How the Idea of the

Atom, Along With

The Idea of The
Elements, Evolved
STELLAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
Small stars: The smallest stars only convert
hydrogen into helium.

Medium-sized stars (like our Sun): Late in

their lives, when the hydrogen becomes
depleted, stars like our Sun can convert
helium into oxygen and carbon.
Massive stars: When the hydrogen becomes
depleted, high mass stars convert helium atoms
into carbon and oxygen, followed by the fusion
of carbon and oxygen into neon, sodium,
magnesium, sulfur and silicon. Later reactions
transform these elements into calcium, iron,
nickel, chromium, copper and others.
 DEMOCRITUS
The “laughing
philosopher”.
 Lived in Greece from
about 460 to 370 B.C.E.
Introduced the idea of
the atom as the basic
building block of all
matter.
How many times could you cut this piece of cheese
in half? How small would the smallest pieces be?

atomos, which means “uncuttable”/

“indivisible” in Greek
Democritus’ idea of the atom
has been called “the best
guess in antiquity.” That’s
because it was correct in
many ways, yet it was based
on pure speculation.
 Here’s what Democritus thought about
the atom:

• All matter consists of atoms, which cannot be

further subdivided into smaller particles.
• Atoms are extremely small—too small to see.
• Atoms are solid particles that are indestructible.
• Atoms are separated from one another by
emptiness, or “void.”
 How are Democritus’ ideas about atoms
similar to modern ideas about atoms?

ANSWER:
Modern ideas agree that all matter is made
up of extremely small building blocks called
atoms.
 How are Democritus’ ideas about atoms
similar to modern ideas about atoms?

• Atoms can be viewed using microscopes

• Atoms consist of several kinds of smaller, simpler
particles as well as a lot of empty space.
• Atoms aren’t really indestructible because they can
be changed to other forms of matter or energy.
 Democritus thought that different
kinds of matter vary because of the size,
shape, and arrangement of their atoms.
• Atoms of liquids are slippery, which
allows them to slide over each other and
liquids to flow.
• Atoms of solids, in contrast, stick
together, so they cannot move apart.
• Atoms of lighter matter, were more
spread out and separated by more
empty space.
Aristotle rejected Democritus’
idea of the atom. Aristotle’s
opinion was accepted for more
than 2000 years.

John Dalton developed an entire

theory about the atom. He based
his theory on experimental
evidence, not on lucky guesses.
Summary
• Around 400 B.C.E., the Greek philosopher
Democritus introduced the idea of the atom as the
basic building block matter.
• Democritus thought that atoms are tiny,
uncuttable, solid particles that are surrounded by
empty space and constantly moving at random.
• Democritus surmised that different kinds of matter
consist of different types or arrangements of atoms.
 Ideas of the
Ancient Greeks on
the Elements
 Majority of Greeks believed that the
smallest unit that anything could be divided
into was the element. 
Aristotle named four elements; fire, air,
earth and water.
THALES HERACLITUS ANAXIMENES
 Empedocles proposed that everything was
made up of a mixture of the four elements, and
proposed a simple experiment to prove his point. 
• Since the stick burns, it obviously
contains fire.
• A dirty residue is left behind once the
stick has burnt, so the stick also
contains earth.
• The residue is damp, so water must be
present.
• The burning stick gives off smoke, and
thus air is in there too.
 Aristotle classified the elements on
whether they were hot or cold and
whether they were wet or dry. 
• Fire and earth were dry. 
• Air and water were wet.
• Fire and air were hot.
• Earth and water were cold.
 The concept of elements gave rise to
one of the most fundamental theories of
later alchemy: the idea that the
properties of a substance depend on
what it is made of. 
Alchemical Elements
ALCHEMY: the medieval forerunner of
chemistry, based on the supposed
transformation of matter. It was concerned
particularly with attempts to convert base
metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.

ELIXIR: a magical or medicinal potion.

