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Historical development of atomic theory
Historical development of atomic theory
Historical development of atomic theory
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The atomic model is the core model regarding everything in science. This model is used when experimenting, analyzing data, and also when forming new theories. However, this model isn’t something that was simply just created in one day. It took hours of work, different scientific experiments carried out by various scientists, and the process of slowly adjusting the original model as the proton, neutron, and electron were discovered. Dalton created the first atomic model and considered the atom an indestructible sphere. However, J.J. Thomson, who discovered the electron, shortly proved Dalton’s atomic model wrong and the plum pudding model was created. Shortly afterwards, a new model was created. The Saturnian model stated that atoms had a positively charged nucleus while the electrons actually moved in a circle around the rings on the outside. Then the Rutherford model was discovered and it showed an atom actually has a wide range of space inside it. After the Rutherford model came the Bohr Model. The discovery of the proton is what prompted the Bohr model to be founded. Scientists now knew that protons were actually in the center of an atom and the electrons were moving around it. Contributions from many scientists were needed but now, the atomic model was finished and in the process, the proton, neutron, and electron were all discovered, opening several new doors into the world of science. They all played invaluable roles in the process of finalizing the atomic model.
John Dalton, an English schoolteacher and scientist, created the very first atomic model. He believed that atoms could not be divided or created nor destroyed. It was described as an indestructible sphere. However, J.J. Thomson proved his theory wrong in 1897. At t...
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...rays. Modern science would not be the same without the current atomic model.
Works Cited
The Discovery of Electron. (n.d.). ThinkQuest. Retrieved November 15, 2013, from http://library.thinkquest.org/28383/nowe
The discovery of electron. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/28383/nowe_teksty/htmla/2_5a.html The discovery of proton. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/27954/proton.html Plum Pudding Model. (n.d.). Universe Today RSS. Retrieved November 19, 2013, from http://www.universetoday.com/38326/plum-pudding-model/
Rutherford - Atomic Theory. (n.d.). Rutherford - Atomic Theory. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/timeline/pages
Discovery of the Neutron. (n.d.). Discovery of the Neutron. Retrieved December 6, 2013, from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/neutrondis.ht
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The amazing transformation the study of physics underwent in the two decades following the turn of the 20th century is a well-known story. Physicists, on the verge of declaring the physical world “understood”, discovered that existing theories failed to describe the behavior of the atom. In a very short time, a more fundamental theory of the ...
The atomic bomb1 is the most destructive weapon known to mankind. A bomb of this nature is capable of obliterating anything up to four square miles and anything reaching outside that area receives very extreme damage. Albert Einstein was the man who had convinced the United States to research the Atomic Bomb.
The Atomic Theory began in roughly 400BC with Democritus in Ancient Greece and is universally believed to be correct today. Democritus who was born in 460 BC and died 370 BC and is known as the father of modern science. Democritus proclaimed that everything is made up of atoms. He continued his theory to say that atoms will always be in motion, between atoms there is empty space, atoms are unbreakable, there are an infinite number of atoms all different sizes and shapes. He also said that iron atoms are solid and strong and have hooks to lock them together, water atoms are smooth and slippery, salt atoms have sharp jagged edges because of its taste and air atoms are light and spiralling.
Things are very different from each other, and can be broken down into small groups inside itself, which was then noticed early by people, and Greek thinkers, about 400BC. Which just happened to use words like "element', and `atom' to describe the many different parts and even the smallest parts of matter. These ideas were around for over 2000 years while ideas such as `Elements' of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water to explain `world stuff' came and went. Much later, Boyle, an experimenter like Galileo and Bacon, was influenced much by Democritus, Gassendi, and Descartes, which lent much important weight to the atomic theory of matter in the 1600s. Although it was Lavoisier who had divided the very few elements known in the 1700's into four different classes, and then John Dalton made atoms even more believable, telling everyone that the mass of an atom was it's most important property. Then in the early 1800's Dobereiner noted that the similar elements often had relative atomic masses, and DeChancourtois made a cylindrical table of elements to display the periodic reoccurrence of properties. Cannizaro then determined atomic weights for the 60 or so elements known in the 1860s, and then a table was arranged by Newlands, with the many elements given a serial number in order of their atomic weights, of course beginning with Hydrogen. That made it clear that "the eighth element, starting from a given one, is a kind of a repeat of the first", which Newlands called the Law of Octaves.
The understanding that matter was composed of atoms was changed with the discovery of smaller particles than the atoms, which are protons, neutrons, and electrons. But during the 1960’s, the multitude of particles being discovered was making the understanding that matter is composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons, insufficient. Murray Ge...
I feel personally that the discovery of the atom was an important discovery for the world. With the discovery we are now able to answer questions we never even thought to ask. We are also answering questions some people asked long ago. We can now use our vast knowledge of the atom to measure the stars and be able to tell you what the stars are made of. The atomic discovery also helped us find our periodic table of elements. The periodic table of elements is a huge scientific chart that shows important facts with the help of its formation. There was a lot of constant scientific research that went into making the periodic table of elements and what it is today.
the bulk to ordinary matter; the volume of an atom is nearly all occupied by the
Then, in 1766 was born a man named John Dalton born in England. He is known as
Dalton’s atomic theory says that each element contained its own number of atoms. Each element had its own size and weight. Dalton’s idea said that all things are made of small bits of matter this bits of matter where too small to be seen even with a microscope. Scientist began to think these small bits of matter where responsible for chemical changes. They thought that when these bits of matter combined a chemical change took place. Dalton assumed that there was a special pattern in the elements and was partly responsible for the periodic table.
Scientists from earlier times helped influence the discoveries that lead to the development of atomic energy. In the late 1800’s, Dalton created the Atomic Theory which explains atoms, elements and compounds (Henderson 1). This was important to the study of and understanding of atoms to future scientists. The Atomic Theory was a list of scientific laws regarding atoms and their potential abilities. Roentagen, used Dalton’s findings and discovered x-rays which could pass through solid objects (Henderson 1). Although he did not discover radiation from the x-rays, he did help lay the foundations for electromagnetic waves. Shortly after Roentagen’s findings, J.J. Thompson discovered the electron which was responsible for defining the atom’s characteristics (Henderson 2). The electron helped scientists uncover why an atom responds to reactions the way it does and how it received its “personality”. Dalton’s, Roentagen’s and Thompson’s findings helped guide other scientists to discovering the uses of atomic energy and reactions. Such applications were discovered in the early 1900’s by using Einstein’s equation, which stated that if a chain reaction occurred, cheap, reliable energy could b...