Chemistry 8

Thomson atomic model

Earliest theoretical description of the inner structure of atoms, proposed about 1900 by Lord
Kelvin and strongly supported by Sir Joseph John Thomson, who had discovered (1897) the
electron, a negatively charged part of every atom. Though several alternative models were
advanced in the 1900s by Lord Kelvin and others, Thomson held that atoms are uniform spheres
of positively charged matter in which electrons are embedded. Popularly known as the plum-
pudding model, it had to be abandoned (1911) on both theoretical and experimental grounds in
favour of the Rutherford atomic model, in which the electrons describe orbits about a tiny
positive nucleus.
Thomson model: Introduction
In 1897, J.J.Thomson discovered a negatively charged particle known as an electron. Thomson
discovered electron by cathode ray tube experiment. Cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube.
Thomson assumed that an electron is two thousand times lighter than a proton and believed that
an atom is made up of thousands of electrons having the negative charge. In this model, he
considered atoms to have a cloud of negative charge and the positive charges. He along with
Rutherford was also the first to demonstrate the ionization of air by X-rays. Thomsons model
of an atom is similar to plum pudding model or a watermelon.
Postulates of Thomsons atomic model
An atom consists of a positively charged sphere with electrons filled into it. The negative
and positive charge present inside an atom are equal and as a whole, an atom is
electrically neutral.
Thomsons model of the atom was compared to plum pudding and watermelon. He
compared the red edible part of the watermelon to positively charged sphere whereas the
seeds of watermelon to negatively charged particles.
Limitations of Thomsons atomic model
This model of atom failed to explain how a positive charge holds the negatively charged
electrons in an atom.Therefore, it failed to explain the stability of an atom.
This theory also failed to account for the position of the nucleus in an atom.
Thomsons model failed to explain the scattering of alpha particles.

Although Thomsons model was not an accurate model to account for the atomic structure, it
proved to be the base for the development of other atomic models. The study of the atom and its
structure has paved the way for numerous inventions that have played a significant role in the
development of humankind.
 rutherford atomic model

Rutherford atomic model, also called nuclear atom or planetary model of the atom, description
of the structure of atoms proposed (1911) by the New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford.
The model described the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a nucleus, in
which nearly all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative constituents, called
electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around the Sun.

The nucleus was postulated as small and dense to account for the scattering of alpha particles
from thin gold foil, as observed in a series of experiments performed by undergraduate Ernest
Marsden under the direction of Rutherford and German physicist Hans Geiger in 1909. A
radioactive source capable of emitting alpha particles (i.e., positively charged particles, identical
to the nucleus of the helium atom and 7,000 times more massive than electrons) was enclosed
within a protective lead shield. The radiation was focused into a narrow beam after passing
through a slit in a lead screen. A thin section of gold foil was placed in front of the slit, and a
screen coated with zinc sulfide to render it fluorescent served as a counter to detect alpha
particles. As each alpha particle struck the fluorescent screen, it would produce a burst of light
called a scintillation, which was visible through a viewing microscope attached to the back of
the screen. The screen itself was movable, allowing Rutherford and his associates to determine
whether or not any alpha particles were being deflected by the gold foil.
Most alpha particles were observed to pass straight through the gold foil, which implied that
atoms are composed of large amounts of open space. Some alpha particles were deflected
slightly, suggesting interactions with other positively charged particles within the atom. Still
other alpha particles were scattered at large angles, while a very few even bounced back toward
the source. (Rutherford famously said later, 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.) Only a positively charged and
relatively heavy target particle, such as the proposed nucleus, could account for such strong
repulsion. The negative electrons that balanced electrically the positive nuclear charge were
regarded as traveling in circular orbits about the nucleus. The electrostatic force of attraction
between electrons and nucleus was likened to the gravitational force of attraction between the
revolving planets and the Sun. Most of this planetary atom was open space and offered no
resistance to the passage of the alpha particles.

The Rutherford model supplanted the plum-pudding atomic model of English physicist Sir
J.J. Thomson, in which the electrons were embedded in a positively charged atom like plums in
a pudding. Based wholly on classical physics, the Rutherford model itself was superseded in a
few years by the Bohr atomic model, which incorporated some early quantum theory.

Submitted by:
Jocel Rose A. Torres
Submitted to:
Natalie Fernandez