Dalton Millikan

-Stimulated by Proust and his law of definite proportions. -Was able to calculate the mass of an
-Came up with the law of multiple proportions, which states: electron through the oil drop
When two elements for ma series of compounds, the ratios of theexperiment.
masses of the second element that combine with 1 gram of the -Found the mass of an electron to be
first element can always be reduced to small whole numbers. 9.11 x 10-31 kg.
-Came up with the Atomic Theory: 1) Each element is made up of-Oil mist was sprayed into a chamber,
tiny particles called atoms. 2) The atoms of a given element are drops of oil one by one fall through a
identical; the atoms of different elements are different. 3) hole in a positively charged plate by
Chemical compounds form when atoms combine with each other.gravity where electrons attach to the
A given compound always has the same relative numbers and oil drop. But there is a negatively
types of atoms. 4) Atoms are not created or destroyed in a charged plate on the bottom, which
chemical rxn, but are reorganized in such that it changes the wayrepels the electrons and therefore
they are bound together. causes the oil drop to levitate. By
-Made important contributions in the relative masses of atoms of measuring the voltage needed to keep
elementsdecided that nature would be as simple as possible. the oil drop still and using the charge-
Leading to relative masses for elements. to-mass ratio, Millikan could find the
charge of the electron.

Thompson
-Known for his work on the electron and cathode-ray tubes.
-Founded “electrons” when he applied voltage to the tube and a ray emitting from the negative electrode
was produced, and was repelled by the negative pole of a magnetic fieldelectrons.
-Was able to determine the charge-to-mass ratio of an electron which was e/m= -1.76 x 108 C/g.
-Deduced from the cathode ray tube experiments that all elements must contain electrons, since the
electrons could be made from electrodes from many metals.
-Came up with the plum pudding model of the atoms, which has a field of positive charge with electrons
scattered in it.

Rutherford
Chadwick
-Performed early tests on radioactivity.
-Proposed that when light elements were bombarded
-Used alpha particles to test Thompson’s model of
with certain energies, neutrons were released, rather
the atom, the “Gold” Foil Experiment.
than the popular idea at the time that gamma rays were
-Fired a beam of alpha particles to hit a small
released.
sheet of metal. He predicted that it should have a
-When elements break apart after bombarded with
number of deflections if Thompson’s model was
energies, the broken particles collide with each other.
correct. In actuality, it ended up that most of the
Chadwick noticed that protons were being collided by a
particles passed through with only a small part
particle close to its mass, but had no chargeneutron. It
having minor deflections and a smaller portion
could not have been an electron because the velocity of
largely deflected.
which the proton was deflected was too high.
-Came up with the nuclear atom model where the
-Ex. Pool balls are protons, marbles are electrons, cue
atom has a dense center that is positively
ball is the neutron. Marble hits pool ball = little
charged.
movement. Cue ball hitting the pool ball pushes the pool

Kelvin
-First one to try to model the atom with regards to electrons, along with Thompson.
-Hypothesized that the electrons were symmetrically spread out in the atom.
-Range of charge of electrons would have to equal the range of positive charge in the atom.
-Adopted with Thompson’s plum pudding model.
-He could not explain the electron locations at higher elements and deemed it too complicated.