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HISTORY OF ATOMS Bhavya

8-C
DEMOCRITUS’S IDEA
Democritus is a Greek philosopher who introduced his ideas about the atoms around
450 BC. He thought that everything was made up of tiny particles and that atoms
(also known as atomos) were indivisible and indestructible. He came up with this idea
when he was walking on the sand. As he walked on the sand, he thought of how the
sand used to be pebbles. These pebbles would’ve been broken down apart, forming
sand. He thought that sand would break down into bits of smaller pieces again and
again till it can’t break apart any further. The particle that would be left was the
smallest individual particle, in other words the atom. However, a Greek philosopher
Aristotle, rejected his ideas of atoms as it was lacking of evidence. Aristotle’s ideas
were accepted for more than 2000 years whereas his ideas were more or less
forgotten.
JOHN DALTON
Around 1800, a British chemist named John Dalton revived Democritus’s early ideas about the atom. He
made a living by teaching and just did research in his spare time. Nonetheless, from his research results,
he developed one of the most important theories in science. John Dalton did many experiments that
provided evidence for atoms. For example, he studied the pressure of gases, and also researched the
properties of compound. He showed that a compound always consists of the same elements in the same
ratio. On the other hand, different compounds always consist of different elements or ratios. This can
happen, Dalton reasoned, only if elements are made of tiny particles that can combine in an endless
variety of ways. From his research, Dalton developed a theory of the atom.
The atomic theory Dalton developed consists of these ideas:
• All substances are made of atoms. Atoms are the smallest particles of matter.
•They can’t be divided into smaller particles. They also can’t be created or destroyed.
•All atoms of the same element are alike and have the same mass. Atoms of different elements are
different and have different masses.
•Atoms join together to form compounds. A given compound always consists of the same kinds of atoms in
the same ratio.
J.J THOMSON
J.J Thomson discovered electrons and noticed that an atom can be divided. Also, he
concluded atoms are made of positive cores and negatively charged particles within
it. He developed the Plum Pudding Model before the atomic nucleus was discovered.
This model shows that the electrons are surrounded by a “pudding” of positive
charges to balance the negative charges.
RUTHERFORD & GOLD FOIL EXPERIMENT
In 1911 Rutherford was the first to discover that atoms have a small charged nucleus
surrounded by largely empty space, and are circled by tiny electrons, which became
known as the Rutherford model. Rutherford overturned Thomson’s model in 1911 with
his well-known gold foil experiment in which he demonstrated that the atom has a tiny
and heavy nucleus. Rutherford designed an experiment to use alpha particles emitted
by a radioactive element as probes to the unseen world of atomic structure. If
Thomson was correct, the beam would go straight through the gold foil. Most of the
beams went through the foil, but a few were reflected.
RUTHERFORD’S MODEL
Rutherford’s new model for the atom, based on the experimental results, contained
the new features of a relatively high central charge concentrated into a very small
volume in comparison to the rest of the atom and with this central volume also
containing the bulk of the atomic mass of the atom.