Atomism (450 BC)

Leucippus of Miletus and Democritus of Abdera

They thought that matter could only be divided to a certain point, until they reached a point that
could no longer be further divided. They called this the atom, named after the word atomos, or
“that which cannot be cut”.

Atoms were in constant motion in an infinite void, colliding and rebounding or sticking to form
everything in the universe.

Earth, Fire, Wind and Water (400 BC)

Empedocles of Acragas asserts that matter is made up of four elements: earth, fire, air, and water.

This is later agreed upon and expanded by Aristotle around 260 BC.

Solid Sphere Model

John Dalton, based on the idea that the atoms of different elements could be told apart by their
different weights, proposed a number of basic ideas to the Royal Institution in 1803.

Dalton’s Theory proposed that:

All matter is composed of atoms
Atoms cannot be made or destroyed (Law of conservation of mass)
All atoms of the same element are identical
Different elements have different types of atoms
Chemical reactions occur when atoms are rearranged
Compounds are formed from atoms of different elements

While he was wrong on several points, such as that atoms could not be divided further, many of
the theories his model suggested set the stage for later researchers to discover more about the
atom by giving them a scientific theory to test, as opposed to the previously unfounded ideas of
atomism and the four elements.

Plumb Pudding Model

The Cathode ray experiment, conducted by Joseph John Thompson in 1897, led to the discovery
of the subatomic particle. The experiment used a low pressure gas inside a vacuum sealed
cathode tube to transmit a current between the cathode and the anode discs within, hoping to
discover more about the relations between electricity and matter. With a current passing between
the cathode and the anode, the surface at the anode end would glow. This was thought to be
caused by a stream of particles, which was called a cathode ray. Testing this hypothesis revealed
that cathode rays are deflected by a magnetic field the same way as an electric current; the rays
were also deflected by a negatively charged object. These observations led scientists to believe
that the particles of the cathode ray were negatively charged. These came to be called electrons.
This, in turn, led to the development of the plumb pudding model.
Plumb Pudding Model Characteristics: