Physics 30

Atomic Models

Dalton’s “Billiard Ball” Model

The philosophers of ancient India and Greece reasoned that matter must
be made of small building blocks that cannot be cut into smaller pieces.
Democritus called these indivisible pieces of matter atoms.
John Dalton introduced the idea of atoms into modern science in
1803.
Dalton envisioned atoms as small spheres, with diDerent elements
distinguishable by the size of the sphere.
Dalton’s model explains why compounds are formed with particular
ratios of elements.
For example, if water molecules are made from two atoms of
hydrogen and one atom of oxygen (H2O), this would explain why
decomposition of water always produces twice as much hydrogen
gas by volume.
Dalton’s hard sphere or “billiard ball” model was also used
successfully to derive the kinetic molecular theory of gases, which
explains the ideal gas law, for example.

Thomson’s “Raisin Bun” Model

Once scientists realized that matter contained positive and negative

charges, it became necessary to revise the model.
Thomson’s CRT experiment had shown that the negative particles
were much smaller than the positive parts.
Thomson also showed that the negative parts (now called
electrons) were the same in all elements, but the positive parts
were diDerent.
He proposed the raisin bun (also called the plum pudding) model, in
which small negative particles (electrons) are embedded in a
positively charged sphere, like raisins in a bun.
In Thomson’s model, elements diDer by the size of the atom, and
also by the number of electrons.

Alpha Scattering Experiment

To test whether Thomson’s Raisin Bun Model of the atom was accurate,
Ernest Rutherford and his students, Geiger and Marsden, conducted the
alpha scattering experiment.
Alpha particles are small, positively charged particles that are
emitted at high speeds by radioactive materials such as radium and
uranium. (It was later discovered that alpha particles are just the
nuclei of helium-4 atoms.)
Rutherford, Geiger, and Marsden Yred alpha particles at a thin gold
foil.

If Thomson’s model was correct, the mass and charge in the gold
foil should be spread out uniformly, and the foil should aDect all of
the alpha particles in approximately the same way.
This is not what actually happened!
When Geiger and Marsden observed where the alpha particles hit a
\uorescent screen, they observed that most of the alpha particles
were not aDected by the foil.
But... a few scattered to very large angles!
Rutherford concluded that the Raisin Bun Model could not be
correct but it could not explain this behaviour.

Planetary Model

Rutherford developed the Planetary Model to explain the results of the

alpha scattering experiment.
In Rutherford’s model, the positive charge is concentrated in a small
but massive central volume called the nucleus.
The much smaller electrons orbit around the nucleus like the
planets around the Sun.
The electric attraction between the positive nucleus and negative
electrons produces the necessary centripetal acceleration.
Most of the atom’s volume is empty space.

Most of the alpha particles were unde\ected because they only

passed through empty space.
A small fraction of alpha particles passed close enough to the
nucleus to experience a much larger de\ection.
Rutherford calculated the distribution of scattering angles,
assuming the nucleus and alpha particles acted like very small
positive spheres repelling each other according to Coulomb’s Law.
His results matched the experimental data!

Nuclear Size

The size of the entire atom can be estimated at around 10−10  m for
smaller elements, based on the density of common solids or liquids.
Rutherford and his colleagues redid the experiment using a smaller
atom than gold (e.g. aluminum)
The data still matched Rutherford’s calculations for low kinetic
energies.
Once the alpha particle energy gets large enough, those particles
are able to pass into the nucleus, causing Rutherford’s calculations
to no longer be correct.
Using the kinetic energy at which this happens, Rutherford
estimated the size of the nucleus to be around 10−15  m for the
smallest elements and about 10−14  m for the largest ones.