Who Was Democritus?

As the philosopher Nietzsche famously said “He who would learn to

fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly
into flying.” This is certainly true when it comes to humanity’s understanding of the universe,
something which has evolved over many thousands of years and been the subject of
ongoing discovery. And along the way, many names stand out as examples of people who
achieved breakthroughs and helped lay the foundations of our modern understanding. One
such person is Democritus, an ancient Greek philosopher who is viewed by many as being
the “father of modern science”. This is due to his theory of universe that is made up of tiny
“atoms”, which bears a striking resemblance to modern atomic theory. Though he is
typically viewed as one of Greece’s many pre-Socratic natural philosopher, many historians
have argued that he is more rightly classified as a scientist, at least when compared to his
contemporaries. There has also been significant controversy – particularly in Germany
during the 19th century – over whether or not Democritus deserves credit for atomic theory.

Birth and Early Life: The precise date and location of Democritus birth is the subject the
debate. While most sources claim he was born in Abdera, located in the northern Greek
province of Thrace, around 460 BCE. However, other sourcomy a
Scientific Contributions: Democritus is renowned for being a pioneer of mathematics and
geometry. He was among the first Greek philosophers to observe that a cone or pyramid
has one-third the volume of a cylinder or prism with the same base and height. While none
of his works on the subject survived the Middle Ages, his mathematical proofs are derived
from other works with contain extensive citations to titles like On Numbers, On Geometrics,
On Tangencies, On Mapping, and On Irrationals. Right circular and oblique circular cones.
Credit: Dominique Toussaint Right circular and oblique circular cones. Credit: Dominique
Toussaint Democritus is also known for having spent much of his life experimenting with
and examining plants and minerals. Similar to his work in mathematics and geometry,
citations from existing works are used to infer the existence of works on the subject. These
include On the Nature of Man, the two-volume collection On Flesh, On Mind, On the
Senses, On Flavors, On Colors, Causes concerned with Seeds and Plants and Fruits, and to
the three-volume collection Causes concerned with Animals. From his examination of
nature, Democritus developed what could be considered some of the first anthropological
theories. According to him, human beings lived short lives in archaic times, forced to forage
like animals until fear of wild animals then drove them into communities. He theorized that
such humans had no language, and only developed it through the need to articulate
thoughts and ideas. Through a process of trial and error, human beings developed not only
verbal language, but also symbols with which to communicate (i.e. written language),
clothing, fire, the domestication of animals, and agriculture. Each step in this process led to
more discoveries, more complex behaviors, and the many things that came to characterize
civilized society.
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In terms of astronomy and cosmology, Democritus was a proponent of the spherical Earth
hypothesis. He believed that in the original chaos from which the universe sprang, the
universe was composed of nothing but tiny atoms that came together to form larger units
(a theory which bears a striking resemblance to The Big Bang Theory and Nebular Theory).
He also believed in the existence of many worlds, which were either in state of growth or
decay.
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In a similar vein, Democritus advanced a theory of void which challenged the paradoxes
raised by his fellow Greek philosophers, Parmenides and Zeno – the founders of
metaphysical logic. According to these men, movement cannot exist because such a thing
requires there to be a void – which is nothing, and therefore cannot exist. And a void cannot
be termed as such if it is in fact a definable, existing thing. To this, Democritus and other
atomists argued that since movement is an observable phenomena, there must be a void.
This idea previewed Newton’s theory of absolute space, in which space exists independently
of any observer or anything external to it. Einstein’s theory of relativity also provided a
resolution to the paradoxes raised by Parmenides and Zeno, where he asserted that space
itself is relative and cannot be separated from time. Democritus’ thoughts on the nature of
truth also previewed the development of the modern scientific method. According to
Democritus, truth is difficult, because it can only be perceived through senses-impressions
which are subjective. Because of this, Aristotle claimed in his Metaphysics that Democritus
was of the opinion that “either there is no truth or to us at least it is not evident.” However,
as Diogenes Laertius quoted in his 3rd century CE tract, Lives and Opinions of Eminent
Philosophers: “By convention hot, by convention cold, but in reality atoms and void, and
also in reality we know nothing, since the truth is at bottom.” Diogenes Laërtius: Lives and
Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. A biography of the Greek philosophers. Title page from
year 1594. Credit: Public Domain Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent
Philosophers, makes mention of Democritus and his theories. Credit: Public Domain
Ultimately, Democritus’ opinion on truth came down to a distinction between two kinds of
knowledge – “legitimate” (or “genuine”) and bastard (or “secret”). The latter is concerned
with perception through the senses, which is subjective by nature. This is due to the fact that
our sense-perception are influence by the shape and nature of atoms as they flow out from
the object in question and make an impression on our senses. “Legitimate” knowledge, by
