History of Modern Atomic TheoryHistory of Modern Atomic Theory
By: Kyle P.
Timeline of the Evolution of the Atomic Model:
Greeks Dalton Thomson Rutherford Bohr Wave
In the fifth century Greeks were thought to have originated the atomic philosophy. They developed the "building blocks" of matter which the Greeks called atomos, which means indivisible. The Greeks believed atoms were uniform, solid, hard, incompressible, and indestructible as they moved in infinite numbers in space until stopped.
About 150 years ago John Dalton had an idea that the world around us was made up of identical, very small particles called molecules and that the countless different kinds of molecules are simply differently arranged groups of atoms.
(Rosetta
Stone is like an atom because know one completely understands either of them)
Joseph John Thomson (1856- 1940) won a Nobel Prize for his incredible work with electrons. Although his theory of electron distribution was later proven incorrect by the work of Ernest Rutherford he still made some amazing breakthrough with the discovery of the electron.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) basically made the blue prints for the atomic theory. He is known as the "Father of Nuclear Physics" for winning a Nobel Prize in chemistry. He though that radiation was caused by the destruction of atoms.
In 1913 Niels Bohr thought the atom had electrons move in definite orbit kind of like our solar system has planet orbiting the sun. He believed that these orbital paths were located at certain distances from the nucleus.
The Atomic Theory used today follows the wave mechanics which have complex mathematics. The wave theory helps scientist today better understand the distribution of electrons in the atoms.
Greek
University of Virginia Britannaca.com January 31, 2001
Dalton
University of Alberta Chem.ualberta.ca January 31, 2001
Thomson
Tony A. Atoms.hypermart.net January 31, 2001
Rutherford
Tony A. Atoms.hypermart.net January 31, 2001
Bohr
Manton, Anthea, and Hopkins, Jeans, Matter Building Blocks of the Universe. Englewoods Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall ( A Division of Simon and Schuster), 1994, pp. 85-89
Wave
Manton, Anthea, and Hopkins, Jeans, Matter Building Blocks of the Universe. Englewoods Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall ( A Division of Simon and Schuster), 1994, pp. 85-89
Greek Concept of Atoms
Thomson's Atomic Model
Rutherford's Atomic Model
