Atomic theory

Atoms: the structure, the history and more

An atom is present at the most basic level in everything we see around us. In fact, atoms
compose every living organism. Matter makes up every non-living thing around us such as
tables, chairs, water, etc. But the building blocks of matter are atoms. Thus, the composition of
everything, living or non-living, is atoms.

The history of the atom

Ancient times: they knew atoms existed…These scholars imagined atoms as varying in shape
depending on the type of atom. They envisaged iron atoms as having hooks which locked them
together, explaining why iron was a solid at room temperature. Water atoms were smooth and
slippery, explaining why water was a liquid at room temperature and could be poured. Though
we now know that this is not the case, their ideas laid the foundations for future atomic models.
1. Solid sphere model- John Dalton
His theory stated that atoms are indivisible; the parts which make up an atom cannot be
classified (which we now know to be untrue because of the parts of an atom, which we will learn
soon)
He coined the word atom from the Greek word atomos means indivisible.
However, his the part of his theory recognized that atoms of a particular element differ from
other elements= correct
2. Plum pudding model - J.J. Thompson
- Discovered electrons and produced the plume pudding model, which was a model that
shoes the atom as being composed of electrons being scattered across a spherical
cloud of positive charge (basically a circle of positivity and little negative signs around it)
- The problem with this theory is that he didnt explain his experimental observations and
no nucleus?
English physicist Joseph John (JJ) Thomson discovered that the atom wasn’t as indivisible as
previously claimed. He carried out experiments using cathode rays (a beam of electrons emitted
from the cathode of a high-vacuum tube.) produced in a discharge tube and found that the rays
were attracted by positively charged metal plates but repelled by negatively charged ones. From
this, he deduced the rays must be negatively charged.
By measuring the charge on the particles in the rays, he was able to deduce that they were two
thousand times lighter than hydrogen, and by changing the metal the cathode was made from
he could tell that these particles were present in many types of atoms. He had discovered the
electron (though he referred to it as a ‘corpuscle’), and shown that atoms were not indivisible,
but had smaller constituent parts. This discovery would win him a Nobel Prize in 1906.
In 1904, he put forward his model of the atom based on his findings. Dubbed ‘The Plum
Pudding Model’ (though not by Thomson himself), it envisaged the atom as a sphere of positive
charge, with electrons dotted throughout like plums in a pudding. Scientists had started to peer
into the atom’s innards, but Thomson’s model would not hang around for long – and it was one
of his students who provided the evidence to consign it to history.

3. Nuclear model- Ernest Rutherford

Rutherford devised an experiment to probe atomic structure which involved firing positively
charged alpha particles at a thin sheet of gold foil. The alpha particles were so small they could
pass through the gold foil, and according to Thomson’s model which showed the positive charge
diffused over the entire atom, they should do so with little or no deflection. By carrying out this
experiment, he hoped to be able to confirm Thomson’s model, but he ended up doing exactly
the opposite.
During the experiment, most of the alpha particles did pass through the foil with little or no
deflection. However, a very small number of the particles were deflected from their original paths
at very large angles. This was completely unexpected; as Rutherford himself observed, “It was
almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back
and hit you”. The only possible explanation was that the positive charge was not spread
throughout the atom, but concentrated in a small, dense centre: the nucleus. Most of the rest of
the atom was simply empty space.
Rutherford’s discovery of the nucleus meant the atomic model needed a rethink. He proposed a
model where the electrons orbit the positively charged nucleus. While this was an improvement
on Thomson’s model, it didn’t explain what kept the electrons orbiting instead of simply spiralling
into the nucleus.

4. Planetary model - Niels Bohr

Bohr was a Danish physicist who set about trying to solve the problems with Rutherford’s
model. He realised that classical physics could not properly explain what was going on at the
atomic level; instead, he invoked quantum theory to try and explain the arrangement of
electrons. His model postulated the existence of energy levels or shells of electrons. Electrons
could only be found in these specific energy levels; in other words, their energy was quantised,
and couldn’t take just any value. Electrons could move between these energy levels (referred to
by Bohr as ‘stationary states’), but had to do so by either absorbing or emitting energy.
Bohr’s suggestion of stable energy levels addressed the problem of electrons spiralling into the
nucleus to an extent, but not entirely. The exact reasons are a little more complex than we’re
going to discuss here because we’re getting into the complex world of quantum mechanics; and
as Bohr himself said, “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t
understood it yet”. In other words, it gets kind of weird.
Bohr’s model didn’t solve all the atomic model problems. It worked well for hydrogen atoms, but
couldn’t explain observations of heavier elements. It also violates the Heisenberg Uncertainty
Principle, one of the cornerstones of quantum mechanics, which states we can’t know both the
exact position and momentum of an electron. Still, this principle wasn’t postulated until several
years after Bohr proposed his model. Despite all this, Bohr’s is probably still the model of the
atom you’re most familiar with since it’s often the one first introduced during high school or
secondary school chemistry courses. It still has its uses too; it’s quite handy for explaining
chemical bonding and the reactivity of some groups of elements at a simple level.

5. Quantum model - Erwin Schrodinger