The Greeks (The Greek Model of the Atom)

Who were they?

His mentor, Leucippus, originally came up with the atomic theory, but it was then adopted by Democritus. The atomic
theory stated that The universe is composed of two elements: the atoms and the void in which they exist and move.
According to Democritus atoms were miniscule quantities of matter.

Contribution
The idea that all matter is made up of tiny, invisible particles, or atoms, is believed to have originated from the Greek
Philosopher Leucippus of Miletus and his student Democritus.
The word atom comes from the Greek word atomos, which means "invisible".

Who opposed the idea?

The idea of atoms was fiercely attacked by other philosophers including Aristotle. He argued against the idea that
small particles could possibly exist. However, the idea of atoms survived through all the dismissal.

Dates associated with greek philosophers

The idea that all matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles, or atoms is believed to have originated with greek
philosophers Leucippus and his student Democritus. The period would be the 5Th century B.C

Main contribution the Greeks gave to chemistry

The main contribution would have to be the theory that matter is made up of tiny and indivisible particles. in addition
to being too small to be seen, unchangeable, and indestructible, atoms were also completely solid, with no internal
structure, and came in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes, which accounted for the different kinds of matter.

Democritus
Democritus was born in Abdera, Greece in 460BC. He lived to be 90 years old, dying in the year 370BC. He studied
natural philosophy in Thrace, Athens, and Abdera, Greece. He enjoyed studying geometry as well. Democritus
traveled to many places some of which including India, Egypt, and Babylon. Democritus was never married.

His mentor, Leucippus, originally came up with the atomic theory, but it was then adopted by Democritus. The atomic
theory stated that The universe is composed of two elements: the atoms and the void in which they exist and move.
According to Democritus atoms were miniscule quantities of matter. Democritus hypothesized that atoms cannot be
destroyed, differ in size, shape and temperature, are always moving, and are invisible. He believed that there are an
infinite number of atoms. This hypothesis was created in 465BC.

This is Democritus' atomic theory exactly:

1.All matter consists of invisible particles called atoms.
2. Atoms are indestructible.
3. Atoms are solid but invisible.
4. Atoms are homogenous.
5. Atoms differ in size, shape, mass, position, and arrangement.
->Solids are made of small, pointy atoms.
->Liquids are made of large, round atoms.
->Oils are made of very fine, small atoms that can easily slip past each other.

J. J. Thomson, who discovered the electron in 1897, proposed the plum pudding model of the atom in 1904 before
the discovery of the atomic nucleus in order to include the electron in the atomic model. In Thomson's model, the
atom is composed of electrons (which Thomson still called "corpuscles," though G. J. Stoney had proposed that
atoms of electricity be called electrons in 1894) surrounded by a soup of positive charge to balance the electrons'
negative charges, like negatively charged "plums" surrounded by positively charged "pudding" . The electrons (as we
know them today) were thought to be positioned throughout the atom
in rotating rings. In this model the atom was also sometimes described
to have a "cloud" of positive charge.

Plum pudding model of the atom

A schematic presentation of the plum pudding model of the atom; in Thomson's mathematical model the
"corpuscles" (in modern language, electrons) were arranged non-randomly, in rotating rings.

With this model, Thomson abandoned his earlier "nebular atom" hypothesis, in which the atom was composed of
immaterial vortices. Now, at least part of the atom was to be composed of Thomson's particulate negative
corpuscles, although the rest of the positively charged part of the atom remained somewhat nebulous and ill-defined.
The 1904 Thomson model was disproved by the 1909 gold foil experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest
Marsden. This gold foil experiment was interpreted by Ernest Rutherford in 1911 to suggest that there is a very small
nucleus of the atom that contains a very high positive charge (in the case of gold, enough to balance the collective
negative charge of about 100 electrons). His conclusions led him to propose the Rutherford model of the atom.

Thomson model: Introduction

In 1897, J.J.Thomson discovered a negatively charged particle known as an electron. Thomson discovered electron
by cathode ray tube experiment. Cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube. Thomson assumed that an electron is two
thousand times lighter than a proton and believed that an atom is made up of thousands of electrons having the
negative charge. In this atomic structure model, he considered atoms to have a cloud of negative charge and the
positive charges. He along with Rutherford was also the first to demonstrate the ionization of air by X-rays.
Thomsons model of an atom is similar to plum pudding model or a watermelon.

Postulates of Thomsons atomic model

An atom consists of a positively charged sphere with electrons filled into it. The negative and positive charge present
inside an atom are equal and as a whole, an atom is electrically neutral.
Thomsons model of the atom was compared to plum pudding and watermelon. He compared the red edible part of
the watermelon to positively charged sphere whereas the seeds of watermelon to negatively charged particles.

Limitations of Thomsons atomic model

This model of atom failed to explain how a positive charge holds the negatively charged electrons in an
atom.Therefore, it failed to explain the stability of an atom.
This theory also failed to account for the position of the nucleus in an atom.
Thomsons model failed to explain the scattering of alpha particles.

Although Thomsons model was not an accurate model to account for the atomic structure, it proved to be the base
for the development of other atomic structure models. The study of the atom and its structure has paved the way for
numerous inventions that have played a significant role in the development of humankind.

Chadwick Atomic Model

Sir James Chadwick, (1891 1974) was an English physicist and famous for his discovery of Neutron. In 1913
Chadwick worked with Hans Geiger at the Technical University of Berlin and he also worked with Ernest Rutherford.
Chadwick discovered a previously unknown particle neutron in the atomic nucleus in 1932. Chadwick's discovery
was significant for the fission of uranium 235 since neutrons do not need to overcome any Coulomb barrier, unlike
positively charged alpha particles, which are repelled by the electrical forces present in the nuclei of other atoms, and
neutrons can therefore penetrate and split the nuclei of even the heaviest elements. He was honored by the Hughes
Medal of the Royal Society in 1932 and by the Nobel Prize for
Physics in 1935 for the discovery of Neutron.

Atomic Model with Proton and Neutron in the Nucleus:

Rutherford has the idea that the nucleus is itself composed of
nucleons and that these nucleons are of two types:
positively charged, proton
neutrally charged, neutron
But the neutron was effectively discovered in 1932 by James
Chadwick and the modified Ruther ford Atomic model with
proton and neutron in the nucleus is as shown below: