Models of the Atom

Greek Idea
Greek philosopher’s proposed the existence of atoms as early as 400 B.C.E. Based on intuition,
Leucippus proposed that substances, like water, could not be infinitely divided into smaller pieces, but that
eventually you would reach a particle that could no longer be divided and still be water. Democritus, a
student of Leucippus, called the smallest particles of matter atomos (cannot be cut). He believed each
atomos was unique in size and shape and that real substances were made up of mixtures of atoms.
However, this view of matter was not widely accepted. Instead, the continuous view of matter – that
substances were infinitely divisible – proposed by Aristotle earlier seemed to be a better explanation. The
atomic view of matter took about another 2000 years to resurface through the work of John Dalton.

Dalton’s Atom

In 1803, John Dalton, an English schoolteacher, had the following experimental data available:

• Law of Conservation of Mass

The mass of the reactants is equal to the mass of the products in a chemical reaction.

• Law of Definite Proportions

Different samples of the same pure substance contain the same elements in the same mass
ratio or have the same percent composition (by mass).

In order to explain these data, he proposed matter consisted of atoms. What follows are the major points
of Dalton’s atomic theory.

a. Matter consists of indivisible atoms.

b. All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and all other properties.

c. Different elements have different kinds of atoms; in particular, the atoms have different
masses.

d. Atoms are indestructible, they cannot be converted into atoms of a different element and
retain their identity in chemical reactions.

e. The formation of a compound from its elements occurs through the combination of atoms
of unlike elements in small whole number ratios.

Thomson Atom:

The next great step forward in the understanding of atoms was accomplished by John Thomson. Using a
cathode ray scope, Thomson determined that all matter, whatever its source, contains particles of the
same kind that are much less massive than the atoms of which they form a part. They are now called
electrons, although he originally called them corpuscles.

From: http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Physics/QuantumPhysics/ParticlePhysics/ParticlePhysics.htm
His discovery was the result of an attempt to solve a long-standing controversy regarding the nature of
cathode rays, which occur when an electric current is driven through a vessel from which most of the air or
other gas has been pumped out.

By applying an improved vacuum technique, Thomson was able to put forward a convincing argument that
these rays were composed of particles. Furthermore, these rays seemed to be composed of the same
particles, or corpuscles, regardless of what kind of gas carried the electric discharge or what kinds of
metals were used as conductors.

Thomson's conclusion that the corpuscles were present in all kinds of matter was strengthened during the
next three years, when he found that corpuscles with the same properties could be produced in other ways;
e.g., from hot metals. Thomson may be described as "the man who split the atom" for the first time, although
"chipped" might be a better word, in view of the size and number of electrons.

Rutherford Atom:
Models of the Atom

Ernest Rutherford is considered the father of nuclear physics. Indeed, it could be said that Rutherford
invented the very language to describe the theoretical concepts of the atom and the phenomenon of
radioactivity. Particles named and characterized by him include the alpha particle, beta particle and proton.
Rutherford overturned Thomson's atom model in 1911 with his well-known gold foil experiment in which he
demonstrated that the atom has a tiny, massive nucleus.

By the turn of the 20th century, physicists knew that certain elements emitted fast moving particles of two
flavors, alpha particles and beta particles. These elements were typically very heavy (i.e. their atom nuclei
were massive) such as uranium and radium. Today we know that heavy nuclei are unstable and `decay',
meaning that they spontaneously split into smaller nuclei and emit stray particles. This is called radioactivity.

The alpha particle was heavy and positively charged; we now know that it is the helium nuclei (2 protons and 2
neutrons). The beta particle was light and negatively charged, the electron. Rutherford designed an experiment
to use the alpha particles emitted by a radioactive element as probes to the unseen world of atomic structure.
His experiment looked like the following:

From: http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Physics/QuantumPhysics/ParticlePhysics/ParticlePhysics.htm
The Rutherford beamed alpha particles through gold foil and detected them as flashes of light or scintillations on
a screen. The gold foil was only 0.00004 centimeter thick, meaning on a few hundreds of atoms thick.

If the Thomson model of atoms was correct, then the alpha particles should pass through with relatively little
deflection.

The expectation is that they will strike the fluorescent screen directly behind the foil.

In fact, what was observed was the following:

Models of the Atom
Most alpha particles were observed to pass straight through the gold foil. A few, however, were scattered at
large angles, and some even bounced back toward the source. Only a positively charged and relatively heavy
target particle, such as the proposed nucleus, could account for such strong repulsion.

These results can best explained by a model for the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a
nucleus, in which nearly all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative constituents, called
electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around the Sun.

The Rutherford atomic model has been alternatively called the nuclear atom, or the planetary model of the atom.

From: http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Physics/QuantumPhysics/ParticlePhysics/ParticlePhysics.htm