The Atom and its History

Democritus (465
BC)
Ancient Greeks came to
believe all matter consisted of differing
amounts of only 4 basic substances: earth, fire,
water, and ether
Leucippus, teacher of Democritus, proposed
matter was made of small particles
D. was first to use the word atomos:
the smallest, indivisible part of matter

Back in the Iron Age.

Some elements are found in nature in a
relatively pure form.
Sulfur, copper, gold,
silver, and iron were
made into decorative
and useful objects.

The Alchemists (Dark Ages till

the Renaissance)
Looked for the
philosophers stone
thought they would
find a way to turn Pb
into Au
Newton dabbled in
alchemy

The modern age begins

Henning Brand of Germany discovered
phosphorus in 1669.

He collected 50
buckets of urine,
fermented it, and
then boiled off the
water.

Joseph Priestley
Discovers oxygen -1774
(at the same time as
Lavoisier & Scheel)
A natural philosopher
Also credited with
inventing soda water!

(1733-1804)

Antoine Lavoisier
1743-1794

Law of conservation of
mass
Discovers nitrogen gas,
and that oxygen can be
chemically separated
from certain compounds
confirms law of definite
proportions
father of modern
chemistry
loses his head to the
French Revolution

John Dalton
1766-1844

Father of modern
Atomic Theory
thought atoms of an
element were all
identical and
indivisible
compounds are formed
from atoms of
different elements

Daltons model

William Prout
Law of Definite
Proportions
1785-1850, a physician
Distilled HCl acid from
stomach juices, and
suggested that H is the
fundamental particle

Dimitri Mendeleev (1834-1907)

Organizes the first
periodic table
columns based on valence
(reactivity)
position in a row based
(mostly ) on atomic
weight
left places in table for
elements which were not
yet discovered

Mendeleevs original table

Chemistry and Physics Join

Forces
The late 19th century through the 20thcentury

J J Thomson
1856-1940

Discovers the electron

Plum Pudding Model
of the atom.
All the charged
particles were
randomly scattered
like plums in
pudding
did not know about
neutrons
Nobel Prize 1906.

Thompson's experiment to discover electrons (1897)

Thomsons model

Wilhelm Roentgen
1845-1923
Discovered X-rays in 1895:
his wifes hand

Becquerel
(1852-1908)

In 1896, Henri Becquerel discovered that

uranium salts emitted rays that resembled
X-rays in their penetrating power. He
demonstrated that this radiation, unlike
phosphorescence, did not depend on an
external source of energy, but seemed to
arise spontaneously from uranium itself.
Becquerel had, in fact, discovered
radioactivity.

The Curies
Pierre

Marie

Marie (1867-1934) - first woman to win a Nobel Prize

Pierre (1859-1906) died in traffic accident
Formulated the theory of radioactivity while working
with uranium; also discovered Polonium (named after
Poland) and radium
She was a pioneer in using radiation in medicine, but was
unaware of the hazards of radiation.

Nikola Tesla
1856-1943
Investigated X-rays
Got skin damage while
experimenting

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)

Electrons are separated
from the nucleus
nucleus has positive
charge and the shells are
negative
atoms are mostly empty
space (1911) - the
Gold foil experiment
Planetary model

Rutherfords planetary model

Henry Mosley (1887-1915)

Discovers the atomic
number
corrects Mendeleevs
periodic table, basing
it on Atomic Number
dead in his 20s
.WWI

Los Alamos National Lab

+1

+2

+3

Relationships on the Periodic

Table

Max Planck
1858-1947
the energy of an
orbiting electron is
determined by the
frequency of its wave
Father of Quantum Theory

Neils Bohr (1885 - 1962)

Electrons are found at
distinct distances from
the nucleus
wave model
cloud model
quantum mechanics

Bohrs energy level model

Erwin Schrdinger
1887-1961

With Heisenberg,
calculated probable
locations of electrons
Quantum mechanics
and Schrdinger s cat

Louis de Broglie
1892-1987

Electrons orbiting the

nucleus exhibit wave
properties
Moving matter has a
wavelength related to
its momentum
Leads to development
of the cloud model of
the atom

Electron cloud model

Comparison of the two models

The 1927 Solvay Conference

Werner Heisenberg
1901-1976

Mathematical models
with Schrodinger
The Uncertainty
Principle
you can not know both
the position and speed
of an electron
simultaneously

Heisenberg was a hydrogen filled nazi zeppelin that came to this

disastrous end in the 1930s.

Werner Heisenberg was a German physicist who, in his late

twenties, introduced what is known as the Heisenberg
Uncertainty Principle. This discovery shook the very
foundation of subatomic physics.

Heisenbergs principle states:

For any moment in time, it is

impossible to know the position and
the momentum of a moving particle.

Simply because the act of observing affects the behavior of the observed.

Im sure youre aware of some things that change their behavior

depending on how they are being observed, for example:

In the case of particles, the observer also affects the behavior of

the observed. There are limits to how much we can know about a
particle at any given moment. Take this picture for example:
Right now we can see the left side clearly.

However, if we moved the magnifying glass,

Now we can see the right side clearly but can no longer see the left.

Imagine this:
A microscope that can see electrons in orbit around the nucleus
We shoot ordinary light waves at the electron to find its
position, but the wavelength is too long to be obstructed by
the electron,so...

We try gamma rays (shorter wavelength).

The problem with this is that gamma rays have so much
energy (high frequency), that upon contact, the electron
is knocked out of orbit making impossible to know its

Albert Einstein
1879-1955

A slow student who revolutionized

science and the world
Mass is a form of energy!

E = mc2

Einstein didnt like Quantum

Mechanics
Einstein to Bohr, God
does not play dice
with the universe
Bohr, in response,
Who are you to be
telling God what to
do?

Paul Dirac
Further developed quantum theory
from work of
Heisenberg and Schrodinger
Shared a Nobel Prize - 1933
Worked on Uranium
enrichment during WW II

James Chadwick
1891-1974

1932 discovers the

neutron
Explains isotopes

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1935/chadwick-bio.html

Lise Meitner
1878-1968

Realized that some

weight was lost during
nuclear fission: E=mc2
Was part of the team
that discovered
nuclear fission in late
1930s

Enrico Fermi
(1901-1954)

Emigrated from Fascist Italy in 1938 after

winning Nobel Prize
Built first nuclear reactor underneath the
stadium at the University of Chicago - 1942

Arthur Compton
1892-1962

Worked with Fermi on first reactor

Demonstrated the particle aspect of
electro-magnetic radiation:
The Compton Scattering Effect

Glenn T. Seaborg
1912-1999
Responsible for the
Actinide concept
Discovered ten elements:
plutonium, americium,
curium, berkelium,
californium, einsteinium,
fermium, mendelevium,
nobelium, and 106 (named
after him)

Radioactivity
Three types
Alpha a He nucleus (2p+2n)
Beta an electron
Gamma pure energy: EM waves

Penetration of Matter
Though the most massive and most energetic of
radioactive emissions, the alpha particle is the
shortest in range because of its strong interaction
with matter. The electromagnetic gamma ray is
extremely penetrating, even penetrating
considerable thicknesses of concrete. The electron
of beta radioactivity strongly interacts with matter
and has a short range.