Development of Models of The Atom

S.
S
Thursday 12th Sept
2b. Development of the model of the atom
The different models showing the development of the atom highlights the 3 main skills which
define chemistry: maths, experimentation and logic. The atom was originally discovered by
logic. The model highlighting the skill of experimentation came much later and determined
the constituents of the atom. The last model, highlighting the skill of mathematics,
determined the structure of the atom’s constituents.
Democritus, a Greek philosopher originally developed the idea of the atom around the year
400 BCE. He hypothesised that if an object is divided in half continuously, there comes a
point where the object can no longer be divided. He called this indivisible object ‘Atomos’
uncuttable. However, because the concept of matter being composed of tiny particles which
were uncuttable was largely rejected at the time, thus he had no evidence or proof and people
could not imagine that the atom existed, many thought all matter was divisible. There was no
point when continuously dividing an object that you could no longer divide. Yet, he thought
that every object had a unique atom for example cheese was made up of a cheese atom.
However, it wasn’t until much later, around the 18th century, that the Democritus theory was
proved to be wrong. This was due to experiments led by John Dalton, which were the first
experiments with gases, at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These experiments
developed the idea of the modern theory of the atom based on the following assumptions.
1. All matter is made of atoms
2. All atoms of a given element are identical, with the same mass, but have different
masses frim the atoms of other elements
3. A compound is a combination of the atoms of 2 or more elements in a specific ratio
4. Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed
5. In a chemical reaction, atoms in the reactants rearrange to give the products of the
reaction
He realised that there are only a limited number of types of atoms called elements. Dalton
assumed that water contains one atom of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen and concluded
that an oxygen atom must weigh 5.6 times more than a hydrogen atom. With the Dalton
constructed a table of the relative atomic weights of a handful of elements.
He thought that every oxygen atom bond to one hydrogen atoms in a specific ratio. But he
thought that these atoms were held together by tiny hooks. However, he thought of atoms as
spherical hard objects, a bit like a marble. Dalton’s theory formed the basis for understanding
chemical reactions, formulae and chemical equations and allowed huge advances in the 19th
century. The needs of the industrial revolution lead to advances in industrial chemistry, new
manufacturing processes for the production of: dyes, bleech, acids and alkalis were
developed.
In 1903, J.J. Thompson updated developed the model of the atom further by discovering the
existence of the electron. He discovered that all metals, when heated give off electrons. And
using a cathode ray tube - a gas filled tube with an electrode at each end emits light (provided
by the cathode) when an electrical current is passed through them – he was able to measure
their mass to charge ratio m/e. He found the mass of the electron to be nearly 1/2000 the mass
of a hydrogen atom.
He measured how much heat they generated to measure the mass of rays – it was about
1/1000 times lighter than hydrogen – and so he had discovered a new particle, the smallest bit
of matter known and called them ‘corpuscles’ (we now know them as electrons). If you hold
a magnet above the cathode ray, then the ray will bend.
He knew that these particles were negatively charged because they had the same charge as
the ray and so realised that the model of the atom needed to be updated. Thompson proposed
a model of the atom consisting of positive and negative charges, present in equal amounts so
that an atom would be neutral. He thought that the atom was a sphere of positive charge and
that electrons were scattered randomly in it like plums in a plum pudding. He called his
model the plum pudding model.
Ernest Rutherford was the next scientist who developed the idea of the structure of the atom
further. He realised that the atom was designed in a specific structure with a nucleus where
all the positive charge was concentrated in the centre.
He conducted an experiment using an extremely thin layer of gold foil. He shot alpha (4/2 He
nucleus) particles which were emitted from a radioactive source at a gold leaf. The detecting
screen around the gold foil was coated with zinc sulphide which would light up at the specific
point where the alpha particle hit it every time an alpha particle was fired.
Rutherford predicted that the alpha particles would fly through with no deflection because all
of the atoms have a neutral charge, however they did not. The result showed that some were
reflected but some deflected back. He discovered the nucleus and from his experiment he
made 8 major conclusions:
1. An atom contains a small, central positively charged nucleus

2. The diameter of the nucleus is about 1/10,000 that of the atom
3. Almost all the mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus
4. The electrons orbit the nucleus
5. The number of electrons in a neutral atom of an element is equal to the number of
protons in the nucleus
6. The mass number of an isotope is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in
the nucleus of an atom of that isotope.
7. The nucleus also contains a number of neutrons – the number varies from atom to
atom – the neutron has no charge
8. The nucleus of an atom of a particular element contains a fixed number of positively
charged protons – called the atomic number
Niels Bohr – discovered that electrons aren’t stationary but travel around the nucleus in
specific orbital and energy shells with set distances form the nucleus. By using mathematics,
he discovered 3 principles about the electron
1. Electrons orbit the nucleus in orbits that have a set size and energy.
2. The energy of the orbit is related to its size. The lowest energy is found in the smallest
orbit.
3. Radiation is absorbed or emitted when an electron moves from one orbit to another
Heisenberg using quantum mechanics realised that you can’t predict an electrons position. He
stated that it is impossible to know both position and velocity of an electron – this principle is
known as Heisenberg’s uncertainty and that the more you know about one of the variables the
harder it is to know about the other. So, it is impossible to know how an electron orbits and it
what position it orbits the nucleus.
He came up with quantum theory stating electrons aren’t waves or particles but have
properties of both and neither. The position of the electron could therefore only be described
by probability – there are certain regions where it is more likely that the electron is - these
regions are called orbitals.
In conclusion the development of the understanding of the atom, from Dalton to Rutherford
and beyond is an example of how science works. A theory is suggested, based on
experimental evidence, and that theory is modified steadily as more experimental evidence is
obtained.
Bibliography:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwn8b82/revision/1
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1922/bohr/biographical/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Werner-Heisenberg
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/electronic-structure-of-atoms/history-of-
atomic-structure/a/discovery-of-the-electron-and-nucleus
https://www.universetoday.com/60058/democritus-atom/
https://www.biography.com/scientist/john-dalton

Development of Models of The Atom

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Development of Models of The Atom

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Development of Models of The Atom

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

S.

1. All matter is made of atoms

3. A compound is a combination of the atoms of 2 or more elements in a specific ratio

4. Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed

1. An atom contains a small, central positively charged nucleus

You might also like