contrast, is achieved through the intellect, where sense-data is elaborated through
reasoning. In this way, one can get from “bastard” impressions to the point where things like
connections, patterns and causality can be determined. This is consistent with the inductive
reasoning method later elaborated by Renee Descartes, and is a prime example of why
Democritus is considered to be an early scientific thinker. Atomic Theory: However,
Democritus greatest contribution to modern science was arguably the atomic theory he
elucidated. According to Democritus’ atomic theory, the universe and all matter obey the
following principles: Everything is composed of “atoms”, which are physically, but not
geometrically, indivisible Between atoms, there lies empty space Atoms are indestructible
Atoms have always been, and always will be, in motion There are an infinite number of
atoms, and kinds of atoms, which differ in shape, and size. He was not alone in proposing
atomic theory, as both his mentor Leucippus and Epicurus are believed to have proposed
the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms. Like Democritus, they believed
that the solidity of a material corresponded to the shape of the atoms involved – i.e. iron
atoms are hard, water atoms are smooth and slippery, fire atoms are light and sharp, and air
atoms are light and whirling. Democritus' model of an atom was one of an intert solid that
ineracted mechanically with other atoms. Credit: .science.edu.sg Democritus’ model of an
atom was one of an inert solid that interacted mechanically with other atoms. Credit:
.science.edu.sg However, Democritus is credited with illustrating and popularizing the
concept, and for his descriptions of atoms which survived classical antiquity to influence
later philosophers. Using analogies from our sense experiences, Democritus gave a picture
or an image of an atom that distinguished them from each other by their shape, size, and
the arrangement of their parts. In essence, this model was one of an inert solid that
excluded other bodies from its volume, and which interacted with other atoms mechanically.
As such, his model included physical links (i.e. hooks and eyes, balls and sockets) that
explained how connections occurred between them. While this bears little resemblance to
modern atomic theory (where atoms are not inert and interact electromagnetically), it is
more closely aligned with that of modern science than any other theory of antiquity. While
there is no clear explanation as to how scholars of classical antiquity came to theorize the
existence of atoms, the concept proved to be influential, being picked up by Roman
philosopher Lucretius in the 1st century CE and again during the Scientific Revolution. In
addition to being indispensable to modern molecular and atomic theory, it also provided an
explanation as to why the concept of a void was necessary in nature. If all matter was
composed of tiny, indivisible atoms, then there must also be a great deal of open space
between them. This reasoning has also gone on to inform out notions of cosmology and
astronomy, where Einstein’s theory of special relativity was able to do away with the concept
of a “luminiferous aether” in explaining the behavior of light. Early atomic theory stated that
different materials had differently shaped atoms. Credit: github.com Early atomic theory
stated that different materials had differently shaped atoms. Credit: github.com Diogenes
Laertius summarized Democritus atomic theory as follows in Lives and Opinions of Eminent
Philosophers: “That atoms and the vacuum were the beginning of the universe; and that
everything else existed only in opinion. That the worlds were infinite, created, and
perishable. But that nothing was created out of nothing, and that nothing was destroyed so
as to become nothing. That the atoms were infinite both in magnitude and number, and
were borne about through the universe in endless revolutions. And that thus they produced
all the combinations that exist; fire, water, air, and earth; for that all these things are only
combinations of certain atoms; which combinations are incapable of being affected by
external circumstances, and are unchangeable by reason of their solidity.” Death and Legacy:
Democritus died at the age of ninety, which would place his death at around 370 BCE;
though some writers disagree, with some claiming he lived to 104 or even 109. According to
Marcus Aurelius’ book Meditations, Democritus was eaten by lice or vermin, although in the
same passage he writes that “other lice killed Socrates”, implying that this was meant
metaphorically. Since Socrates died at the hands of the Athenian government who
condemned him, it is possible that Aurelius attributed Democritus death to human folly or
politics. While Democritus was highly esteemed amongst his contemporaries, there were
also those who resented him. This included Plato who, according to some accounts, disliked
him so much that he wished that all his books would be burned. However, Plato’s pupil
Aristotle was familiar with the works of Democritus and mentioned him in both Metaphysics
and Physics, where he described him as a “physicist” who did not concern himself with the
ideals of form or essence. Democritus meditating on the seat of the soul by Léon-Alexandre
Delhomme (1868). Credit: Pubic Domain Democritus meditating on the seat of the soul, by
Léon-Alexandre Delhomme (1868). Credit: Pubic Domain Ultimately, Democritus is credited
as being one of the founders of the modern science because his methods and theories
closely resemble those of modern astronomers and physicists. And while his version of the
atomic model differs greatly from our modern conceptions, his work was of undoubted
value, and was a step in an ongoing process that included such scientists as John Dalton,
Neils Bohr and even Albert Einstein. As always, science is an process of continuing discovery,
where new breakthroughs are built upon the foundations of the old and every generations
attempts to see a little farther by standing on the shoulders of those who came before.
