Atomic Theory
Atomic Theory
Atomic Theory
All atoms of an element are alike in mass and other properties, but the atoms of one
element differ from all other elements,
Discovery of electrons
They were discovered when Joseph John Thomson made observations that
cathode rays, which are a type of radiation emitted by the negative terminal known as a
cathode, passes electricity through nearly-evacuated glass tubes. The radiation crosses
the evacuated tube to the positive terminal, the anode. J.J Thompson concluded that
cathode rays are negatively charged particles that are located in all atoms. After he
discovered the electron he proposed the plum pudding model of an atom, which states
that the electrons float in positively charged material.
Discovery of protons
The proton was discovered by Ernest Rutherford in the early 1900’s. during this
period his research resulted in a nuclear reaction which led to the first ‘splitting’ of the
atom. He performed experiments studying the inner structure of atoms using alpha
particles. Rutherford knew that alpha particles are significantly more massive than
electrons and positively charged. He predicted that particles in an alpha beam would
largely pass-through matter unaffected, with a small number of particles slightly
deflected. The particles would only be deflected if they happened to come into contact
with electrons. He shot a beam of alpha particles at a piece of gold foil. This experiment
produced results that contradicted Rutherford's hypothesis. Rutherford observed that the
majority of the alpha particles went through the foil; however, some particles were
slightly deflected, a small number were greatly deflected, and another small number
were thrown back in nearly the direction from which they had come.
Discovery of neutrons
By 1920, physicists knew that most of the mass of the atom was located in a
nucleus at its center, and that this central core contained protons. In May 1932 James
Chadwick announced that the core also contained a new uncharged particle, which he
called the neutron. Rutherford had discovered the atomic nucleus in 1911. However, it
seemed there must be something in the nucleus in addition to protons. For instance,
helium was known to have an atomic number of 2 but a mass number of 4. Some
scientists thought there were additional protons in the nucleus, along with an equal
number of electrons to cancel out the additional charge. In 1920, Rutherford proposed
that an electron and a proton could actually combine to form a new, neutral particle, but
there was no real evidence for this, and the proposed neutral particle would be difficult
to detect. Around 1930, several researchers, including German physicist Walter Bothe
and his student Becker had begun bombarding beryllium with alpha particles from a
polonium source and studying the radiation emitted by the beryllium as a result.
Chadwick had noticed some odd features of this radiation, and began to think it might
instead consist of neutral particles such as those Rutherford had proposed.
Frederic and Irene Joliot-Curie preformed and experiment when beryllium hit a
paraffin wax target and knocked loose protons from hydrogen atoms. Joliot-Curie
believed that this was because of high energy gamma photons, but Chadwick thought
that explanation didn’t fit. Photons, having no mass, wouldn’t knock loose particles as
heavy as protons from the target, he reasoned. In 1932, he tried similar experiments
himself, and became convinced that the radiation ejected by the beryllium was in fact a
neutral particle about the mass of a proton. He also tried other targets in addition to the
paraffin wax, including helium, nitrogen, and lithium, which helped him determine that
the mass of the new particle was just slightly more than the mass of the proton.
Chadwick also noted that because the neutrons had no charge, they penetrated
much further into a target than protons would. This discovery completed the atomic
model.