History of the Atom & Atomic Structure

1. Atomic Structure History of the Atom & Atomic Structure

2. History of the Atom • Democritus (460 BC – 360 BC) • Ancient Greek philosopher • No experiments performed! • Major Contribution: The Atom • He proposed that everything was made of these atoms and they were all indivisible • Was his theory correct? • No! There are subatomic particles!

3. History of the Atom • John Dalton (1766-1844) • Major Contribution: Atomic Theory (1808) • This began the modern era of chemistry • Four Principles: • Elements are composed of indivisible particles called atoms. • All atoms of a given element are identical.

4. History of the Atom • John Dalton • Compounds are composed of atoms of one or more elements, and will form only in whole-number ratios. • This is called the Law of Multiple Proportions • i.e. H2O exists, while H2.35O does not • A chemical reaction involves the combination, separation, or rearrangement of atoms, not their creation or destruction • This is called the Law of Conservation of Mass • Was his theory correct? • Mostly! Still thought atom indivisible!

5. History of the Atom • J.J. Thomson (1856-1940) • Major Contribution: The Electron • Cathode Ray Tube Experiment (1897) • Nobel prize (1906)

6. History of the Atom • J.J. Thomson

7. History of the Atom • Thomson’s Atomic Model • Also known as the Plum Pudding Model • Was his theory correct? • No! Missing other parts of atom!

8. History of the Atom • Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) • Two Major Contributions: • The nucleus • The atom is mostly empty space • Gold Foil Experiment (1910) • Nobel prize in Chemistry (1908)

9. History of the Atom • Ernest Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment

10. History of the Atom • Rutherford’s Atomic Model • Was his theory correct? • Mostly! Missing neutrons and location of electrons!

11. History of the Atom • Niels Bohr (1885-1962) • Major Contribution: Planetary Model of the Atom • Nobel Prize in Physics (1922) for spectrum of hydrogen • Atomic Line Spectra • Bohr observed that when light was given off from an atom, there were only single lines visible • Bohr proposed that each line represented an electron in a different orbit

12. History of the Atom • Atomic Line Spectra

13. History of the Atom • Bohr’s Atomic Model Electrons Nucleus

14. History of the Atom • Current Theory of the Atom • Many scientists contributed to developing quantum mechanics, which is the current model of the atom • Known as the electron cloud model • The cloud is an area of probability where the electron is found • These electrons, moving at extremely high speeds, effectively occupy the entire area of the cloud, the same way that moving fan blades effectively occupy the entire area through which they pass.

15. History of the Atom • Current Model of the Atom: Probability cloud where electrons found Nucleus

16. Atomic Structure • Parts of the Atom • Proton • Positive • Nucleus • Neutron • Neutral • Nucleus • Electron • Negative • Outside Nucleus

17. Atoms and the Periodic Table • Atoms are identified by their number of protons • This is referred to as their atomic number • All atoms of the same element have the same number of protons

18. Atoms & Charges • In atoms that have a neutral charge, the numbers of electrons equals the number of protons

19. Mass of an Atom • The mass of an atom is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons • This is also referred to as mass number • The mass of protons and neutrons are equal

20. Electrons and Mass of Atom • Why is the electron not part of the mass? • It takes roughly 1800 electrons to equal the mass of 1 proton, so it is left out. • Think of electrons like flies buzzing around an elephant (the nucleus)

21. Mass Number and Periodic Table • The periodic table does not give the mass number, but always the atomic number • For simplicity, we round the number on the periodic table to get the mass number Round this number to whole number

22. Isotopes • Isotopes are elements that have the same number of protons, but contains a different number of neutrons • Example: carbon-12 and carbon-14 • The number indicates the mass number • Both contain the same number of protons (6), so carbon-14 must have two extra neutrons

23. Isotopes & Periodic Table • The masses given on the periodic table are an average of all the isotopes on the planet • We refer to the masses on the periodic table as the average atomic mass of an element • This explains why the atomic masses are not whole numbers – it is an average!