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History of Dalton’s Atomic Theory Although the concept of the atom dates back to the ideas
of Democritus, the English meteorologist and chemist John Dalton formulated the first
modern description of it as the fundamental building block of chemical structures. Dalton
developed the law of multiple proportions (first presented in 1803) by studying and
expanding upon the works of Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Proust. Proust had studied tin
oxides and found that their masses were either 88.1% tin and 11.9% oxygen or 78.7% tin
and 21.3% oxygen (these were tin(II) oxide and tin dioxide respectively). Dalton noted from
these percentages that 100g of tin will combine either with 13.5g or 27g of oxygen; 13.5 and
27 form a ratio of 1:2. Dalton found an atomic theory of matter could elegantly explain this
common pattern in chemistry – in the case of Proust’s tin oxides, one tin atom will combine
with either one or two oxygen atoms. Dalton also believed atomic theory could explain why
water absorbed different gases in different proportions: for example, he found that water
absorbed carbon dioxide far better than it absorbed nitrogen. Dalton hypothesized this was
due to the differences in the mass and complexity of the gases’ respective particles. Indeed,
carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) are heavier and larger than nitrogen molecules (N2). Dalton
proposed that each chemical element is composed of atoms of a single, unique type, and
though they cannot be altered or destroyed by chemical means, they can combine to form
more complex structures (chemical compounds). Since Dalton reached his conclusions by
experimentation and examination of the results in an empirical fashion, this marked the first
truly scientific theory of the atom. John Dalton’s A New System of Chemical Philosophy This
image from Dalton’s A New System of Chemical Philosophy, published in 1808, depicts
various atoms and molecules. Dalton’s Atomic Theory The main points of Dalton’s atomic
theory are: Everything is composed of atoms, which are the indivisible building blocks of
matter and cannot be destroyed. All atoms of an element are identical. The atoms of
different elements vary in size and mass. Compounds are produced through different
whole-number combinations of atoms. A chemical reaction results in the rearrangement of
atoms in the reactant and product compounds. Atomic theory has been revised over the
years to incorporate the existence of atomic isotopes and the interconversion of mass and
energy. In addition, the discovery of subatomic particles has shown that atoms can be
divided into smaller parts. However, Dalton’s importance in the development of modern
atomic theory has been recognized by the designation of the atomic mass unit as a Dalton.
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J.J. Thomson Biographical Data Tomson was born December 18, 1856, Cheetham Hill, near
Manchester, England. He died August 30, 1940, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
Thomson is buried in Westminster Abbey, near Sir Isaac Newton. J.J. Thomson is credited
with the discovery of the electron, the negatively-charged particle in the atom. He is known
for the Thomson atomic theory. Many scientists studied the electric discharge of a cathode
ray tube. It was Thomson's interpretation that was important. He took the deflection of the
rays by the magnets and charged plates as evidence of 'bodies much smaller than atoms'.
Thomson calculated these bodies had a large charge to mass ratio and he estimated the
value of the charge itself. In 1904, Thomson proposed a model of the atom as a sphere of
positive matter with electrons positioned based on electrostatic forces. So, he not only
discovered the electron but determined it was a fundamental part of an atom. Notable
awards Thomson received include: Nobel Prize in Physics (1906) "in recognition of the great
merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by
gases" Knighted (1908) Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge (1884-
1918) Thomson Atomic Theory Thomson's discovery of the electron completely changed the
way people viewed atoms. Up until the end of the 19th century, atoms were thought to be
tiny solid spheres. In 1903, Thomson proposed a model of the atom consisting of positive
and negative charges, present in equal amounts so that an atom would be electrically
neutral. He proposed the atom was a sphere, but the positive and negative charges were
embedded within it. Thomson's model came to be called the "plum pudding model" or
"chocolate chip cookie model". Modern scientists understand atoms consist of a nucleus of
positively-charged protons and neutral neutrons, with negatively-charged electrons orbiting
the nucleus. Yet, Thomson's model is important because it introduced the notion that an
atom consisted of charged particles. Interesting Facts About J.J. Thomson Prior to
Thomson's discovery of electrons, scientists believed the atom was the smallest fundamental
unit of matter. Thomson called the particle he discovered 'corpuscles' rather than electrons.
Thomson's master's work, Treatise on the motion of vortex rings, provides a mathematical
description of William Thomson's vortex theory of atoms. He was awarded the Adams Prize
in 1884. Thomson discovered the natural radioactivity of potassium in 1905. In 1906,
Thomson demonstrated a hydrogen atom had only a single electron. Thomson's father
intended for J.J. to be an engineer, but the family did not have the funds to support the
apprenticeship. So, Joseph John attended Owens College in Manchester, and then Trinity
College in Cambridge, where he became a mathematical physicist. In 1890, Thomson
married one of his students, Rose Elisabeth Paget. They had a son and a daughter. The son,
Sir George Paget Thomson, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937. Thomson also
investigated the nature of positively-charged particles. These experiments led to the
development of the mass spectrograph. Thomson was closely aligned with chemists of the
time. His atomic theory helped explain atomic bonding and the structure of molecules.
