Atomic Structure

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 Learning objectives

• To preview plum pudding model,

Rutherford model, Isotope and size of an
atom.
 Democritus atomic model
(2500 years ago)
• Suggested world was made of two
things – empty space and “atomos”
• Atomos – Greek word for uncuttable
• 2 Main ideas
• Atoms are the smallest possible
particle of matter
• There are different types of atoms
for each material

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John Dalton’s Atomic Theory
1804
1. All matter is made of atoms.
2. Atoms of one element are all the same.
3. Atoms cannot be broken down into
smaller parts
4. Compounds form by combining atoms

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 J.J. Thomson

1897
• Discovered the electron

• He was the first scientist to show the atom was made

of even smaller things
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 Early ideas about the atom:
The plum pudding model

• JJ Thomson suggested that an atom is a positively-

charged sphere with negative electrons distributed
throughout it

• Thomson’s model became known as the plum pudding

model, because the electrons in the atom were thought
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to be like raisins in a plum pudding.
 Nuclear model of atom by
Rutherford and his team
1911 Rutherford, Geiger and Marsden performed an experiment

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 Observations and conclusions

Observation: Most of alpha

partcles passed through the
gold foil with little or no
deviation from their original
path

Conclusion: The majority of

the mass of an atom is
concentrated in a very small
volume at the centre of the
atom. Most α-particles would,
therefore, pass through the
foil undeviated. 8
 Observations and conclusions

Observation: A small number

of particles were deviated
through an angle of more than
about 10°

Conclusion: The centre (or

nucleus) of an atom is charged.
α-particles, which are also
charged, passing close to the
nucleus will experience a
repulsive force causing them
to deviate. 9
 Observations and conclusions

Observation: An extremely
small number of particles (one
in ten thousand) were deflected
through an
angle greater than 90°.

Conclusion: Only α-particles that pass

very close to the nucleus, almost
striking it head-on, will experience
large enough repulsive forces to cause
them to deviate through angles
greater than 90°. The fact that so
few particles did so confirms that the
nucleus is very small, and
that most of the atom is empty space. 10
Rutherford model of atom

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 Plum pudding Vs nuclear model

Plum pudding Nuclear model

Atom is solid sphere Atom is mostly empty space

Negative electrons Electrons orbit the nucleus

distributed throughout the
atom
Positive charge throughout Positive charge
the atom concentrated in the centre
No nucleus Contains a nucleus

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Checkpoint

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 Checkpoint

Why Rutherford used gold foil?

Rutherford used gold for his scattering experiment because gold is

the most malleable metal and he wanted the thinnest layer as
possible. The gold sheet used was around 1000 atoms thick.
Therefore, Rutherford selected a Gold foil in his alpha scatttering
experiment.

Malleable: (of a metal or other material)

able to be hammered or pressed into
shape without breaking or cracking
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