Joseph John Thomson published the idea that electricity was in particles that were part of the atom.

Experimenting with cathode rays,

he established the mass and charge properties of these particles. These particles were named electrons. In 1904, he came up with the
plum-pudding model, which was an idea of what the atom looked like based on his experiments. He would later conclude that the
electron was not the only source of mass in the atom. This implied that the atom was composed of other particles.

Ernest Rutherford, a student of Thomson’s, who was among many who studied radioactivity. He concluded that radioactivity occurred
due to changes on a subatomic level, or changes within the atom itself. In 1902, he worked in Thomson’s laboratory where he
distinguished two kinds of radiation based on their penetrating power: α (alpha) and β (beta). He studied these types of radiation and
noticed, from his experiments, that alpha particles would sometimes bounce
off at a high angle when made to penetrate a very thin gold foil.

In 1911, Rutherford theorized that the model proposed by Thomson did not explain the deflection of alpha particles. Therefore, he
devised his own model with a positive nucleus at the center and electrons revolving like planets at a distance around it. The incredibly
dense nucleus explained the occasional deflection experienced by the alpha particles, while the amounts of empty space in between
explained why most particles were able to pass through.
Rutherford later concluded that the nucleus was composed of positive particles known as protons, which were then thought to be
hydrogen nuclei found in other atoms. He suggested the possibility of finding a composite particle (proton + electron) with a negligible
electric field that composed the nucleus.

Niels Bohr, another scientist in Rutherford’s laboratory. He tackled one of the big issues with the Rutherford model in 1913. The system
proposed by Rutherford was unstable because, under classical physics, the spinning electrons would tend to be attracted to the
positive nucleus and lose energy until they collapse into the center. Bohr proposed that the electrons existed only at fixed distances
from the nucleus at set “energy levels,” or quanta. Quanta was first conceptualized mathematically by Max Planck. Bohr also proposed
that the electrons “jumped” between energy levels by absorbing or releasing discrete amounts of energy. However, the Bohr model of
the atom was still unable to explain why atoms bonded in certain ways to form compounds. For example, carbon formed compounds of
CH4 while oxygen formed H2O.

Quantum Models
This branch OF PHYSICS augmented the Bohr model with new explanations of how matter behaved at a very tiny level that turned it
into the quantum model of the atom used today. The model is based on mathematical equations by several scientists, including Werner
Heisenberg and Ernest Schrödinger
1. Instead of electrons being particles in the model, electrons have characteristics of both waves and particles.
2. Instead of orbits, there were orbitals or regions of space with high probability of finding electrons. These are sometimes known
as electron clouds or electron subshells whose shapes are described by complex wave equations.
3. There is no real “empty space,” but there are regions with a high or low probability of finding an electron.
4. The quantum model more accurately explains properties of elements such as the way that atoms bond with one another.
However, it made Rutherford’s proposal of composite proton electron particles unworkable. This is because the equations
would predict that there was a zero probability of electrons being found in the nucleus. The mass unaccounted for by the
protons had to come from another particle entirely.
 James Chadwick was a student of Rutherford’s who built on this possibility in 1926. He worked on radiation emitted by beryllium
that took the form of particles heavy enough to displace protons. These particles were as heavy as protons, but they needed to
have a neutral charge that would allow them to smash into the nucleus without being repelled by electrons or protons. He
confirmed their existence by measuring their mass and called them neutrons. He determined that they were single particles instead
of composite ones that Rutherford had hypothesized.

The neutron was able to explain the mass unaccounted for by a system of protons and electrons only. It also allowed for more far-
reaching advancements in nuclear physics and chemistry. It gave an understanding of isotopes and radioactive decay, and provided
the tools to synthesize new elements radioactive materials. These advancements, for better or for worse, changed the landscape of
science because they gave us the ability to derive large amounts of energy from splitting the atom (nuclear fission).