Ball” Model

 proposed by John Dalton in 1804

 this theory proposed that matter was composed of

small, spherical particles

 but evidence was later gathered that matter was

composed of even smaller bits
ARISTOTLE

Was born on June 19 384BC in Stagira Greece.He died in

March 7 322 BC Chalcis Greece.
Vehemently opposed the atomic theory develop be
Democritus,he believed that instead of being made tin
particles(atom)that they where all fundamentally
air,fire,water,and earth.
LEUCIPPUS

 Was born in Miletus Turkey and he died in 370BC

 The indivisibility of an atom was prove to wrong:an
atom can be further subdivided in to pretons,neutron
and electrons.How ever atoms is the smallest particles
that takes parts the chemecal reaction.
MOLECULE

 IS THE SMALLEST UNIT OF A SUBSTANCE.

ANGSTROM- A unit of a length equal to 100 million of a
centimeter 10-10 meter ,used mainly express wave length
and interatomic distance.
J.J. Thomson
(1856 – 1940)

 Proved that an atom can be divided

into smaller parts

 Discovered electrons

 In 1897, proposed the Plum Pudding

Model
 atoms mostly consist of
positively charged “pudding”
with negatively charged
“plums” (electrons) located
throughout
Thomson: “Plum Pudding” or
“Chocolate Chip Cookie” Model

 using available data on the atom, J.J.

Thomson came up with the idea of having
charges embedded with Dalton’s Billiard
Balls
 Also used cathode ray experiment to
discover
positivethe existance of the electron negative
(evenly distributed) “chocolate”
“dough”
part
 Ernest Rutherford
(1871 – 1937)

 In 1909, suggested the following

characteristics of the atom:

o It consists of a small core, or

nucleus
o This nucleus is made up of
particles called protons
o Most of the atom is actually
empty space
Niels Bohr
(1885 – 1962)

 The Bohr Model

 Suggests that electrons travel
around the nucleus in orbits
 First to discover that electrons
travel in separate orbits around
the nucleus
Bohr Model
 Niels Bohr proposed that electrons revolve around the central positive
nucleus (like planets in the solar system)

negative electrons

3 positive protons
Erwin Schrodinger
(1887-1961)

 In 1926, explained that the

exact location of an electron
cannot be stated;
 It is more accurate to view the
electrons in regions called
electron clouds
Quantum Mechanical Model
 this model sees the electrons not as individual particles, but as behaving
like a cloud - the electron can be “anywhere” in a certain energy level
Quantum Mechanical Model

electrons can be found

anywhere in these “shells”

note: the electrons

are still quantized
no electrons can
be found here
James Chadwick
(1891 – 1974)

 Realized that the atomic mass of

most elements was double the
number of protons
 Discovered of the neutron in
1932
 Progression of the Atomic Model
The structure of an atom, according to:

J.J. Thomson Ernest Rutherford

-
-
- - -
Democritus & - -
John Dalton - --+-
-
+ - - Electron Cloud

- -
-
- Erwin Schrodinger
James Chadwick
Neils Bohr