Atomic Structure

History of Atomic Theory

 A Brief History of Chemistry
•In fourth century B.C., ancient Greeks
proposed that matter consisted of
fundamental particles called atoms.
•Over the next two millennia, major advances
in chemistry were achieved by alchemists.
Their major goal was to convert certain
elements into others by a process called
transmutation.
 The Greeks
History of the Atom
• Not the history of atom, but the idea
of the atom

• In 400 B.C the Greeks tried to

understand matter (chemicals) and
broke them down into earth, wind,
fire, and air.

• Democritus and Leucippus Greek

philosophers
Four Elements Theory

• Plato was an atomist

FIRE
• Thought all matter was composed
of 4 elements: Hot Dry
• Earth (cool, heavy)
• Water (wet)
• Fire (hot) AIR ‘MATTER’ EARTH
• Air (light)
• Ether (close to heaven) Wet
Cold

WATER
Blend these “elements” in different proportions to
get all substances
 Greek Philosophers

Anaxagoras (Greek, born 500 B.C.)

– Suggested every substance had its own kind of “seeds” that
clustered together to make the substance, much as our atoms
cluster to make molecules.
Empedocles (Greek, born in Sicily, 490 B.C.)
–Suggested there were only four basic seeds – earth, air, fire, and
water. The elementary substances (atoms to us) combined in
various ways to make everything.

Aristotle (Greek, born 384 B.C.)

–Added the idea of “qualities” – heat, cold, dryness, moisture –
as basic elements which combined as shown in the diagram
(previous page).
Hot + dry made fire; hot + wet made air, and so on.
ALCHEMY

After that chemistry was ruled by

alchemy.
They believed that that could take
any cheap metals and turn them
into gold.
Alchemists were almost like
magicians.
elixirs, physical immortality
 Alchemy
Alchemical symbols for substances…
...
.......
.....
GOLD SILVER COPPER IRON SAND

transmutation: changing one substance into another

In ordinary chemistry, we cannot transmute

elements.
 Contributions
of alchemists:
Information about elements
- the elements mercury, sulfur, and antimony were discovered
- properties of some elements

Develop lab apparatus / procedures / experimental techniques

- alchemists learned how to prepare acids.
- developed several alloys
- new glassware
 Greek Model

• Greek philosopher
• Idea of ‘democracy’
• Idea of ‘atomos’
• Atomos = ‘indivisible’
• ‘Atom’ is derived
• No experiments to support idea
• Continuous vs. discontinuous
theory of matter
Democritus’s model of atom

No protons, electrons, or
neutrons
Solid and INDESTRUCTABLE
 Democritus (460 - 370 BC)
• Was the first person to come up with the
idea of atom
•Believed that all matter was
composed of indivisible particles he
called “ATOMS”
• Which is derived from the Greek word
“Atomos” – meaning indivisible
• He also believed that different atoms:
• Are different sizes
• Have different properties
• Other philosophers of that time did not
agree with his theories.
John Dalton (1766-1844)
•Dalton is the “Father of
Atomic Theory”
•Dalton’s ideas were so
brilliant that they have
remained essentially
intact up to the present
time and has only been
slightly corrected.
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory (1803)
aka: 5 Postulates

1. All matter is composed of extremely small

particles called atoms.
2. All atoms of a given element are
identical, having the same:
- size
- mass
- chemical properties.
3. All atoms of different elements are
different.
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory (1803)
aka: 5 Postulates

4. Atoms cannot be created, divided into

smaller particles, or destroyed.
**In a chemical reaction, atoms of different elements are
separated, joined or rearranged. They are never
changed into the atoms of another element. We will
learn more later**
5. Atoms combine in definite whole
number ratios to make compounds (you
can’t have a ½ of a Carbon bonding with Oxygen;
it’s a whole atom or no atom)
 Dalton’s Atomic Model