Thomson published an important monograph in 1913 urging the use of the mass
spectrograph in chemical analysis. Many consider J.J. Thomson's greatest contribution to
science to be his role as a teacher. Seven of his research assistants, as well as his own son,
went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. One of his best-known students was Ernest
Rutherford, who succeeded Thomson as Cavendish Professor of Physics.
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Rutherford's Planetary Model of the Atom By 1911 the components of the atom had been
discovered. The atom consisted of subatomic particles called protons and electrons.
However, it was not clear how these protons and electrons were arranged within the atom.
J.J. Thomson suggested the"plum pudding" model. In this model the electrons and protons
are uniformly mixed throughout the atom: Rutherford tested Thomson's hypothesis by
devising his "gold foil" experiment. Rutherford reasoned that if Thomson's model was
correct then the mass of the atom was spread out throughout the atom. Then, if he shot
high velocity alpha particles (helium nuclei) at an atom then there would be very little to
deflect the alpha particles. He decided to test this with a thin film of gold atoms. As
expected, most alpha particles went right through the gold foil but to his amazement a few
alpha particles rebounded almost directly backwards. These deflections were not consistent
with Thomson's model. Rutherford was forced to discard the Plum Pudding model and
reasoned that the only way the alpha particles could be deflected backwards was if most of
the mass in an atom was concentrated in a nucleus. He thus developed the planetary model
of the atom which put all the protons in the nucleus and the electrons orbited around the
nucleus like planets around the sun.
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ERNEST RUTHERFORD (1871 - 1937) << Back to List of Important Scientists Ernest
Rutherford Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson was a New
Zealand chemist who has become known as the “father of nuclear physics”. In 1911, he was
the first to discover that atoms have a small charged nucleus surrounded by largely empty
space, and are circled by tiny electrons, which became known as the Rutherford model (or
planetary model) of the atom. He is also credited with the discovery of the proton in 1919,
and hypothesized the existence of the neutron. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1908 “for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the
chemistry of radioactive substances”. Ernest Rutherford was born on 30 August 1871 in
Spring Grove (now called Brightwater) near Nelson, New Zealand, the fourth of twelve
children of a Scottish farmer and an English schoolteacher. He was educated at Havelock
School and then, at age 16, Nelson Collegiate School, before winning a scholarship to study
at Canterbury College at the University of New Zealand in Wellington in 1889. He graduated
with an MA in 1893, with a double first in Mathematics and Physical Science. He continued
with research work at Canterbury College for a short time, receiving a BSc degree in 1894,
before traveling to England in 1895 for postgraduate study at the Cavendish Laboratory at
the University of Cambridge, where he studied under J. J. Thompson (soon to become the
discoverer of the electron). During Rutherford’s investigation of radioactivity at Cambridge,
he invented an ingenious detector for electromagnetic waves, and coined the terms “alpha”
and “beta” to describe the two distinct types of radiation emitted by thorium and uranium.
In 1897, he was awarded a BA Research Degree and the Coutts-Trotter Studentship of
Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1898, Rutherford was appointed to the vacant chair of physics
at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In 1900, he married Mary Georgina Newton, and
they had a daughter, Eileen Mary, the next year. During his nine years in Montreal,
Rutherford collaborated with the young Frederick Soddy (winner of the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1921) on ground-breaking research into the transmutation of elements. His
"disintegration theory" of radioactivity identified radioactive phenomena as atomic, not
molecular, processes, due to the spontaneous disintegration of atoms. He also noticed that
a sample of radioactive material invariably took the same amount of time for half the
sample to decay (known as its “half-life”) and suggested a practical application using this
constant rate of radioactive decay as a clock, which could then be used to help determine
the age of the Earth (which turned out to be much older than most of the scientists at the
time believed). It was for this work that he was the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. Otto
Hahn (who later discovered nuclear fission) worked under Rutherford at the Montreal
Laboratory in 1905 - 1906. In 1907, Rutherford was appointed professor of physics at the
University of Manchester, England. He directed Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden in the
famous Geiger-Marsden experiment (or “gold-foil experiment”) in 1909, which
demonstrated the nuclear nature of atoms. It was his interpretation of these experiments in
1911 that led him to the Rutherford model of the atom, involving a very small positively-
charged nucleus orbited by even tinier negatively-charged electrons, a great advance on J. J.