ALCHEMIST
 By the Middle Ages, people had started to
see that the Greek system of classical
elements was not absolutely universal.
Substances like mercury defied the old
categorizations, so the alchemists made up
three more to complement the Aristotelian
system.
 This became a common theme in
alchemy: If a substance had a list of
properties, i.e. acidity, solidity, waxiness
or flammability, then that substance
could be made from other materials that
shared some properties but differed in
others.
 THE SPHERES
• The concepts of animal, vegetable and mineral are
fairly familiar to most people. Minerals are not
alive and cannot move, vegetables are alive but
cannot move, and animals are alive and can move.
• Alchemists first devised this system and linked
each of the spheres to one of their new elements. 
 The transformation index went like this
(spheres are color-coded):

• Rocks » Base metals (i.e. iron) » Precious

metals (i.e. gold)...
• Simple plants (i.e. grasses) » Complex
plants (i.e. trees)...
• Simple animals (i.e. worms) » Complex
animals (i.e. mammals) » Man
Discovery of the
Structure of the Atom
and its Subatomic
Particles
ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Atomic structure is the core

of chemistry.
The study of the structure of
an atom, and also the
subatomic particles present in
it. 
 ATOM
Basic unit of an element;
building blocks of matter.
The smallest unit of matter that
has the characteristic properties
of a chemical element.
The basic building block
of chemistry.
Composed of 3 subatomic
particles.
 CHARGE
It is a property which defines the force that a
particle will exert on other charged particles.
Positive charges and negative charges will
attract each other and come together.
Two positive or two negative charges will
push each other away.
ATOMIC MASS
The measure of inertia.
Mass for particles,
atoms, and molecules is
measured in atomic
mass units, or amu.
SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
Subatomic particles are
particles smaller than
an atom.
Protons, neutrons, and
electrons are subatomic
particles. 
 NUCLEUS
• The nucleus lies at the center of each atom.
• It contains nearly all of the atom's mass.
• The nucleus remains constant throughout chemical
reactions.
• Nuclei are themselves made up of a pair of smaller and
more dense particles, the proton and the neutron.
• These particles are collectively dubbed nucleons.
 PROTON
• A particle in the nucleus of an atom that has a
positive electric charge.
• All protons are identical.
• It is the number of protons that gives atoms of
different elements their unique properties.
• No two elements have atoms with the same
number of protons.
 ELECTRONS
• A particle outside the nucleus of an atom that has a
negative electric charge.
• The charge of an electron is opposite but equal to the
charge of a proton.
• Atoms have the same number of electrons as protons.
As a result, the negative and positive charges "cancel
out." This makes atoms electrically neutral.
• For example, a carbon atom has six electrons that
"cancel out" its six protons.
 ELECTRONS
• Negative electrons are attracted to the positive
nucleus.
• The region where an electron is most likely to be
found is called an orbital.
• Electrons are located at fixed distances from the
nucleus, called energy levels.
• Electrons at lower energy levels have less energy than
electrons at higher energy levels.
NEUTRON

• A particle in the nucleus of

an atom that has no electric
charge.
• Atoms of an element often
have the same number of
neutrons as protons.
 COMPUTING THE NUMBER
OF PROTON, ELECTRON,
NEUTRON, ATOMIC NUMBER
AND MASS NUMBER
Atomic number = number of protons = number of electrons
Mass number = number of protons + number of neutrons
Number of neutrons = mass number – atomic number
number of electrons =
number of protons =
mass number (atomic mass) =
number of neutrons =
ELEMENT SYMBOL ATOMIC PROTON ELECTRON NEUTRON ATOMIC
NUMBER (p+) (e-) (n°) MASS
Chlorine Cl 17 17 17 18 35

Carbon C 6 6 6 6 12

Helium He 2 2 2 2 4

Fluorine F 9 9 9 10 19

Magnesium Mg 12 12 12 12 24
ELEMENT SYMBOL ATOMIC PROTON ELECTRON NEUTRON ATOMIC
NUMBER (p+) (e-) (n°) MASS
Sodium 11 23

