Models of an

Atom Based on
Democritus (400 BC)
Democritus was a Greek philosopher who
was the first person to use the term atom
(atomos: meaning indivisible). He thought that
if you take a piece of matter and divide it and
continue to divide it you will eventually come to
a point where you could not divide it any more.
This fundamental or basic unit was what
Democritus called an atom.
John Dalton (1800’s)
John Dalton was the first to adapt Democritus’
theory into the first modern atomic model.
His atomic models are:
1. All matter consists of tiny particles called
atoms.
2. Atoms are indestructible and unchangeable.
3. Elements are characterized by the weight of
their atoms.
4. When elements react, it is their atoms that
Joseph John Thomson (1890’s)
When the idea of an atom was first proposed by
the ancient Greeks, they thought it was a particle
with no parts. However the 19th century, J.J
Thomson was able to discover that atoms have
negatively-charged particles, which he called
electrons. It led him to propose a new model for
an atom, which he called the plum pudding
model. He also proposed that the negatively-
charged electrons were embedded in a kind of
These are the key points to Thomson’s
Atomic Model:
1. Because of its design this model is known
as the plum pudding model.
2. Each atom is a sphere filled with
positively charged ‘fluid’. This resembles
the sticky jam part of a pudding.
3. Corpuscles (later called electrons), are the
negatively charged particles suspended in
PLUM PUDDING MODEL
Ernest Rutherford (1910’s)
A group of scientists composed of Ernest Rutherford, Johannes
Wilhelm Geiger and Ernest Marsden tested Thomson’s model by
bombarding a very thin sheet of gold foil with positively-charged
alpha particles. In their experiment, the nucleus was postulated as
small and dense to account for the scattering of alpha particles
from thin gold foil. The observations made by Rutherford led him
to conclude that:
1. Very few of the (α) particles that practically bounced back
towards the source and some that were deflected at smaller angles.
Hence the positive charge in an atom is not uniformly distributed.
2. Major fraction of the (α) particles bombarded towards the gold
Niels Bohr (1910’s)
Niels Bohr agreed with the planetary model of the atom, but also
knew that it had a few flaws. Using his knowledge of energy and
quantum physics he was able to perfect Rutherford’s model. He was
able to answer why the electrons did not collapse into the nucleus.

He theorized that:
1. Electrons orbit the nucleus in orbits that have a specific size and
energy.
2. The energy of the orbit is related to its size. The lowest energy is
found in the smallest orbit.
3. Electrons reside in orbits. They move between each shell when
gaining and losing energy.
Erwin Schrodinger (1920’s)
Schrodinger was a revolutionary physicist who used
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to come up with the
atomic model that we still use today.

He discovered that:
1. Electrons don’t move around the nucleus in orbits.
2. Electrons exist in specific energy levels as a cloud.
3. The electron cloud is the region of negative charges,
which surrounds the nucleus.
4. Orbital: The region with a high probability of containing
electrons