Thomson’s so-called “plum pudding” model. In 1912, Niels Bohr joined him at Manchester,
and Bohr adapted Rutherford's nuclear structure to Max Planck's quantum theory, and so
obtained a theory of atomic structure which essentially remains valid to this day. In 1913,
together with H. G. Moseley, Rutherford used cathode rays to bombard atoms of various
elements and showed that the inner structures correspond with a group of lines which
characterize the elements. Each element could then be assigned an atomic number which
would define the properties of the specific element. In 1919, Rutherford returned to
Cambridge when he was offered the Directorship of the Cavendish Laboratory in
Cambridge, a position he retained for many years, effectively until the end of his life. He was
considered an inspiring leader of the Cavendish Laboratory, and steered numerous future
Nobel Prize winners towards their great achievements (including James Chadwick, Patrick
Blackett, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton) as well as working with many others for shorter
or longer periods (including George Thomson, Edward Appleton, Cecil Powell and Francis
Aston). In 1919, he became the first person to transmute one element into another when he
converted nitrogen into oxygen through a nuclear reaction involving the shooting of alpha
particles into nitrogen gas. He is also credited with the discovery of the proton, when he
noticed the signatures of hydrogen nuclei being emitted during this process. While working
with Niels Bohr in 1921, he theorized about the existence of neutrons, which could
somehow compensate for the repelling effect of the positive charge of protons by causing
an attractive nuclear force and thus keeping the nuclei from breaking apart. Rutherford's
theory of neutrons was eventually proved in 1932 by his associate James Chadwick.
Rutherford had been knighted in 1914, and was subsequently awarded the Order of Merit in
1925. In 1931, he was created the 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson and Cambridge. In
addition to directing the Cavendish Laboratory, he also went on to take up several
additional positions including Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution in
London and Director of the Royal Society Mond Laboratory in Cambridge. He had been
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society back in 1903, and he acted as its President from 1925
to 1930. He was awarded many prizes and honours, including the Rumford Medal, the
Copley Medal, the Bressa Prize, the Albert Medal and the Faraday Medal, as well as
countless honorary degrees and doctorates. Rutherford died unexpectedly in Cambridge on
19 October 1937, aged 66, following an operation for an umbilical hernia. As a British peer,
protocol at that time required that he be operated on by a titled doctor, and the delay may
well have cost him his life. He is buried in Westminster Abbey, alongside Lord Kelvin and
near Sir Isaac Newton.
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Niels Bohr was one of the foremost scientists of modern physics, best known for his
substantial contributions to quantum theory and his Nobel Prize-winning research on the
structure of atoms. Born in Copenhagen in 1885 to well-educated parents, Bohr became
interested in physics at a young age. He studied the subject throughout his undergraduate
and graduate years and earned a doctorate in physics in 1911 from Copenhagen University.
While still a student, Bohr won a contest put on by the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen
for his investigation into the measurements of liquid surface tension using oscillating fluid
jets. Working in the laboratory of his father (a renowned physiologist), Bohr conducted
several experiments and even made his own glass test tubes. ADVERTISING inRead invented
by Teads Advertisement Bohr went above and beyond the current theory of liquid surface
tension by taking into account the viscosity of the water as well as incorporating finite
amplitudes rather than infinitesimal ones. He submitted his essay at the last minute, winning
first place and a gold medal. He improved upon these ideas and sent them to the Royal
Society in London, who published them in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society in 1908, according to Nobelprize.org. His subsequent work became
increasingly theoretical. It was while conducting research for his doctoral thesis on the
electron theory of metals that Bohr first came across Max Planck's early quantum theory,
which described energy as tiny particles, or quanta. In 1912, Bohr was working for the Nobel
laureate J.J. Thompson in England when he was introduced to Ernest Rutherford, whose
discovery of the nucleus and development of an atomic model had earned him a Nobel
Prize in chemistry in 1908. Under Rutherford's tutelage, Bohr began studying the properties
of atoms. Bohr held a lectureship in physics at Copenhagen University from 1913 to 1914
and went on to hold a similar position at Victoria University in Manchester from 1914 to
1916. He went back to Copenhagen University in 1916 to become a professor of theoretical
physics. In 1920, he was appointed the head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Combining Rutherford's description of the nucleus and Planck's theory about quanta, Bohr
explained what happens inside an atom and developed a picture of atomic structure. This
work earned him a Nobel Prize of his own in 1922. In the same year that he began his
studies with Rutherford, Bohr married the love of his life, Margaret Nørlund, with whom he
had six sons. Later in life, he became president of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, as
well as a member of scientific academies all over the world. When the Nazis invaded
Denmark in World War II, Bohr managed to escape to Sweden. He spent the last two years
of the war in England and the United States, where he got involved with the Atomic Energy
Project. It was important to him, however, to use his skills for good and not violence. He
dedicated his work toward the peaceful use of atomic physics and toward solving political
problems arising from the development of atomic weapons of destruction. He believed that
nations should be completely open with one another and wrote down these views in his
Open Letter to the United Nations in 1950. A stylized representation of a lithium atom
