Comprehensive

History of the
Development of
Atomic Theory
Lesson Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students
will be able to…
⮚ trace the development of atomic
theory from the philosophical concept
of indivisible particles in ancient Greek
to the contemporary quantum
mechanical model; and
⮚ identify and summarize the
 Atomic Models
⮚ This model of the atom
may look familiar to you.
This is the Bohr model.
⮚ In this model, the nucleus
is orbited by electrons,
which are in different
energy levels.
▪ A model uses familiar
ideas to explain
unfamiliar facts
observed in nature.
▪ A model can be
Introduction
⮚ Atomic theory is the scientific theory
that matter is composed of fundamental
building blocks known as atoms.
⮚ This idea dates back thousands of years
and has evolved significantly.
⮚ It's a journey from the philosophical
speculations of ancient times to the
high-energy particle experiments of
today's large hadron colliders.
 Ancient
Philosophies
and Early
The Greek Philosophers
⮚ The notion of atoms was first proposed in
the 5th century BCE by Greek philosophers
Leucippus and his student Democritus.
⮚ They suggested that everything in the
universe is composed of small,
indestructible units called atoms (from
the Greek 'atomos', meaning indivisible).
⮚ However, these ideas were purely
speculative, as they had no experimental
evidence to support them.
Explain, in your own words,
what Democritus believed
about the nature of matter.
 Why is Democritus's
contribution to atomic theory
considered fundamental even
though he did not have
experimental evidence?
 Democritus (circa 400
B.C.)
Who was
Democritus?
⮚ Democritus speculated that
matter could not be divided
indefinitely, leading to the
concept of atoms, meaning
'indivisible'
⮚ Believed atoms were eternal,
infinite in number and kind,
moving through the void,
differing in shape, and size but
Who was
Democritus?
⮚ To Democritus, atoms
were small, hard
particles that were all
made of the same
material but were
different shapes and
sizes.
⮚ Atoms were infinite in
number, always moving
and capable of joining
This theory was ignored and
forgotten for more than 2000
years!
The eminent
philosophers of
the time, Aristotle
and Plato, had a
Aristotle and Plato favored
more respected, the earth, fire, air and water
approach to the nature of

(and ultimately matter. Their ideas held sway

because of their eminence as
philosophers. The atomos
wrong) theory. idea was buried for
Roman Influence

Later, the Roman poet Lucretius

expanded on Greek atomism in his work
"De Rerum Natura" ("On the Nature of
Things"), which offered a detailed
description of the physical universe
where atoms were the core building
blocks.
Alchemy and
Early
Chemistry
The Alchemists

During the Middle Ages and into the

Renaissance, alchemists attempted to
transform substances into other forms
(e.g., lead into gold) and in doing so,
they experimented with materials in
ways that set the stage for a more
scientific understanding of matter.
The Renaissance to Early Modern Period

The Sceptics

Many Renaissance scholars were

skeptical of atomic theory because it
contradicted the then-dominant
Aristotelian doctrine, which posited
that matter was continuous and could be
divided infinitely.
The Renaissance to Early Modern Period

The Chemists

In the 17th century, the first meaningful

progress toward modern atomic theory
arose with individuals like Robert Boyle,
who argued against the Aristotelian view
of the four elements and proposed that
matter was composed of various
combinations of different substances.
John Dalton
⮚ John Dalton was an English
(1803)
chemist and physicist,
acclaimed for developing
the modern atomic theory
and studying color
blindness, a condition
sometimes called Daltonism
in his honor.
⮚ His work on atomic weights
and chemical reactions
significantly advanced the
field of chemistry.
John Dalton
(1803)
Revitalized and expanded the
atomic theory for the scientific
community of his time

Stated that atoms of different

elements are characterized by
differences in weight

Formulated the law of multiple

proportions, explaining how
atoms combine in simple
whole numbers to form
compounds
John Dalton
(1803)
⮚ He deduced that all elements
are composed of atoms.
Atoms are indivisible and
indestructible particles.
⮚ Atoms of the same element
are exactly alike.
⮚ Atoms of different elements
are different.
⮚ Compounds are formed by the
joining of atoms of two or
more elements.
Note: This theory became one of the foundations of
modern chemistry.
John Dalton
(1803)

Note: This theory became one of the foundations of

modern chemistry.
 Describe Dalton's
atomic theory and how
it differed from
Democritus's ideas.
 Discovery of
Subatomic Particles
Discoveries in Electricity

⮚ The late 19th century saw a wave of

discoveries related to electricity,
which eventually led to the
understanding that atoms themselves
were not indivisible.
⮚ Experiments by scientists like
Michael Faraday laid the groundwork
for this revelation.
The Periodic Table