Ca 20 20

Zn 30 35

Antimony 51 122

Mercury 80 121
 Contributions of J.J.
Thompson, Ernest Rutherford,
Henry Moseley, and Niels Bohr
in Understanding the
Structure of an Atom
Joseph John Thompson
Born on: December 18, 1856,
in Cheetham Hill, England.
Died on: August 30, 1940.
Thompson won the 1906
Nobel Prize in Physics.
His research in cathode rays
led to the discovery of the
electron.
J.J. Thompson and the Discovery of the
Electron
In the late 18th century, physicist J.J. Thompson
began experimenting with cathode ray tubes. 
Cathode Ray Tubes: are sealed glass tubes from which
most of the air has been evacuated. 
 Cathode Ray Tube
“electron beam” Zinc sulfide
 To test the properties of the particles,
Thompson placed two oppositely-charged
electric plates around the cathode ray.
The cathode ray was deflected away from the
negatively-charged electric plate and towards
the positively-charged plate. This indicated that
the cathode ray was composed of negatively-
charged particles.
 ELECTRODE: a conductor through which
electricity enters or leaves an object, substance,
or region.
 CATHODE: the negatively-charged electrode.
 ANODE: the positively-charged electrode.
 MAGNETIC FIELD: a region around a magnetic
material or a moving electric charge within which
the force of magnetism acts
 RAY: each of the lines in which light (and heat)
may seem to stream from the sun or any
luminous body, or pass through a small opening.
 SLIT: a long, narrow cut or opening.
 DEFLECT: cause (something) to change direction
by interposing something; turn aside from a
straight course; change direction after hitting
something.
 The Plum Pudding Model
Thompson proposed that atoms could be described
as negative particles floating within a soup of diffuse
positive charge.
This model is often called the plum pudding
model of the atom, due to the fact that its description
is very similar to plum pudding, a popular English
dessert.
The Plum Pudding Model
Ernest Rutherford
Chemist and physicist;  “Father
of the Nuclear Age”.
Born: August 30, 1871, in
Spring Grove, New Zealand.
 Died on: October 19, 1937 
 Awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for his theory of
atomic structure.
 RADIOACTIVITY: spontaneous decomposition
of unstable atomic nuclei.
 ALPHA PARTICLE: a positively charged particle
emitted by certain radioactive isotopes.
 BETA PARTICLE: an electron ejected at high
speeds from the nuclei of certain radioactive
isotopes.
 GAMMA RAY: a high energy electromagnetic
radiation emitted from radioactive isotopes.
 Ernest Rutherford and the Gold Foil
Experiment
In this experiment, Rutherford fired a thin beam of α
particles at a very thin sheet of pure gold. He placed a sample
of radium (a radioactive metal) inside a lead box with a small
pinhole in it.
Most of the radiation was absorbed by the lead, but a thin
beam of α particles escaped out of the pinhole in the direction
of the gold foil. The gold foil was surrounded by a detector
screen that would flash when hit with an α particle.
The Gold Foil Experiment
The Gold Foil Experiment
 Based on Thompson's plum pudding model,
Rutherford predicted that most of the α particles
would pass straight through the gold foil. This is
because the positive charge in the plum pudding
model was assumed to be spread out throughout the
entire volume of the atom.
Therefore, the electric field from the positively
charged "soup" would be too weak to significantly
affect the path of the relatively massive and fast-
moving α particles.
 The results of the experiment were striking.
Rutherford himself described the results with the
following analogy: "It was quite the most incredible
event that has ever happened to me in my life. It
was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15 – inch
shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back
and hit you."
RUTHERFORD’S NUCLEAR MODEL OF
THE ATOM
Niels Bohr
Born on: October 7, 1885, in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Died on: 18 November 1962.
He won the 1922 Nobel Prize
in physics for his ideas and
years later called for
responsible and peaceful
applications of atomic energy
across the world.
Planetary Model

Electrons revolved
around a positively
charged nucleus like the
rings around Saturn—or
alternatively, the planets
around the sun.
 Niels Bohr
• In 1913, he introduced his model of the hydrogen
atom.
• Proposed that the single electron of the hydrogen
atom could occupy only certain energy levels.
• He referred to these energy levels as orbits and
represented the energy difference between any two
adjacent orbits as a single quantum of energy.
 Niels Bohr

– proposed that when an atom absorbs energy, it

becomes at “excited state”
– The electrons of the atom jump from one orbit
to another with a high energy. Then, it will fall
back to its original orbit with a lower energy or
“ground state”.
 Niels Bohr

– energy is released in the form of light which is

called photons
– atomic line spectrum of atom is a characteristic
of an atom of an element
 QUANTUM: the smallest increment of energy.
 GROUND STATE: the condition of an atom in
which all electrons are in their normal, lowest
energy level.
 EXCITED STATE: an unstable, higher energy
state of an atom.
Henry Moseley or Henry
Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley 
Born on November 23,
1887;Weymouth, Dorset, Engl
and.
Died: August 10, 1915, 
Demonstrated that the major
properties of an element are
determined by the atomic
number, not by the atomic
weight.
 Henry Moseley

• Developed the application of X-ray spectra to study

atomic structure.
• Moseley's discoveries resulted in a more accurate
positioning of elements in the Periodic Table by
closer determination of atomic
 Henry Moseley
• In 1913, Henry Moseley published the results of his
measurements of the wavelengths of the X-ray
spectral lines of a number of elements which
showed that the ordering of the wavelengths of the
X-ray emissions of the elements coincided with the
ordering of the elements by atomic number.