illustrates Niels Bohr's atomic model, that an atom is a small, positively charged nucleus
surrounded by orbiting electrons. A stylized representation of a lithium atom illustrates Niels
Bohr's atomic model, that an atom is a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by
orbiting electrons. Credit: Boris15 Shutterstock Atomic model Bohr's greatest contribution
to modern physics was the atomic model. The Bohr model shows the atom as a small,
positively charged nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons. Bohr was the first to discover
that electrons travel in separate orbits around the nucleus and that the number of electrons
in the outer orbit determines the properties of an element. The chemical element bohrium
(Bh), No. 107 on the periodic table of elements, is named for him. Liquid droplet theory
Bohr's theoretical work contributed significantly to scientists' understanding of nuclear
fission. According to his liquid droplet theory, a liquid drop provides an accurate
representation of an atom's nucleus. This theory was instrumental in the first attempts to
split uranium atoms in the 1930s, an important step in the development of the atomic
bomb. Despite his contributions to the U.S. Atomic Energy Project during World War II, Bohr
was an outspoken advocate for the peaceful application of atomic physics. Quantum theory
Bohr's concept of complementarity, which he wrote about in a number of essays between
1933 and 1962, states that an electron can be viewed in two ways, either as a particle or as a
wave, but never both at the same time. This concept, which forms the basis of early
quantum theory, also explains that regardless of how one views an electron, all
understanding of its properties must be rooted in empirical measurement. Bohr's theory
stresses the point that an experiment's results are deeply affected by the measurement tools
used to carry them out. Bohr's contributions to the study of quantum mechanics are forever
memorialized at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Copenhagen University, which he
helped found in 1920 and headed until his death in 1962. It has since been renamed the
Niels Bohr Institute in his honor. Niels Bohr quotations "Every great and deep difficulty
bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it."
"Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real." "The best
weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the
weapon of openness." "Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think."
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Bohr Atomic Model : In 1913 Bohr proposed his quantized shell model of the atom to
explain how electrons can have stable orbits around the nucleus. The motion of the
electrons in the Rutherford model was unstable because, according to classical mechanics
and electromagnetic theory, any charged particle moving on a curved path emits
electromagnetic radiation; thus, the electrons would lose energy and spiral into the nucleus.
To remedy the stability problem, Bohr modified the Rutherford model by requiring that the
electrons move in orbits of fixed size and energy. The energy of an electron depends on the
size of the orbit and is lower for smaller orbits. Radiation can occur only when the electron
jumps from one orbit to another. The atom will be completely stable in the state with the
smallest orbit, since there is no orbit of lower energy into which the electron can jump.
Bohr's starting point was to realize that classical mechanics by itself could never explain the
atom's stability. A stable atom has a certain size so that any equation describing it must
contain some fundamental constant or combination of constants with a dimension of
length. The classical fundamental constants--namely, the charges and the masses of the
electron and the nucleus--cannot be combined to make a length. Bohr noticed, however,
that the quantum constant formulated by the German physicist Max Planck has dimensions
which, when combined with the mass and charge of the electron, produce a measure of
length. Numerically, the measure is close to the known size of atoms. This encouraged Bohr
to use Planck's constant in searching for a theory of the atom. Planck had introduced his
constant in 1900 in a formula explaining the light radiation emitted from heated bodies.
According to classical theory, comparable amounts of light energy should be produced at
all frequencies. This is not only contrary to observation but also implies the absurd result
that the total energy radiated by a heated body should be infinite. Planck postulated that
energy can only be emitted or absorbed in discrete amounts, which he called quanta (the
Latin word for "how much"). The energy quantum is related to the frequency of the light by
a new fundamental constant, h. When a body is heated, its radiant energy in a particular
frequency range is, according to classical theory, proportional to the temperature of the
body. With Planck's hypothesis, however, the radiation can occur only in quantum amounts
of energy. If the radiant energy is less than the quantum of energy, the amount of light in
that frequency range will be reduced. Planck's formula correctly describes radiation from
heated bodies. Planck's constant has the dimensions of action, which may be expressed as
units of energy multiplied by time, units of momentum multiplied by length, or units of
angular momentum. For example, Planck's constant can be written as h = 6.6x10-34 joule
seconds. Using Planck's constant, Bohr obtained an accurate formula for the energy levels of
the hydrogen atom. He postulated that the angular momentum of the electron is
quantized--i.e., it can have only discrete values. He assumed that otherwise electrons obey
the laws of classical mechanics by traveling around the nucleus in circular orbits. Because of
the quantization, the electron orbits have fixed sizes and energies. The orbits are labeled by
an integer, the quantum number n. With his model, Bohr explained how electrons could
jump from one orbit to another only by emitting or absorbing energy in fixed quanta. For
example, if an electron jumps one orbit closer to the nucleus, it must emit energy equal to
the difference of the energies of the two orbits. Conversely, when the electron jumps to a
larger orbit, it must absorb a quantum of light equal in energy to the difference in orbits.
