Atomic Structure

History of Atomic Theory

Democritus (460 - 370
BC)
• Was the first person to come up with the idea of
atom
• Believed that all matter was composed of
indivisible particles he called “ATOMS”
• Which is derived from the Greek word
“Atomos” – meaning indivisible
• He also believed that different atoms:
• Are different sizes
• Have different properties
• Other philosophers of that time did not agree
with his theories.
John Dalton (1766-
1844)
• Dalton is the “Father of
Atomic Theory”
• Dalton’s ideas were so
brilliant that they have
remained essentially intact up
to the present time and has
only been slightly corrected.
Dalton’s Atomic Theory (1803)
aka: 5 Postulates
1. All matter is composed of extremely small particles called atoms.
(I agree with Democritus!)
 
2. All atoms of a given element are identical, having the same:
- size
- mass
- chemical properties.

3. All atoms of different elements are different.

4. Atoms cannot be created, divided into smaller particles, or
destroyed.

**In a chemical reaction, atoms of different elements are separated,

joined or rearranged. They are never changed into the atoms of
another element. We will learn more later**
5. Atoms combine in definite whole number ratios to make
compounds (you can’t have a ½ of a Carbon bonding with Oxygen; it’s a
whole atom or no atom)
Dalton’s Atomic Model
•Based on Dalton’s Atomic Theory (5
postulates), most scientists in the 1800s
believed that the atom was like a tiny
solid ball that could not be broken up
into parts.
•Dalton was credited for the three
Atomic Laws that were proven after his
time.
Dalton’s Atomic Laws
1. Law of Conservation of Mass
Matter cannot be created or destroyed in any physical or chemical
process, just transferred.

2.     Law of Constant Composition

When atoms combine to form molecules, the ratio of atoms is
constant.
Example – H2O will always have 2 times as many Hydrogen atoms as
Oxygen.

3.     Law of Multiple Proportions – if two elements can combine to form more
than one compound, then the ratio of the second element combined with a
certain mass of the first element is always a ratio of small whole numbers.
JJ Thomson (1856-
1940)
• Used cathode rays to prove that
Dalton’s Solid-ball model could be
broken into smaller particles
•Thomson is credited with
discovering electrons
 Cathode Ray
Tubes
• Cathode rays had been used for some time
before Thompson’s experiments.
• A cathode ray is a tube that has a piece of
metal, called an electrode, at each end. Each
electrode is connected to a power source
(battery).
• When the power is turned on, the electrodes become
charged and produce a stream of charged particles.
They travel from cathode, across the tube to the anode.
Cathode Ray Tubes
• Thomson put the tube in a -----------------------------
magnetic field. He predicted
that the stream would travel in
a straight path.
• Instead, he found that the path ++++++++++++++
curved away from a negatively
charged plate and toward a •Like charges repel each other, and objects
positively charged plate with unlike charges attract each other,
Thomson concluded that the stream of
• Why? charged particles had electrons in them.
Cathode Ray Tube
Experiment
•Thompson Concluded:
•Cathode rays are made up of
invisible, negatively charged
particles called Electrons.

•These electrons had to come from the matter (atoms) of the negative electrode.

•Since the electrodes could be made from a variety of metals, then all atoms must
contain electrons!
Thomson’s Plum Pudding Model
•Thomson’s Plum Pudding model is a + charge sphere
that has (- )charged electrons scattered inside, like
“raisins” in “plum pudding”.
•Overall, the atom is neutral atom because the atom
had the same number of positive and negative charges.

•From Thomson’s experiments, scientists concluded that atoms

were not just neutral spheres, but somehow were composed of
electrically charged particles.
•The balance of positive and negative charge supports the neutral
atom.
Rutherford (1871-1937)
• Took Thomson’s Plum Pudding
Model and added to it
• Used the “Gold Foil Experiment” to
discover the existence of:
• An atomic Nucleus
• Protons (in later experiments)
Gold Foil Experiment
• Rutherford directed a narrow
beam of alpha particles (+ charges)
at a thin piece of gold foil.

• Based on observations from other

experiments involving alpha
particles, he predicted that the (+)
charges would go through the foil
Results from Gold Foil Experiment
•Rutherford found that every
once and a while, a + particle
was deflected bounced back.
(about 1% of the time)
•Why?
•Because the + charge hit a
central mass of positive charge
and was repelled.
Conclusions from Rutherford’s
Gold Foil Experiment
• The atom contains a positively charged “nucleus”

•This nucleus contains almost all of the mass of the atom, but occupies a
very small volume of the atom.

•The negatively charged electrons occupied most of the volume of the

atom.
• The atom is mostly empty space.
Rutherford’s Planetary Model
• To explain his observations,
Rutherford developed a new
model
•The electrons orbit the nucleus
like the planets revolve around
the sun.
 Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
• Worked in Rutherford’s lab
• Wondered why – electrons are
not attracted to the + nucleus and
cluster around it
• Disproved Rutherford’s
Planetary Model
• Experimented with light and its
interaction with matter to
develop a new model.
Bohr’s Energy Level Model
 Energy Level Model: Electrons are
arranged in circles around the nucleus.
Each circle has a different energy.
•Electrons are in constant motion,
traveling around the circle at the speed of
light.
•Electrons can “jump” from one circle to
the next
•But they can’t go to the nucleus they
traveling too fast to be fully attracted.
Bohr’s Energy Level Model
  He proposed the following:

1. Protons and neutrons are in the nucleus

2. Electrons can only be certain distances from the nucleus.
3. The electrons orbit the nucleus at fixed energy levels.
4. The electrons must absorb or emit a fixed amount of energy
to travel between these energy levels
Prepared by:
JONATHAN D.
CARAAN
B.S. E.C.E