What are

you MADE
OF?
Atom is the basic
unit of matter
What do we know about
Atom?
ATOMIC TIMELINE THEORY
Let’s Take a Trip
Through Time!
However, these people did not have
our current understanding of the
substances that made up those
objects.
492 BCE -432 BC Empedocles
•Empedocles argued that
all matter was composed
of four elements: fire, air,
water, and earth.

•The ratio of these four

elements affected the
properties of the matter.
Why is the
theory
rejected?
Regardless of how many times you
break a stone in half, the pieces
never resemble any of the core
e elements of fire, air, water, or
earth.
AROUND 440 BCE Democritus
He asked:
Could matter be
divided into smaller
and smaller pieces
forever, or was
there a limit to the
number of times a
piece of matter
could be divided?
AROUND 440 BCE • He named the smallest
piece of matter
“atomos,” meaning “not
to be cut” / “Indivisible””
• atoms were small, hard
particles that were all
made of the same
material but were
different shapes and
sizes.
• Atoms were infinite in
number, always moving
and capable of joining
together.
 atomos were specific to the
material that they made up

meaning that the atomos of stone

were unique to stone and different
from the atomos of other materials,
I BET TO DISAGREE
WITH YOUR
ATOMOS!

ARISTOTLE
 1808 John Dalton
He revisited
Democritus’s idea

Suggested:
all matter was
made up of tiny spheres
that were able to
bounce around with
perfect elasticity and
called them ATOMS
1808
Atoms are
small,
spherical
particles

Billiard Ball
Model
 1808 DALTON’S ATOMIC
THEORY
•Matter is made up of •Compounds are formed
extremely small indivisible when atoms of different
particles called atoms. elements combine in a
certain whole number ratio.

•Atoms of the same element

• Atoms of one element
have the same properties,
cannot be converted into
atoms of different element
atoms of another element
differ in properties
in a chemical reaction
 LIMITATION:

Is atom really
Indivisible?
 1897 J.J. Thomson
Provided the
first hint that an
atom is made
of even smaller
particles.
Atom is now
DIVISIBLE!
Scientists didn't, however, understand the
relationship between chemicals and
electricity,

Until Thomson began experimenting

with what is known as a
cathode ray tube.
23
 Thomson questioned
the following:

what cathode
rays were

where cathode rays came

from

whether cathode rays had

any mass or charge
The cathode ray is composed of negatively-
charged particles (corpuscles)
25
 Based on the fact that atoms are
neutral (no charge)

Atoms must also contain some type of

positively charged material which
balances the negative charge on the
atom.

I can’t find the

positive particle!
 Negative
1897 particles are
embedded on a
positively
charged
particles
Plum Pudding
Model
 1909 Ernest Rutherford

He was hard at work

on an experiment
that seemed to have
little to do with
unraveling the
mysteries of the
atomic structure.
 Thomson’s model

If previous models were correct alpha particles

would have passed straight through the gold30
 From these experiments Rutherford concluded that
the atom had a dense positive core, with the rest
composed of mostly empty space with the
occasional negatively charged electron

-
-
-
+

-
-

note: this model completely changed the definition of atom

1909 atoms have
Positive
particles
(Proton) in the
center
(nucleus), and
are mostly
empty space.
Nuclear
Model
 LIMITATION:
I can’t explain why
electrons remain in
orbit around the
nucleus
 LIMITATION OF
NUCLEAR MODEL
Any particle in a circular orbit would
undergo acceleration. During
acceleration, charged particles
would radiate energy (hν)
Thus, the revolving
electron would
lose energy and
finally fall into the
nucleus.

If this were so, the

atom should be
highly unstable
and hence
matter would not
exist in the form
that we know.
 1913 Niels Bohr
He refined Rutherford's
idea by adding that:
Rather like planets orbiting
the sun , electrons move
around the nucleus in
specific layers, or orbits.
With each orbit only able to
contain a set number of
electrons.
1913

Every atom has a

specific number
of electron
shells.

Planetary
Model
 LIMITATION:
My model can’t work
well for heavier
atoms.
 1926

Electrons are in
probability zones
called “orbitals”, not
orbits and the location
cannot be pinpointed.

Electrons are particles

and waves at the same
time.
 Quantum Mechanical Model

electrons can be found

anywhere in these “shells”

note: the electrons

are still quantized
no electrons can be
found here
1926

Electrons
moving around
the nucleus in
a cloud.
Cloud
Model
 1932 James Chadwick
Working with
Rutherford, he
discovered
particles with no
charge
He discovered the
existence of the
NEUTRON
(Located in the
nucleus)
The Current Atomic Model
Electrons
Protons

Neutrons
 RE-EVALUATING
DALTON’S ATOMIC
THEORY

”
Matter is made up of extremely small indivisible
particles called atomos.

Matter is made atoms. Atoms are NOT

INDIVISIBLE. They are composed of subatomic
particles.
 Atoms of the same element have the same
properties, atoms of different element differ in
properties

Atoms of the same element have MOSTLY the

same properties. They may differ in their mass,
giving rise to isotopes. Atoms of different
elements have different properties.
Atoms of one element cannot be converted into
atoms of another element in a chemical
reaction

Elements can only be converted into other

elements through nuclear reactions.
Compounds are formed when
atoms of different elements
combine in a certain whole
number ratio.
FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF
CHEMISTRY
In a chemical reaction, the mass of a substance
produced is equal to the mass of the substance
reacted.
 A chemical compound always
contains the same elements in
exactly, the same proportions by
mass regardless of source or size
of sample.
100 grams 3 kg

COMPOSITION COMPOSITION

+ +
When the same two elements combine to form
more than one compound:

the ratios of the mass of one element in the first

compound to its mass in the second compound,
(as it combines with the same mass of the other
element), can always be expressed as ratios of
small whole numbers( ex: 1:3 or 2:5).