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Rutherford model, also called nuclear atom or planetary model of the atom, description of
the structure of atoms proposed (1911) by the New Zealand-born physicist Ernest
Rutherford. The model described the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a
nucleus, in which nearly all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative
constituents, called electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around
the Sun. TOP QUESTIONS What is the model of the atom proposed by Ernest Rutherford?
What is the Rutherford gold-foil experiment? What were the results of Rutherford's
experiment? What did Ernest Rutherford's atomic model get right and wrong? What was the
impact of Ernest Rutherford's theory? Advertisement The nucleus was postulated as small
and dense to account for the scattering of alpha particles from thin gold foil, as observed in
a series of experiments performed by undergraduate Ernest Marsden under the direction of
Rutherford and German physicist Hans Geiger in 1909. A radioactive source capable of
emitting alpha particles (i.e., positively charged particles, identical to the nucleus of the
helium atom and 7,000 times more massive than electrons) was enclosed within a protective
lead shield. The radiation was focused into a narrow beam after passing through a slit in a
lead screen. A thin section of gold foil was placed in front of the slit, and a screen coated
with zinc sulfide to render it fluorescent served as a counter to detect alpha particles. As
each alpha particle struck the fluorescent screen, it would produce a burst of light called a
scintillation, which was visible through a viewing microscope attached to the back of the
screen. The screen itself was movable, allowing Rutherford and his associates to determine
whether or not any alpha particles were being deflected by the gold foil. Rutherford gold-
foil experiment Rutherford gold-foil experiment The Rutherford gold-foil
experimentDiagram of physicist Ernest Rutherford's gold-foil experiment. In 1909
Rutherford disproved Sir J.J. Thomson's model of the atom as a uniformly distributed
substance. Because only very few of the alpha particles in his beam were scattered by large
angles after striking the gold foil while most passed completely through, Rutherford knew
that the gold atom's mass must be concentrated in a tiny dense nucleus. Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc. Advertisement Most alpha particles were observed to pass straight through
the gold foil, which implied that atoms are composed of large amounts of open space.
Some alpha particles were deflected slightly, suggesting interactions with other positively
charged particles within the atom. Still other alpha particles were scattered at large angles,
while a very few even bounced back toward the source. (Rutherford famously said later, “It
was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came
back and hit you.”) Only a positively charged and relatively heavy target particle, such as the
proposed nucleus, could account for such strong repulsion. The negative electrons that
balanced electrically the positive nuclear charge were regarded as traveling in circular orbits
about the nucleus. The electrostatic force of attraction between electrons and nucleus was
likened to the gravitational force of attraction between the revolving planets and the Sun.
Most of this planetary atom was open space and offered no resistance to the passage of the
alpha particles. The Rutherford model supplanted the “plum-pudding” atomic model of
English physicist Sir J.J. Thomson, in which the electrons were embedded in a positively
charged atom like plums in a pudding. Based wholly on classical physics, the Rutherford
model itself was superseded in a few years by the Bohr atomic model, which incorporated
some early quantum theory. Facts Matter. Support the truth and unlock all of Britannica’s
content. Start Your Free Trial Today The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was
most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor. LEARN MORE in
these related Britannica articles: Shell atomic modelIn the shell atomic model, electrons
occupy different energy levels, or shells. The K and L shells are shown for a neon atom.
atom: Rutherford’s nuclear model Rutherford overturned Thomson’s model in 1911 with his
famous gold-foil experiment, in which he demonstrated that the atom has a tiny, massive
nucleus. Five years earlier Rutherford had noticed that alpha particles beamed through a
hole onto a photographic plate would make a… crystal bonding chemical bonding: Atomic
structure …of atomic structure begins with Ernest Rutherford’s recognition that an atom
consists of a single, central, massive, positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons.
