STRUCTURE OF AN

ATOM?
All atoms are made up of the nucleus and the electrons. At
the center of an atom is the nucleus, which is composed of
protons and neutrons.
The negatively charge particle was
discovered by J.J. Thompson through
the cathode ray tube experiment.
On the other hand
positive charge was
discovered by Eugene
Goldstein and was
proved correct by
Ernest Rutherford and
called it protons
meaning first.
James Chadwick
proved the presence of
neutral subatomic
particles, which he
named neutrons
BEFORE DALTON CLEARLY DEFINED WHAT AN ATOM WAS, FEW HAD
EVEN CONSIDERED WHAT AN ATOM LOOKED LIKE, WHAT THE NATURE OF
THE ATOM ITSELF WAS, OR IF IT WAS COMPOSED OF ANYTHING AT ALL.
THROUGHOUT THE 19TH CENTURY, SCIENTISTS EXPERIMENTED
QUANTITATIVELY WITH ELECTRICITY AND ELECTRIC CHARGES. MICHAEL
FARADAY RELATED ELECTRICITY TO ATOMS BY SAYING,
“...if we adopt the atomic theory or phraseology, then the atoms of
bodies which are equivalent to each other in their ordinary chemical
action, have equal quantities of electricity associated with them.”
▪ John Dalton FRS (/ˈdɔːltən/; 6
September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an
English chemist, physicist, and
meteorologist. He is best known for
introducing the atomic theory into
chemistry, and for his research into
colour blindness, sometimes referred
to as Daltonism in his honour. Dalton
was the first scientist to use the term
atom for the smallest particle of
matter, which originated from Greek
word 'atomos' meaning cannot be
divided further.
Proposed the billiard ball model,
that all matter is composed of very
small things which he called atoms.
This was not a completely new
concept as the ancient Greeks
(notably Democritus) had proposed
that all matter is composed of small,
indivisible (cannot be divided)
objects.
Sir Joseph John Thomson OM PRS (18
December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was a
British physicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics,
credited with the discovery of the electron, the
first subatomic particle to be discovered.
Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in
Physics for his work on the conduction of
electricity in gases.
Published the idea that electricity was in particles
that were part of the atom. Experimenting with
cathode rays, he established the mass and charge
properties of these particles. These particles were
named electrons. In 1904, he came up with the plum-
pudding model, which was an idea of what the atom
looked like based on his experiments. He would later
conclude that the electron was not the only source of
mass in the atom. This implied that the atom was
composed of other particles.

