Transcript The Atom
The Atom
A walk through the historical
development of the atom
THE ANCIENT GREEKS
Democritus
400 B.C.E.
The world is made-up of:
Empty Space
Tiny particles (called atoms)
PROBLEM
Aristotle
• He proposed matter was continuous
• It was not composed of tiny particles
• The concept of earth, wind, air and fire as
elements was born
Who did they follow for years?
Aristotle
17TH CENTURY
• People (scientists) began to express doubt
about Aristotle’s idea on matter.
• Isaac Newton (inventor of calculus) and
Robert Boyle began publishing articles in
support of an atom centered world.
• But, they did not have any experimental
evidence to back-up their claim.
Lavoisier
He found that the mass of a reaction remains
the same in a closed system.
This is known as the conservation of mass law
Proust
He found that certain substances always contain
the same ratios by mass.
2H = 1 O
H2O
Known as the law of definite proportions
Dalton
John Dalton took the information from Lavoiser
and Proust to form his 4 part proposal.
1. All matter is composed of atoms that are
indivisible.
2. Atoms of the same element are identical;
atoms of different elements are dissimilar.
3. Atoms can unite with other atoms in simple
numerical ratios to form compounds
(law of multiple proportions)
4. A chemical reaction involves only the
separation, combination or rearrangement of
atoms; it does not result in their reaction or
destruction.
Particle Model is Born
Accepted or Ignored?
Oh, it was ignored
Why?
He did not have enough experimental evidence
to support all of his claims.
J. L. Gay Lussac
• He observed that by keeping temperature and
pressure constant, the volume of reacting
gases and the products are in small whole
numbers.
Ameloe Avagadro
He stated:
“equal volumes of gases under the same
conditions, have the same number of
molecules.”
Getting inside the atom
Going beyond the particle model
MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY
J.J. Thomson
• Used a cathode ray tube to determine the
ratio of an electron’s charge to its mass.
• He did this by bending the rays and carefully
measuring the resulting bend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHwMWcx
eX8
Cathode Ray Tube
Outside is made of glass and it is connected to a
high voltage of electricity.
Electrodes are at the ends of the tube and they
become charged.
Cathode Ray Tube
The positive electrode is the anode and the
negative electrode is the cathode.
Rays travel to the anode.
Cathode Ray Tube
The rays are electrons
Electrons have a negative charge
Therefore the opposite charges attract
Robert Millikan
Obtained the 1st accurate measurement of an
electron’s charge.
He used oil drops and charged plates
Oil Drop
Using Millikan and Thomson’s discoveries, we
know the mass of an electron.
Protons
Also discovered in a modified cathode ray tube
Thomson demonstrated that these were also
particles.
They had the opposite charge of electrons.
The ray left the anode and went to the cathode.
Plum Pudding Model
1920
Lord Rutherford predicted the existence of a third
particle
This was due to the lack of mass accounted by the
total mass of the protons and the electrons
1930
1st evidence of the 3rd particle
1932
Chadwick had concrete evidence published which
established the existence of the neutron
This particle had no charge and it approximately
had the same mass as a proton.
Lord Rutherford provided evidence that the
plum pudding model might not work based
upon faulty predictions.
It predicts that if you shoot small particles at the
atom, many of these particles will reflect back.
Very few will pass through.
What they discovered was that most of the
particles passed right through, but some were
deflected.
A few particles came right back to the point
where the particles were shot.
What this suggested:
The large particles are not spread out
throughout the atom.
The alpha particles had a positive charge
So…. they needed to revise the plum pudding
model.
The revision moved the protons to the center
with the electrons outside. (at this time they did
not have neutrons, since that particle was not
discovered until the 1930’s)
The protons were moved to the center because
they were large and they had a positive charge
(like charges repel).
Rutherford Model of the Atom
Bohr Model
The Bohr Model further refined Rutherford’s
proton centered model by have the electrons in
concentric circles orbiting the center.
The central area was named the nucleus.
The Bohr model is sometimes called the
planetary atomic model.