The number of protons in the nucleus is the atomic number, Z, of the element. (For
hydrogen Z = 1, and for carbon Z = 6.) A… Figure 1: Data in the table of the Galileo
experiment. The tangent to the curve is drawn at t = 0.6. principles of physical science:
Unexpected observation …data to formulate his nuclear model of the atom (1911).…
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SHARE SHARE Valence CHEMISTRY WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
See Article History Alternative Titles: valence number, valency Valence, also spelled valency,
in chemistry, the property of an element that determines the number of other atoms with
which an atom of the element can combine. Introduced in 1868, the term is used to express
both the power of combination of an element in general and the numerical value of the
power of combination. crystal bonding READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC chemical bonding:
Valence The chemists of the 19th century established a large body of empirical information
leading to the realization that patterns exist in the… A brief treatment of valence follows. For
full treatment, see chemical bonding: Valence bond theory. The explanation and the
systematization of valence was a major challenge to 19th-century chemists. In the absence
of any satisfactory theory of its cause, most of the effort centred on devising empirical rules
for determining the valences of the elements. Characteristic valences for the elements were
measured in terms of the number of atoms of hydrogen with which an atom of the element
can combine or that it can replace in a compound. It became evident, however, that the
valences of many elements vary in different compounds. The first great step in the
development of a satisfactory explanation of valence and chemical combination was made
by the American chemist G.N. Lewis (1916) with the identification of the chemical bond of
organic compounds with a pair of electrons held jointly by two atoms and serving to hold
them together. In the same year, the nature of the chemical bond between electrically
charged atoms (ions) was discussed by German physicist W. Kossel. After the development
of the detailed electronic theory of the periodic system of the elements, the theory of
valence was reformulated in terms of electronic structures and interatomic forces. This
situation led to the introduction of several new concepts—ionic valence, covalence,
oxidation number, coordination number, metallic valence—corresponding to different
modes of interaction of atoms. LEARN MORE in these related Britannica articles: crystal
bonding chemical bonding: Valence bond theory The basis of VB theory is the Lewis
concept of the electron-pair bond. Broadly speaking, in VB theory a bond between atoms A
and B is formed when two atomic orbitals, one from each atom, merge with one another
(the technical term is overlap), and the electrons… crystal bonding chemical bonding:
Valence The chemists of the 19th century established a large body of empirical information
leading to the realization that patterns exist in the types of compounds that elements can
form. The most useful rationalizing characteristic of an element is its valence, which was
originally defined… crystal bonding chemical bonding: Bonds between atoms …addition,
only the electrons in valence shells play a significant role in the formation of bonds between
atoms. Henceforth this article will concentrate on these electrons alone. Lewis introduced
the conventions of
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Rutherford Atomic Model – The plum pudding model is given by J. J. Thomson failed to
explain certain experimental results associated with the atomic structure of elements. Ernest
Rutherford, a British scientist conducted an experiment and based on the observations of
this experiment he proposed the atomic structure of elements and gave Rutherford Atomic
Model. Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment Rutherford’s conducted an experiment by
bombarding a thin sheet of gold with α-particles and then studied the trajectory of these
particles after their interaction with the gold foil. Rutherford Atomic Model Rutherford, in his
experiment, directed high energy streams of α-particles from a radioactive source at a thin
sheet (100 nm thickness) of gold. In order to study the deflection caused to the α-particles,
he placed a fluorescent zinc sulphide screen around the thin gold foil. Rutherford made
certain observations that contradicted Thomson’s atomic model. Observations of
Rutherford’s Alpha Scattering Experiment The observations made by Rutherford led him to
conclude that: A major fraction of the α-particles bombarded towards the gold sheet passed
through it without any deflection, and hence most of the space in an atom is empty. Some
of the α-particles were deflected by the gold sheet by very small angles, and hence the
positive charge in an atom is not uniformly distributed. The positive charge in an atom is
concentrated in a very small volume. Very few of the α-particles were deflected back, that is
only a few α-particles had nearly 180o angle of deflection. So the volume occupied by the
positively charged particles in an atom is very small as compared to the total volume of an
atom. Rutherford Atomic Model Based on the above observations and conclusions,
Rutherford proposed the atomic structure of elements. According to the Rutherford atomic
model: The positively charged particles and most of the mass of an atom was concentrated
in an extremely small volume. He called this region of the atom as a nucleus. Rutherford
model proposed that the negatively charged electrons surround the nucleus of an atom. He
also claimed that the electrons surrounding the nucleus revolve around it with very high
speed in circular paths. He named these circular paths as orbits. Electrons being negatively
charged and nucleus being a densely concentrated mass of positively charged particles are
held together by a strong electrostatic force of attraction. Limitations of Rutherford Atomic
Model Although the Rutherford atomic model was based on experimental observations it
failed to explain certain things. Rutherford proposed that the electrons revolve around the
nucleus in fixed paths called orbits. According to Maxwell, accelerated charged particles
emit electromagnetic radiations and hence an electron revolving around the nucleus should
emit electromagnetic radiation. This radiation would carry energy from the motion of the
electron which would come at the cost of shrinking of orbits. Ultimately the electrons would
collapse in the nucleus. Calculations have shown that as per Rutherford model an electron
would collapse in the nucleus in less than 10-8 seconds. So Rutherford model was not in
accordance with Maxwell’s theory and could not explain the stability of an atom. One of the
drawbacks of the Rutherford model was also that he did not say anything about the
arrangement of electrons in an atom which made his theory incomplete. Although the early
atomic models were inaccurate and failed to explain certain experimental results, they were
the base for future developments in the world of quantum mechanics.