•Based on Dalton’s Atomic Theory

(5 postulates), most scientists in
the 1800s believed that the atom
was like a tiny solid ball that
could not be broken up into parts.
•Dalton was credited for the
three Atomic Laws that were
proven after his time.
 Law of Mass Conservation
 states that atoms cannot be destroyed nor
created but only rearranged, separated or joined
2 H2 + O2 John Dalton
2 H2 O
H
H
H2 O O H2O
H
O2 H
+
O H
H
H2
H O H2O
H

4 atoms hydrogen 4 atoms hydrogen

2 atoms oxygen 2 atoms oxygen
Dorin, Demmin, Gabel, Chemistry The Study of Matter , 3rd Edition, 1990, page 204
 Law of Definite Proportions
Joseph Louis Proust (1754 – 1826)

 Each compound has a specific ratio of

elements
 It is a ratio by mass
 Water is always 8 grams of oxygen for
every one gram of hydrogen
 Law of Definite Proportions
Whether synthesized in the laboratory or obtained from
various natural sources, copper carbonate always has
the same composition.

Analysis of this compound led Proust to formulate

the law of definite proportions.

+ +
53 g of 40 g of oxygen 10 g of carbon
103 g of
copper
copper carbonate
 The Law of Multiple Proportions
 Dalton could not use his theory to determine the
elemental compositions of chemical compounds
because he had no reliable scale of atomic
masses.
 Dalton’s data led to a general statement known
as the law of multiple proportions.
 Law states that when two elements form a series
of compounds, the ratios of the masses of the
second element that are present per gram of the
first element can almost always be expressed as
the ratios of integers.
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Benjamin Cummings. All rights reserved.
 Law of Multiple Proportions
If two elements form more than one
compound, the ratio of the second element
that combines with 1 gram of the first
element in each is a simple whole number.
e.g. H2O & H2O2
water hydrogen peroxide
Ratio of oxygen is 1:2 (an exact ratio)
JJ Thomson (1856-1940)

• Used cathode rays to

prove that Dalton’s Solid-
ball model could be
broken into smaller
particles
•Thomson is credited
with discovering
electrons
 Cathode Ray Tubes
• Cathode rays had been used for
some time before Thompson’s
experiments.
• A cathode ray is a tube that has
a piece of metal, called an
electrode, at each end. Each
electrode is connected to a power
source (battery).
• When the power is turned on, the electrodes
become charged and produce a stream of charged
particles. They travel from cathode, across the tube
to the anode.
Cathode Ray Tubes
•Thomson put the tube in
a magnetic field. He
-----------------------------
predicted that the stream
would travel in a straight
path.
++++++++++++++
•Instead, he found that the
path curved away from a •Like charges repel each other,
negatively charged plate
and objects with unlike charges
and toward a positively
attract each other, Thomson
charged plate
concluded that the stream of
•Why? charged particles had electrons
in them.
 Cathode Ray Tube Experiment

•Thomson Concluded:
•Cathode rays are made up of
invisible, negatively charged
particles called Electrons.
•These electrons had to come from the matter (atoms)
of the negative electrode.

•Since the electrodes could be made from a variety of

metals, then all atoms must contain electrons!
 Thomson’s Plum Pudding Model
•Thomson’s Plum Pudding model is a +
charge sphere that has (- )charged
electrons scattered inside, like “raisins” in
“plum pudding”.
•Overall, the atom is neutral atom
because the atom had the same number
of positive and negative charges.

•From Thomson’s experiments, scientists concluded that

atoms were not just neutral spheres, but somehow were
composed of electrically charged particles.
•The balance of positive and negative charge supports
the neutral atom.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)

•Took Thomson’s Plum

Pudding Model and added
to it
•Used the “Gold Foil
Experiment” to discover
the existence of:
•Nucleus
•Protons
 Gold Foil Experiment
• Rutherford directed a narrow
beam of alpha particles (+
charges) at a thin piece of gold
foil.

