Atoms:

Development of
the Atomic
Theory
What is an atom?
 What is an atom

• All matters are made up of

atoms

• Atoms are extremely small in 3

size
 Democritus
 460 BC - Greek philosopher proposed the
existence of the atom

 He pounded materials until he made them

into smaller and smaller parts

 He called them atoma which is Greek for

“indivisible”.
 Democritus

His Theory:
All atoms:
 Are small hard particles

 Are made of a single material formed into

different shapes and sizes

 Are always moving, and they form

different materials by joining together
 JohnDalton
1803 - British chemist; elements

combine in specific proportions to form
compounds
Solid Sphere Model
or Bowling Ball
Model Proposed by
John Dalton
JohnDalton
JohnDalton
 J.J. Thomson


1897 - English chemist and physicist;
discovered 1st subatomic particles
Plum Pudding Model
or Raisin Bun Model
Proposed by J.J.
Thomson
 J.J. Thomson
His Theory:


 Atoms contain negatively charged particles called

electrons and positively charged matter.

 Created a model to describe the atom as a sphere filled

with positive matter with negative particles mixed in

 Referred to it as the plum pudding model

 Ernest Rutherford

1912 - New Zealand physicist
discovered the nucleus

Nuclear Model
Proposed by Ernest
Rutherford
 Ernest Rutherford


His Theory:
Small, dense, positively charged particle
present in nucleus called a proton

Electrons travel around the nucleus, but

their exact places cannot be described.
 James Chadwick
 1932 - English physicist; discovered neutrons
 His Theory:
 Neutrons have no electrical charge.
 Neutrons have a mass nearly equal to the mass of a
proton.
 Unit of measurement for subatomic particles is the
atomic mass unit (amu).
Structure of an
Atom
 Structure of an Atom

• Shells
• Electrons
•
Protons
• + Nucleu
and
s
• Neutrons
16

•
Relative charges and
approximate relative
masses
Symbol of an
atom
 Symbol of an atom

Nucleon Number
Chemical
Symbol
Proton Number
19

E.g.
Proton number,
nucleon number
 Proton number

• Proton number (atomic number)

The number of protons in an

atom
21

• For an atom,
 Nucleon number

• Nucleon number (mass number)

= no. of protons + no.
neutrons

22

• No. of Neutrons
= Nucleon number – Proton number
 Example
Given ,

(a) What is the proton number?

Ans: 29

(b)What is the number of electrons in Cu atom?

Ans: 29
23

(c) What is the nucleon number?

Ans: 64
What are isotopes?
 What are isotopes

Isotopes:

Atoms of the same element

having the same number of
protons but different number of
neutrons