Unit 1: Atomic Structure

AP Chemistry

Evolution of Atomic Theory

 Democritus – 400 B.C.
 Greek Philosopher
 Imagined particles
that were
indivisible
 Constituents of
matter
 Atom comes from
“atomos”
 Opposed Aristotle
Aristotle – 350 B.C.
 Widely accepted
theory that all
matter can be
continually
divided.
 Set science back
for thousands of
years.
 Alchemy
 A pseudoscience that superceded
scientific discoveries.
 Alchemists attempted to turn metals
into gold and developing the “elixir”
of life (able to cause immortality
and create life).
 Pierre Gassendi - 1650
 Reintroduced
Particulate theory
 No experimental
evidence
 Supported by Sir
Isaac Newton
Robert Boyle - 1661
 Studied Gases
 1st to use the term
element in its
current context in
his book The
Skeptical Chemist
 George Stahl - 1717
 Suggested
“phlogiston”
flowed from
burning material
 A necessary
ingredient of
combustible
material
Joseph Priestly - 1774
 discovered oxygen
supports
combustion
Antoine Lavoisier - 1778
 Developed Law of
Conservation of
Mass
 Explained
combustion
 Joseph Proust - 1799
 Developed “Proust’s
Law” using copper
oxide
 Later renamed, the
Law of Definite
Proportions
 Nearly discovered the
Law of multiple
proportions, but his
data used percentages
instead of weights.
John Dalton - 1802
 First to develop an
atomic theory. It
has 4 postulates.
 Each element is made
up of atoms
 Atoms of the same
element are identical
in mass and
properties. Atoms of
different elements
differ in some way.
John Dalton - 1802
 Compounds are made
when atoms combine.
If elements combine
in more than one
whole number ratio,
the resulting
compound has
different properties
 Chemical reactions
involve the
reorganization of
atoms.
 Amedeo Avogadro - 1811
 Developed
Avogadro’s Law.
Equal volumes of
gases have equal
number of
molecules at
constant
temperature and
pressure.
 Expanded Dalton’s
concept of atomic
masses
 J.J. Berzelius - 1813
 Established the 1st
system of using
letters to
represent
elements.
William Prout - 1815
 Proposed that
Hydrogen was the
fundamental
material that all
other elements
were made from.
All atomic masses
were multiples of
the mass of
hydrogen.
 Michael Faraday - 1833
 Found Faraday’s
Constant. 1 mole
of e- = 96500
coulombs.
Alexandre Béguyer de Chancourtois -
1862

 1st periodic
arrangement of
elements.
 Divided surface of
a cylindrical base
into 16 segments
because oxygen
has a mass of 16.
John Newland - 1863
 Developed the law
of octaves
 Properties of
elements repeat
every eighth
element.
 Dimitri Mendeleev - 1869
 Classification
based on chemical
properties.
 Considered the
first periodic table.
 Left gaps for
missing elements
and predicted their
properties
William Crookes - 1879
 Showed that
cathode rays
stream from the
negative pole
 Eugene Goldstein - 1886
 Discovered the proton using a
cathode ray tube.
 William Roentgen - 1895
 Discovered x-rays.
 Rays were
penetrating and of
short wavelength
 Henri Becquerel - 1896
 Discovered
radioactivity.
 Used uranium
salts
Marie Curie - 1897
 Student of
Becquerel
 Showed that
radioactivity is
atomic property
 Isolated radium
and polonium
 J.J. Thomson - 1897
 Determined the
mass/charge ratio
of the electron.
 5.69 x 10-9
 Used the cathode
ray tube
 Proposed a model
of the atom that
was mockingly
called the “plum
pudding” model
Robert Millikan - 1909
 Determined the
charge of the
electron using the
famous oil-drop
experiment
 1.60 x 10-19
 From this and
Thomson’s value,
the mass was
calculated to be
9.11 x 10-28g
 Ernest Rutherford - 1911
 Performed the
famous gold foil
experiment
 Determined 3
things
 The atom is mostly
empty space
 The nucleus is
positively charged
 The nucleus is a
small dense part of
the atom
Gold Foil Experiment
Gold Foil Experiment
 Henry Moseley - 1913
 Calculated atomic
number by
determining the
nuclear charge of
an atom.
Niels Bohr - 1913
 Observed spectral
lines for hydrogen
 Proposed an orbit
theory of the
electron around
the atom.
Bohr Model
Hydrogen Spectrum
Gilbert Lewis - 1916
 Suggested that
noble gases have
8 valence
electrons
 Atoms will gain or
lose electrons to
achieve 8 outer
electrons.
Louis De broglie - 1924
 Suggested that
matter could
exhibit wave
properties
 Observed
diffraction patterns
in electrons
 Wolfgang Pauli - 1924
 Pauli Exclusion
Principle – 2
electrons cannot
have the same 4
quantum numbers
Erwin Schrödinger - 1926
 Developed a wave
equation.
 Mathematical
function that
described the
nature of the
electron
 James Chadwick - 1932
 Discovered the
neutron
 Other Contributions
 C.D. Anderson – 1932
 Discovered the positron
 Enrico Fermi – 1940
 Prepared more than 40 radioactive
elements