⮚ Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic

table in 1869 organized elements
by atomic weight, noticing that
certain properties repeated
periodically, which provided
further insight into the
structure and behavior of atoms.
Discovery of Subatomic Particles
J.J. Thomson
(1897)
⮚ J.J. Thomson was a British
physicist who won the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1906 for
discovering the electron, a
subatomic particle, and for
his work on the conduction
of electricity in gases.
⮚ His experiments with cathode
rays led to a new
understanding of atomic
structure, fundamentally
altering the field of
physics.
J.J. Thomson
(1897)
⮚ Through experiments with
cathode rays, he
discovered the electron,
suggesting that atoms are
divisible
⮚ Thomson studied the passage of
an electric current through a
gas.
⮚ As the current
passed through the
gas, it gave off
rays of negatively
charged particles.
J.J. Thomson
(1897)
⮚ This surprised Thomson,
because the atoms of the
gas were uncharged. Where
had the negative charges
come from?
⮚ Thomson concluded that the
negative charges came from
within the atom.
⮚ A particle smaller than an
atom had to exist.
⮚ The atom was divisible!
J.J. Thomson
(1897)
⮚ Thomson called the
negatively charged
“corpuscles,” today known
as electrons.
⮚ Since the gas was known to
be neutral, having no
charge, he reasoned that
there must be positively
charged particles in the
atom.
⮚ But he could never find
J.J. Thomson
(1897)
⮚ Conceived the 'Plum
Pudding' model where
negative electrons reside
in a positive matrix
 What was the
significance of J.J.
Thomson's discovery of
the electron?
 Why was the "Plum
Pudding" model
eventually discarded?
Radioactivity

In 1896, Henri Becquerel

discovered radioactivity, and
subsequently, Ernest Rutherford
and others identified three types
of emissions from radioactive
materials: alpha, beta, and gamma
rays.
Alpha Particles

Alpha particles were recognized as

a type of radioactive emission
that could be deflected by
magnetic and electric fields,
indicating they had a charge.
Ernest Rutherford
(1911) ⮚ Ernest Rutherford was a New
Zealand-born British physicist
renowned for his pioneering
studies of radioactivity and
the atomic nucleus.
⮚ He is credited with the
discovery of the proton and
the formulation of the nuclear
model of the atom, often
referred to as the Rutherford
model.
⮚ His work earned him the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry in 1908.
Ernest Rutherford
(1911) ⮚ Rutherford’s experiment
Involved firing a stream of
tiny positively charged
particles at a thin sheet of
gold foil (2000 atoms thick)
Ernest Rutherford
(1911)
⮚ Most of the positively charged
“bullets” passed right through the gold
atoms in the sheet of gold foil without
changing course at all.
⮚ Some of the positively charged
“bullets,” however, did bounce away
from the gold sheet as if they had hit
something solid. He knew that
positive charges repel positive
charges.
Ernest Rutherford
(1911)
⮚ This could only mean that the gold atoms in
the sheet were mostly open space. Atoms
were not a pudding filled with a positively
charged material.
⮚ Rutherford concluded that an atom had a
small, dense, positively charged center that
repelled his positively charged “bullets.”
⮚ He called the center of the atom the
“nucleus”
⮚ The nucleus is tiny compared to the atom as
a whole.
Ernest Rutherford
(1911) ⮚ Rutherford reasoned
that all of an atom’s
positively charged
particles were
contained in the
nucleus.
⮚ The negatively
charged particles were
scattered outside the
How did Rutherford's
model change the way
scientists view the
atom?
 Quantum
Mechanics and the
Modern Atomic
Model
 Niels Bohr (1922)
⮚ Niels Bohr was a Danish
physicist who made foundational
contributions to understanding
atomic structure and quantum
theory, for which he received
the Nobel Prize in Physics in
1922.
⮚ He is known for the Bohr model
of the atom, which introduced
the theory of electrons
orbiting the nucleus in
distinct energy levels.
 Niels Bohr (1922)
⮚ According to Bohr’s
atomic model, electrons
move in definite orbits
around the nucleus,
much like planets circle
the sun.
⮚ These orbits, or energy
levels, are located at
certain distances from
Niels Bohr (1922)
 What are the key
features of Bohr's
model of the atom?
Arnold Sommerfeld
⮚ Arnold Sommerfeld was a German
theoretical physicist who made
significant contributions to
atomic and quantum theory.
⮚ He is known for refining the Bohr
model with his introduction of
elliptical orbits and for
developing the Sommerfeld fine-
structure constant, which
quantifies the strength of the
electromagnetic interaction
between elementary charged
particles.
Arnold Sommerfeld
 In what way did
Sommerfeld refine the
Bohr model?
 Erwin Schrödinger
⮚
(1926)
Erwin Schrödinger was an Austrian-
Irish physicist and one of the
founders of quantum mechanics.
⮚ He is best known for his
development of the Schrödinger
equation, a fundamental result in
the field, for which he shared the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933.
⮚ He is also famous for the thought
experiment "Schrödinger's cat,"
which illustrates the concept of
superposition in quantum theory.
 Erwin Schrödinger
⮚ Formulated the (1926)
wave
equation that bears his
name, foundational to
quantum mechanics
⮚ Described electrons in
terms of probability clouds
or orbitals, rather than
fixed orbits
What was revolutionary
about Schrödinger's
wave equation?
Werner Heisenberg
(1927)
⮚ Introduced the Uncertainty
Principle, positing fundamental
limits to the precision with
which certain pairs of physical
properties, like position and
momentum, can be known
⮚ His principle has profound
implications for the philosophy
of science and the objective
reality of quantum mechanics
What does the Uncertainty
Principle state, and what
are its implications for
the behavior of subatomic
particles?
 James Chadwick
⮚ James Chadwick was(1932)
a British
physicist who was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935
for the discovery of the
neutron, a neutral particle in
the atomic nucleus that plays a
fundamental role in the
structure and stability of
atoms.
⮚ Led to a more accurate
understanding of atomic
structure and isotopes.
How did the discovery of
the neutron contribute to
the atomic model?