Thomson’s plum-pudding model, a sphere with a

uniformly distributed positive charge and enough
embedded electrons to neutralize the positive
charge. A plum pudding is a sort of cake with raisins
embedded in it.
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron
Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS,
HonFRSE (30 August 1871 – 19
October 1937) was a New Zealand
physicist who came to be known as
the father of nuclear physics.
Encyclopedia Britannica considers
him to be the greatest
experimentalist since Michael
Faraday (1791–1867).
a student of Thomson’s, who was among many who
studied radioactivity. He concluded that radioactivity
occurred due to changes on a subatomic level, or
changes within the atom itself. In 1902, he worked in
Thomson’s laboratory where he distinguished two
kinds of radiation based on their penetrating power:
α (alpha) and β (beta). He studied these types of
radiation and noticed, from his experiments, that
alpha particles would sometimes bounce off at a high
angle when made to penetrate a very thin gold foil.
In 1911, Rutherford theorized that the model
proposed by Thomson did not explain the deflection
of alpha particles. Therefore, he devised his own
model with a positive nucleus at the center and
electrons revolving like planets at a distance around
it. The incredibly dense nucleus explained the
occasional deflection experienced by the alpha
particles, while the amounts of empty space in
between explained why most particles were able to
pass through.
Rutherford later concluded that the nucleus was
composed of positive particles known as protons,
which were then thought to be hydrogen nuclei found
in other atoms. He suggested the possibility of
finding a composite particle (proton + electron) with
a negligible electric field that composed the nucleus.
 IN SHORT, THE ATOM, AS DESCRIBED BY ERNEST
RUTHERFORD, HAS A TINY, MASSIVE CORE CALLED THE
NUCLEUS. THE NUCLEUS HAS A POSITIVE CHARGE.
ELECTRONS ARE PARTICLES WITH A NEGATIVE CHARGE.
ELECTRONS ORBIT THE NUCLEUS. THE EMPTY SPACE
BETWEEN THE NUCLEUS AND THE ELECTRONS TAKES UP
MOST OF THE VOLUME OF THE ATOM.
Niels Henrik David Bohr (Danish:
[ˈne̝ls ˈpoɐ̯ˀ]; 7 October 1885 – 18
November 1962) was a Danish
physicist who made foundational
contributions to understanding atomic
structure and quantum theory, for
which he received the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a
philosopher and a promoter of
scientific research.
Another scientist in Rutherford’s laboratory. He tackled one of
the big issues with the Rutherford model in 1913. The system
proposed by Rutherford was unstable because, under classical
physics, the spinning electrons would tend to be attracted to
the positive nucleus and lose energy until they collapse into
the center. Bohr proposed that the electrons existed only at
fixed distances from the nucleus at set “energy levels,” or
quanta. Quanta was first conceptualized mathematically by
Max Planck. Bohr also proposed that the electrons “jumped”
between energy levels by absorbing or releasing discrete
amounts of energy. However, the Bohr model of the atom was
still unable to explain why atoms bonded in certain ways to
form compounds. For example, carbon formed compounds of
CH4 while oxygen formed H2O.
In the Bohr model of the atom, electrons travel in defined
circular orbits around the nucleus. The orbits are labeled by an
integer, the quantum number n. Electrons can jump from one
orbit to another by emitting or absorbing energy.
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger
(UK: /ˈʃrɜːdɪŋər/, US: /ˈʃroʊ-/;[3] German:
[ˈɛɐ̯viːn ˈʃʁøːdɪŋɐ]; 12 August 1887 – 4 January
1961), sometimes written as Erwin
Schrodinger or Erwin Schroedinger, was a
Nobel Prize-winning Austrian-Irish physicist
who developed a number of fundamental
results in quantum theory: the Schrödinger
equation provides a way to calculate the wave
function of a system and how it changes
dynamically in time.
The early 20th century was a very auspicious time for the
sciences. In addition to Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr giving
birth to the Standard Model of particle physics, it was also a
period of breakthroughs in the field of quantum mechanics.
Thanks to ongoing studies on the behavior of electrons, scientists
began to propose theories whereby these elementary particles
behaved in ways that defied classical, Newtonian physics.

One such example is the Electron Cloud Model proposed by

Erwin Schrodinger. Thanks to this model, electrons were no
longer depicted as particles moving around a central nucleus in a
fixed orbit. Instead, Schrodinger proposed a model whereby
scientists could only make educated guesses as to the positions of
electrons. Hence, their locations could only be described as
being part of a ‘cloud’ around the nucleus where the electrons are
likely to be found.
JAMES CHADWICK
Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS (20
October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was a
British physicist who was awarded the
1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his
discovery of the neutron in 1932. In
1941, he wrote the final draft of the
MAUD Report, which inspired the U.S.
government to begin serious atomic
bomb research efforts. He was the
head of the British team that worked on
the Manhattan Project during World
War II. He was knighted in Britain in
1945 for his achievements in physics.
James Chadwick was a student of Rutherford’s who built on this
possibility in 1926. He worked on radiation emitted by beryllium
that took the form of particles heavy enough to displace protons.
These particles were as heavy as protons, but they needed to
have a neutral charge that would allow them to smash into the
nucleus without being repelled by electrons or protons. He
confirmed their existence by measuring their mass and called
them neutrons.
He determined that they were single particles instead of
composite ones that Rutherford had hypothesized. The neutron
was able to explain the mass unaccounted for by a system of
protons and electrons only. It also allowed for more far-reaching
advancements in nuclear physics and chemistry. It gave an
understanding of isotopes and radioactive decay and provided
the tools to synthesize new elements and radioactive materials.
These advancements, for better or for worse, changed the
landscape of science because they gave us the ability to derive
large amounts of energy from splitting the atom (nuclear fission).
THIS ATOMIC MODEL IS KNOWN AS THE QUANTUM
MECHANICAL MODEL OF THE ATOM. ... IN 1932, JAMES
CHADWICK BOMBARDED BERYLLIUM ATOMS WITH ALPHA
PARTICLES. AN UNKNOWN RADIATION WAS PRODUCED.
CHADWICK INTERPRETED THIS RADIATION AS BEING
COMPOSED OF PARTICLES WITH A NEUTRAL ELECTRICAL
CHARGE AND THE APPROXIMATE MASS OF A PROTON.
▪ https://www.universetoday.com/38282/electron-cloud-model/
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Chadwick
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electron_Cloud_Model&redirect=no
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dalton
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Thomson
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr
▪ Physical science module 2 lesson 3