• Based on observations from

other experiments involving
alpha particles, he predicted
that the (+) charges would go
through the foil
 Results from Gold Foil Experiment

•Rutherford found that every

once and a while, a + particle
was deflected bounced back.
(about 1% of the time)
•Why?
•Because the + charge hit a
central mass of positive charge
and was repelled.
The Gold Foil Experiment
Conclusions from Rutherford’s Gold Foil
Experiment
• The atom contains a positively charged
“nucleus”
•This nucleus contains almost all of the mass
of the atom, but occupies a very small volume
of the atom.
•The negatively charged electrons occupied most
of the volume of the atom.
• The atom is mostly empty space.
Rutherford’s Planetary Model

• To explain his
observations,
Rutherford developed a
new model
•The electrons orbit
the nucleus like the
planets revolve around
the sun.
 Henry Moseley
 British chemist who studied
under Rutherford and brilliantly
developed the application of X-
ray spectra to study atomic
structure
 his discoveries resulted in a
more accurate positioning of
elements in the Periodic Table
by closer determination of
atomic numbers.
 Tragically for the development
of science, Moseley was killed
in action at Gallipoli (the
Dardanelles campaign) in 1915.
 Niels Bohr (1885-1962)

• Worked in Rutherford’s lab

• Wondered why – electrons are
not attracted to the + nucleus
and cluster around it
• Disproved Rutherford’s
Planetary Model
• Experimented with light and its
interaction with matter to
develop a new model.
 Bohr’s Energy Level Model
Energy Level Model: Electrons are
arranged in circles around the
nucleus. Each circle has a different
energy.
•Electrons are in constant motion,
traveling around the circle at the
speed of light.
•Electrons can “jump” from one circle
to the next
•But they can’t go to the nucleus they
traveling too fast to be fully attracted.
Bohr’s Energy Level Model
He proposed the following:
1. Protons and neutrons are in the nucleus
2. Electrons can only be certain distances from
the nucleus.
3. The electrons orbit the nucleus at fixed
energy levels.
4. The electrons must absorb or emit a fixed
amount of energy to travel between these
energy levels
 James Chadwick

 He proposed that there

was a 3rd subatomic
particle he called the
Neutron.
 It Helped to stabilize the
protons in the Nucleus.
 Worked to Make The
ATOMIC BOMB!
 James Chadwick
2 Points to his theory
1. Discovered the Neutron – Same
mass as a proton, but without a
charge
2. Mass could be converted into
energy

Model was still thought to resemble the

Quantum Mechanical Model
a. Electrons occupy orbitals, volumes of
space around nucleus w/ a high
probability of finding the electron
b. Energy levels are made up of sublevels
c. Each sublevel contains a set of orbitals
d. No orbital can contain more than 2
electrons
In this model, the electrons are
considered to be moving around the
nucleus-but not in a fixed orbit.
Location is not known, only their
probable location
Electrons are round the nucleus and
is arbitrary
 Particle Charge Mass (g) Mass(amu) Location

Proton + 1.6727 X 10-24 1.007316 Inside the

nucleus

Neutron 0 1.6750 X 10-24 1.008701 Inside the

nucleus

Electron - 9.110 X 10-24 0.000549 Outside the

nucleus

Note: one ATOMIC MASS UNIT is the average of the proton rest mass and the
neutron rest mass. This is approximately 1.67377 x 10 -27 kilogram (kg),
or 1.67377 x 10 -24gram (g). The mass of an atom in AMU is roughly equal to the
sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
 Atoms in their natural state is neutral
since proton = electrons
 Transferring or sharing of electrons
makes the atom an ion
 Positively charged ion are called
cation
 Negatively charged ion are called
anion
 Review

Who is the father of atomic theory?

Dalton
What was the first model of the atom?
Dalton’s Tiny Ball Model
What are Dalton’s 3 Laws?
Law of Conservation of Mass, Law of Constant Composition, Law of
Multiple Porportion
 Review

How were Thomson’s and Dalton’s model different?

Dalton’s model was 1 sphere that cannot be divided, Thomson had the
plum pudding where electrons are randomly spread throughout a
positively charged sphere.
What did Thomson find out?
Atoms have electrons, they have a - charge
 Review
What were Rutherford’s conclusions from the Gold Foil Experiment?
• Atom has a positively charged nucleus
• electrons are outside,
• atoms are mostly empty
• Nucleus contains most of the mass.