DIFFERENT

ATOMIC MODELS
JOHN DALTON
TIMELINE: 1800s
UNDERSTANDING OF ATOMS DID NOT
PROGRESS MUCH BEYOND DEMOCRITUS’
THEORY UNTIL THE ENGLISH CHEMIST
JOHN DALTON (1766-1844) STARTED TO LOOK
AT IT IN THE 1800S.

HE DID EXPERIMENTS, WORKED OUT SOME

ATOMIC WEIGHTS, AND INVENTED SYMBOLS
FOR ATOMS AND MOLECULES.
DALTON’S MOST IMPORTANT CONCLUSIONS ARE
SUMMARIZED AS FOLLOWS:
• ALL MATTER IS MADE OF ATOMS, AND ATOMS
ARE INDESTRUCTIBLE AND CANNOT BE BROKEN
DOWN INTO PIECES.
• ALL THE ATOMS OF A PARTICULAR ELEMENT ARE
IDENTICAL TO EACH OTHER AND DIFFERENT
FROM THE ATOMS OF OTHER ELEMENTS.
• ATOMS ARE REARRANGED IN CHEMICAL
REACTION
• COMPOUNDS ARE FORMED WHEN TWO OR MORE
DIFFERENT KINDS OF ATOMS JOIN TOGETHER.
JOSEPH JOHN
THOMSON
TIMELINE: 1890’s
• HE DISCOVERED THE ELECTRON, WHICH IS A
TINY NEGATIVELY CHARGED PARTICLE SMALLER
THAN ANY ATOM.

• HE WAS ABLE TO DISCOVER THE NEGATIVELY

CHARGED PARTICLE CALLED ELECTRON USING A
PIECE OF EQUIPMENT CALLED A CATHODE RAY
TUBE.

• HIS DISCOVERY SHOWED THAT ATOMS WERE NOT

INDIVISIBLE BUT COMPOSED OF SUBATOMIC
PARTICLES THAT ARE ELECTRICALLY CHARGED.
• HE SAID THAT THE NEGATIVELY CHARGED
ELECTRONS WERE EMBEDDED IN A POSITIVELY
CHARGED MASS SIMILAR TO THE WAY RAISINS
EMBEDDED IN A LOAF OF BREAD.
 ERNEST
RUTHERFORD
Timeline: 1910’s
ERNEST RUTHERFORD WAS NOT CONVINCED
ABOUT THE MODEL OF THE ATOM PROPOSED
BY THOMSON. HE THUS SET UP HIS FAMOUS
GOLD FOIL EXPERIMENT.
• HE FIRED ALPHA PARTICLES (POSITIVELY
CHARGE) AT A GOLD FOIL.

• HE MEASURED THE DEFLECTION AT THE

PARTICLES COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE.

• MOST OF THE PARTICLES DID NOT

DEFLECT AT ALL. EVERY NOW AND THEN
A PARTICLE WOULD DEFLECT ALL THE
WAY BACK.
• HE SAID THAT THERE MUST BE A
POSITIVE CENTRE OF THE FOIL. HE
CALLED THIS CENTRE THE NUCLEUS.
RUTHERFORD’S ATOMIC MODEL AKA THE
PLANETARY MODEL
1. THE NUCLEUS OF THE ATOM IS A DENSE
MASS OF POSITIVELY CHARGED PARTICLES.

2. THE ELECTRONS ORBIT THE NUCLUES.

3. A PROBLEM WAS RAISED: WHY ARE THE

NEGATIVELY CHARGED PARTICLES NOT
ATTRACTED BY THE POSITIVELY CHARGED
NUCLEUS.
 4. RUTHERFORD STATED THAT THE ATOM
WAS LIKE A MINI SOLAR SYSTEM AND THAT
THE ELECTRONS ORBITED THE NUCLEUS IN
A WIDE ORBIT. THAT IT WHY IT IS KNOWN AS
A PLANETARY MODEL
NIELS BOHR
TIMELINE: 1910’S
 In 1913, Neils Bohr made an improvement on
Rutherford’s model. In his model, he placed
each electron in specific energy levels. This
electron moved in definite orbits around the
nucleus just like the movement of planets
around the Sun in the solar system. These
orbits of energy levels were located at certain
distances around the nucleus.
 WAVE MODEL

- The theory of wave mechanics explains

that the movement of electrons about an
atom has no definite path. It is therefore
impossible to determine the exact location
of an electron. Scientists can only predict
the probable location of an electron. It is
based on how much energy it has.