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Atoms and the Atomic Theory

The smallest particle that makes up everything in the universe while still maintaining its

identity is the atom. Due to its presence in all things, it has been a fundamental study in

chemistry for years since its discovery and there are three separate studies involved in deepening

the understanding for atoms.

The atom was formally discovered in 1808 by John Dalton, an English Scientist in his

modern atomic theory. This theory has three main points and one of the is that all matter is made

of atoms, which are indivisible and indestructible. This led him to propose the billiard ball

model, which states that the atom was a solid sphere.

This was disproved by JJ Thomson in his cathode ray experiment. He applied high

voltage to a vacuum glass tube and saw a cathode ray, which was deflected from the negative to

the positive charge. His observations led to the discovery of the electron, which is a negatively

charged subatomic particle. Which means the atom still has smaller parts. Thomson was also the

proponent of the plum pudding model.

The next major study about atoms came from Ernest Rutherford, who used alpha

particles on atoms and observed that only a small number of particles become deflected, meaning

that the inside of an atom is mostly empty, contrasting to the billiard ball model by Dalton. In the

following years, protons (positively charged) and neutrons (neutrally charged) were also

discovered.
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The atom is important in studying chemistry because they help create a visualization of

the arrangement inside objects, which can predict properties of matter.

To sum it up, the atom, the smallest particle which can still hold its identity, was

discovered by Dalton in 1808, and since then, many atomic theories have been proposed. There

are different experiments which led to the true identification of the atomic structure and among

those are the cathode ray experiment, and the alpha-particle scattering. Atoms are very useful in

determining uses and reactions of all things.

Works Cited

Brown, Theodore L. Chemistry: the Central Science. Prentice Hall, 2014.