PHYSICAL SCIENCE

THE ATOM

Matter - is anything that occupies space and has mass. It can be in the form of solid, liquid ,gas
or plasma.

Atom - the smallest particle, and consider to be the building blocks of matter.

Ancient Ideas about Atom

Thales of Miletus (640-546 B.C)- according to him water was the primary component of all
matter .

Anaximenes(526 B.C)- air was the primary component of matter.

Heraclitus- belived that matter is composed of fire

Phytagoras of Samos- desserted the concept of a single primary element for all matter and
suggested that all matter is a combination of four elements (air,water,fire & earth).

Aristotle (384-322 B.C)- also supported the phytagorean view and added that the four
elements- and therefore all of matter are infinitely divisible.

Leucippus- first believed that all matter including four elements was composed of a basic
building block, the atom. It came from the greek word "atomos" meaning uncuttable/
indivisible.

Democritus- further developed the idea of leucippus and propose the following characteristic of
atom .

1. Indivisible because it is extremely small .

2.Indivisible because it cannot be broken down into smaller unit.

3. Solid, spherical, not empty

4. surrounded by an empty space.

5.Eternal because atoms are seamless.

6. Immesurable number of shapes.

Alchemy: The Dark Age of Atomism

Atomism- the theory that all matter is made up of atoms.

Chemistry- is the science of the composition of matter, its properties and characteristics and
the changes its undergoes.

Alchemy- the science of chemistry thrived during Middle Ages.

- a mixture of black magic and scientific knowledge with much superstition.

The three main goals of Alchemy:

 Find the elixir of life which can bring wealth, power and immortality
 Find the so called philosoper's stone. That could turn metals into gold.
 Discover the cosmological relationship of humans.

Revival of Atomism

Pierre Gassendi- rejected the view that matter is infinitely divisible.Suggested that material or
objects have substrata made up of indivisible principles/ particles.

Robert Boyle- developed a pronciple of gases now known as Boyles Law .

- endorsed a proper definition of element, a subtance that cannot be

broken into two or more substances.

- hailed as father of chemistry.

ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Dalton's Billiard Ball Model

John Dalton-

 an English chemist and physicist who revived and developed the modern atomic theory.
 suggested that all atoms of an element have the same size and mass and that atoms
bond chemically in simple ratios to form a compound.
 Atoms are tiny hard, indistructible solid spheres which contained no parts.

J.J Thomson Plum Pudding Model

Joseph John Thomson

  proposed that atoms are uniform spheres of positively charged matter in which
negativelt charged electrons are embedded.
 came up with his model konown as " Plum Pudding Model" or "raisin bread" The
electrons corresponds to the raisins, while the sphere of positively charges corresponds
to the pudding

Crookes tube- invented by William crookes, a tube that contained a small amount of gas
through which electricity was passed.

J.J Thomson- disvovered the sub atomic particle electron.

Eugene Goldstein- discovered the positively charge particle of an atom.

Ernest Rutherford "Nuclear Model "

 Atoms has nucleus, all positive charged particle are concentrated at the center.
 made the gold foil experiment.

Neil's Bohr "Planetary Model"

 electrons are like planets in the sun that spinning around the nucleus in circular orbits.
 Electron orbit the nucleus in orbits that have a set size and energy.
 The energy of the orbit is related to its size, the lowest energy found in the smallest
orbit.

Erwin Schrodinger

 developed a powerful atomic model based on wave functions, which is further based on
the assumption that electron is a wave .

by:

Coach Jocelyn Matiga