ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER

ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER

➢The idea that matter is made
up of atoms is an idea of
Democritus
➢Democritus proposed that the
fundamental unit of matter is an
atomos, a minute particle that is
uncuttable
➢This idea did not sit well with
the Greeks, because for them,
matter is continuous
ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER
➢This idea did not sit well with
the Greeks, because for them,
matter is continuous
➢They rejected the atomos and
embrace that matter is
essentially made from four
fundamental elements
ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF MATTER
➢Philosophers kept to
their 4-element view of
matter for 2,000 years
until the 1800’s when
John Dalton, an English
chemist, resurrected
“ATOMOS”
JOHN DALTON (1766 - 1844)
➢Argued strongly that
matter is made up of atoms
of many type which can be
combined and rearranged
to produce different
materials
➢His most notable idea was
the proposition that atoms
of different elements
combine in simple whole
number ratios
JOHN DALTON (1766 - 1844)
➢Dalton envisioned
atoms as hard
spheres like billiard
balls. Dalton’s
theory atoms is
sometimes called
The Billiard Ball
Model
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
1. Elements are made of atoms
➢ An idea by Democritus, but the first
scientific demonstration was done by
Dalton through his book A New System
of Chemical Philosophy in 1808
➢ His idea of an element is a substance
which cannot be decomposed further by
chemical means, such as heat, electricity,
or reaction with another chemical
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
2.Atoms of an element are identical in
shape and mass
➢Atoms of from the same element have the
same properties (e.g. weight)
➢Today, the idea that atoms from the same
element are exactly alike is no longer held
valid
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS

3.Atoms of different elements have

different masses
➢ This idea was also held by ancient Greeks
but only through speculation
➢ It was Dalton who first figured out how to
obtain these masses
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS
4. Atoms combine in whole number ratios
➢ Atoms of a particular element can combine in more than
one ratio with another element to produce more than one
compound
➢ For example, if A and B are distinct elements, then

1 atom of A + 1 atom of B = Compound C

1 atom of A + 2 atoms of B = Compound D
2 atoms of A +1 atom of B = Compound E

The ratios in this chemical reaction are 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1
DALTON’S THEORY OF ATOMS

5.Atoms are neither created nor destroyed

➢ In chemical reactions, atoms of one element do
not change into an atom of a different element.
They stay as themselves even when combined
➢ This idea was first proposed by Antoine
Lavoisier in his paper The Law of Conservation
of Mass in chemical reactions
STRUCTURE OF ATOM DISCOVERED
➢Dalton’s Billiard Model of
atoms was subsequently
superseded by Thomson’s
Plum-Pudding Theory in
which an atom, previously
envisioned as one entity, is
now demonstrated to be
composed of even smaller
charged particles
JOHN JOSEPH THOMSON (1856 - 1940)
➢The discovery that atoms contain
charged particles compelled the
scientific community to embrace the
atomic structure of matter
➢J.J. Thompson discovered the existence
of electrons in 1897 when performing a
series of experiments to study the
characteristics of electric discharge in a
high voltage vacuum cathode-ray tube
JOHN JOSEPH THOMSON (1856 - 1940)

➢J.J. Thomson proposed

that an atom is a sphere
of positive charge
surrounded by
negatively charged
electrons
ERNEST RUTHERFORD
➢Rutherford was studying
the nature of radioactivity
and matter when he
discovered another
particle lodged in an atom
➢This particle came to be
called nucleus
ERNEST RUTHERFORD
➢Rutherford was observing the scattering of
radiation particles directed toward a thin sheet
of gold, and a narrow beam of radioactive
particles was aimed at the sheet
➢Most of the particles went straight through but
he discovered that some were deflected at
large angles, some were even reflected back
ERNEST RUTHERFORD

➢This, he proposed, was only possible

if an atom contained in a region which
carried a huge mass and had a
positive charge
➢He called this region the nucleus of
an atom
CONTRIBUTIONS OF RUTHERFORD TO NUCLEAR
THEORY
1. Atoms have a tiny, massive,
and positively charged
nucleus surrounded by
electrons
2. The volume of an atom is
mostly empty space
3. An atom contains a discrete
unit of positive charge called
a proton
➢Today, the number of protons in the nucleus is
called the _________________
➢Atoms of the same element contain the same
number of protons in the nuclei
➢The number of protons in relation to the number of
electrons determines he charge of an atom
A neutral atom has equal number of protons and
electrons
A positive atom has more protons than electrons
A negative atom has more electrons than protons
➢Rutherford
speculated about
the existence of a
neutral particle
inside the nucleus
➢In 1932, this
particle was
identified by James
Chadwick
➢It was called
NEUTRON
HENRY MOSELY (1887 – 1915)
➢An English physicist
who demonstrated that
the important
properties of an
element are associated
with its atomic number
and not its atomic
weight
HENRY MOSELY (1887 – 1915)
➢Through X-ray spectroscopy, he
aimed and fired electrons at a
metal plate, causing metal atoms to
release x-rays
➢He discovered that the frequency
of x-ray radiation is proportional to
the element’s atomic number
➢He described this relationship
mathematically in what is now
called Moseley’s Law
HENRY MOSELY (1887 – 1915)
➢Since Mendeleev’s time, the Periodic Table of
Elements had been arranged according to the
atomic weight of elements
➢Because of Moseley’s discovery, it was arranged
according to the atomic number of elements
➢His discovery firmly established that chemical
properties of elements rests mainly on their atomic
numbers
TRANSMUTATION OF ELEMENTS
➢The alchemist’s quest to transmute ordinary metals into
gold gets a solid theoretical foundation from Moseley’s
discovery
➢If the identity of an element is defined by the number of
protons in its nucleus, that identity can be changed by
adding or subtracting protons from its nucleus
➢This essentially is how elements can be transmuted from
one element to one another
TRANSMUTATION OF ELEMENTS
NIELS BOHR (1885 - 1962)
➢In 1913, he begun studying
the structure of atoms on the
basis of Rutherford’s
discovery of the nucleus
➢He wondered if a nucleus
can be compared with the
sun, and electrons with the
planets orbiting around it
NIELS BOHR (1885 - 1962)
➢Bohr used the quantum concept of Planck and
Einstein together with Rutherford’s nuclear model to
describe the behavior of electrons around the
nucleus
➢Essentially, Bohr’s model proposes that at the
center of the atom is a positively charged nucleus
surrounded by electrons that move in circular orbits
around the nucleus
NIELS BOHR (1885 - 1962)
➢The energy of an electron depends on the orbit it
occupies
Lower energies for electrons in lower orbit (closer to the
nucleus)
Higher energies for electrons in outer orbit
➢Electrons emit light when it jumps from higher to lower
orbit
➢Electrons absorb energy when jumping from a lower to
higher orbit
NEXT TOPIC: NUCLEAR MODEL AND THE
SYNTHESIS OF NEW ELEMENTS