A Brief History of

Atomic Theory
This Section will focus on Scientists
who have had an impact on the
study of the atom.

Ready To Meet Them?

Democritus

470-380 B.C.

Democritus proposed that

matter cannot be broken
down indefinitely. At some
point you end up with a
piece that cant be
divided. That smallest
piece he called an atom,
from the Greek word
atomos, which means
indivisible.
Next Slide

Democritus Model

Atomos
ATOMOS was the word Democritus used the
point, or stage where matter cannot be broken
down any further. ATOMOS literally means
indivisible

John Dalton

1766 - 1844

John Dalton was a

British chemist.He was
the first modern
scientist to propose the
existence of atoms.He
described an atom as an
invisible indestructible,
solid sphere, like a
billiard ball.

Daltons Model

The Indivisible Sphere

Sir Joseph J.J.

Thomson
J.J. Thomson was a

1856 - 1940

British physicist who was

the first scientist to
propose the plum pudding
model. He was also the
first to propose the theory
of the negatively charged
electron. He was credited
for the discovery. He also
proposed the isotope.

Thomson plum pudding model

Ernest
Ernest Rutherford
Rutherford
experiments proved

1871- 1937

that atoms are mostly

empty space
Discovered the nuclear,
which contains
positively charged
particles .Was the first
to suggest that
electrons circle the
dense nucleus.

Rutherfords Model

Nucleus
It has a
+ charge

Electron Negative charge

Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr stated that

electrons move in
different orbits, or
energy levels, around the
nucleus like planets orbit
the sun. Each energy
level is located a specific
1885 - 1962
distance from the
nucleus and contains a
certain number of
electrons.

Next Slide

Bohr Model
Nucleus

Energy
levels
Electronnegative charge

Current Model

This model is
based upon Bohrs
model, except that
electrons orbit the
nucleus in random
patterns. The
region where these
particles are found
is referred to as
the electron cloud.

Electron Clouds
Nucleus

Next Slide

Demitri Mendeleev
Demitri Mendeleev was a
Russian scientist. He was
the first person to make
the periodic table. He also
wrote a chemistry
book.The periodic table is
a tool to help read
elements.

Mendeleevs Table

Modern Periodic Table

How to Read the Table

Atomic
Number

Chemical
Symbol

Element
Name

6
2
C
4
carbon

Number of
Electrons
in each
energy
field

12.01115

Atomic Mass

Calculating Atomic Mass

To find the Atomic
Mass, you look at the
bottom number in the
Atom tile and round it
to the nearest whole
number.

Atomic
Mass

C
Carbon
12.01115

How to find number of protons

Atomic Number/
number of Protons
The number of Protons in
atom is also the Atomic
number, so therefore the
Atomic number also
represents the amount of
Protons in the nucleus of
that Atom.

C
CARBON
12.01115

How to Find the Amount of

Neutrons in an Atom
To find the amount
of neutrons in an
atom you have to
subtract the atomic
mass from the
atomic number .
Atomic
Mass
Atomic
Number

16
S

2
8
6

sulfur
32.064
32
16
16

Number of
protons

To determine amount of electrons

2
4

C
CARBON
12.01115

To find the
number of
electrons in an
atom, look at the
numbers in the
right side. To
determine the
number of energy
levels count the
number of side
numbers and
there you go!!!

How to tell what period the

element is listed
33

AS

8
18
5

ARSENIC
74.9160

THE
4APPEARS
ENERGY IN
LEVELS
4TH PERIOD

What's the BIG difference

The big difference between an element,
compound, and a molecule is
Element: a substance made up of only 1 kind of
atom

Compound: a substance made up of 2 or more

DIFFERENT elements
Molecule: a grouping of 2 or more atoms joined
together

For instance . . .
This is an atom of an
element. As you can
see, it is made up of
only one kind of atom

. . In this case
Hydrogen

Now, with a compound

H
O

When two or more

atoms are put
together it makes a
compound.

How elements are formed

Elements are formed with a nucleus, and
inside the nucleus is protons and neutrons.
Around the nucleus are energy fields, and
inside the energy fields are are electrons.

Sulfur

Vocabulary
Electron
Neutron
Proton
Nucleus
Compound
Atom
Isotope
element

Electron
fields
Mass
Atomic
structure
Periodic table
Chemical
symbol

Suggested Vocabulary
Element name
chemist
properties
matter
electron cloud
synthetic
metal
metalloid

Solid
liquid
gas
noble gasses
subatomic
Nonmetals
particles

Check out some of these helpful

websites to do some research of
your own . . .
A periodic table of Elements
Periodic Table Adventure
Science Education at Jeffers
on Lab

Contributor's
Jessica Osorio
Rebekah Flores
Morgan Chacon
Karly Perez
Julian Rojas Nick Waldovogel
Tony Rinaldi
Lennis Montoya
Josh Quezada
Josh Olea
Jackie Cakmak