A Brief History of the Atom

Antiquity (400 B.C.) Democritus of Adbera (northern Greece) asserted that all material things are composed of extremely small irreducible particles called atoms. Nothing exists except atoms and empty space. Everything else is opinion. The atomic theory was roundly rejected by Aristotle, and, thus, by almost everybody else for the next two millennia. 17 through 19 Centuries (1627-1691) Robert Boyle (England) extended mathematics to chemistry and revived atomic theory. (1777) Antoine Lavoisier (France) demonstrated the conservation of matter (matter can be neither created nor destroyed) in a chemical reaction and defined the difference between an element and a compound. (1780) Charles Coulomb (France) described the force between two electric charges with a mathematical formula which looked very much like Newtons law of gravity: where F is the force q1 and q2 are two charges and r is the distance between them. The electrical force is the chief force involved in atomic reactions. This force is attractive when charges q1 and q2 have opposite signs and repulsive when the charges have the same sign. (1803) John Dalton (England) formulated the modern version of the atomic theory. In his model all atoms in a given chemical element are exactly alike, while the atoms of different elements differ by atomic weight (1831-1879) James Clark Maxwell (England) showed that electricity and magnetism are two aspects of the same phenomena, and predicted that accelerating charges radiate waves traveling at the speed of light. These waves are known generically as electromagnetic waves of which visible light is one example. (1898) J.J. Thompson (England) discovered the electron, the component of the atom with negative charge. His model of the atom had the negatively charged electron evenly distributed throughout a sphere of positively charged material. This is known as the plum pudding model of the atom.
th th

20 Century (1900) Max Planck (Germany) introduced the quantum theory to explain the shape of the temperature versus color curve of a glowing solid. Briefly, he found that light cannot be converted into heat (energy) by any arbitrary amount, but only as discrete packets which he called quanta (known as photons today). For light of wavelength , the energy per quanta is given by:

th

Where h is a constant which we now call Plancks constant. (1905) Albert Einstein (Germany, USA) published papers on special relativity which included the famous equation relating energy E to mass: Here, c is the speed of light. Thus, the mass of any particle has an equivalent energy and a photon, viewed by Planck as a packet of pure energy, has an equivalent mass. (1909) Ernest Rutherford (England) demonstrated that the atom is mostly empty space with a small positively charged nucleus containing most of the mass and low mass negatively charged particles (Thompsons electrons) orbiting this nucleus. Rutherford could experimentally identify nuclear particles with positive charge that he called protons. Although he could explain the charge of atomic nuclei with the right number of protons, the mass of the nucleus for large atoms was always larger than the sum of its protons. Therefore he postulated the existence of a neutral particle with a mass nearly the same as the proton which, when added to the protons in the nucleus, would give the right mass. Rutherford called

this hypothetical particle the neutron. Later (1930) Rutherfords colleague James Chadwick was able to detect the neutron experimentally. (1913) Neils Bohr (Denmark) developed the first successful model of the atom. Since we still use Bohrs model to explain many aspects of physical phenomena such as the appearance of spectra, it is worthwhile to spend some time describing it. Bohrs model of the atom builds on Rutherfords basic conception. In detail, the nucleus contains a number of relatively high mass particles with positive charge called protons along (sometimes, not always) with some neutral particles of about the same mass called neutrons. A chemical element is defined and distinguished from all other chemical elements by the number of protons in its nucleus. Orbiting the nucleus, much like planets orbiting the sun, are the electrons. This is pretty much the picture that pops into most peoples heads when they think of atoms. They get this picture because that is how atoms are usually illustrated in everything from comic books to textbooks. Now according to Maxwell, accelerating charges, such as electrons traveling in circular orbits, should radiate electromagnetic waves and, hence, energy. This loss of energy should make the electrons spiral down into the nucleus. To get around this problem, Bohr proposed that the electrons were confined to specific orbits that were quantized. As long as the electrons remained in one of the allowed orbits, no electromagnetic radiation will be released. Under ordinary conditions the electrons of most atoms are in the lowest orbit available; under such conditions the atom is said to be in the ground state and cannot radiate energy. To move an electron from the ground state to one of the higher orbits requires the input of energy exactly equal to the energy spacing between the two orbits. Once at the higher level, the electron can then fall back to a lower orbit, radiating a photon with an energy corresponding to the orbital spacing. To summarize: To radiate energy and atom must first be excited (electrons raised above the ground state). The excited atom then returns to the ground state by emitting energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

Bohr Hydrogen Atom

Hydrogen atom in ground state

Hydrogen atom excited

Hydrogen atom emits photon

Bohr set about explaining the visible spectrum of the hydrogen atom, i.e., the Balmer series of lines familiar to just about everyone who has ever taken an astronomy lab. Bohr was able to show that this set of violet, blue and red lines originated from an electron falling from higher orbits down to the orbit immediately above the ground state. More precisely, if we designate each orbit with a number beginning with n=1 for the ground state, the Balmer series represents the transition of the electron from orbit n>2 to orbit n=2. The higher the originating orbit, the greater the energy of the photon emitted. For example, the red line, representing the longest wavelength (and, thus, the lowest energy photon), is produced by the electron falling from orbit n=3 to n=2. The next blue line comes from the electron in n=4 falling to n=2, and so forth. Now before we can obtain the Balmer spectrum from a hydrogen atom, two criteria must be satisfied: (1) there must be an electron available and (2) it must be in an orbit greater than n=2. Criterion (1) will not be satisfied if the atom has been stripped of its electron. An atom in this condition is referred to as ionized and it occurs at elevated temperatures. On the other hand, criterion (2) will not be satisfied if the hydrogen atom is in the ground state, i.e., its electron has not been excited into a higher orbit. From this we can see why neither hot, neither blue O type stars nor cool, red M type stars exhibit strong hydrogen lines. Type O stars are so hot that most of the hydrogen atoms in their atmospheres have been ionized, and are, hence, unavailable to form spectra. On the other hand type M stars are too cool to excite very many of the hydrogen atoms above the ground state. Thus, for opposite reasons, neither type O nor type M stars have strong hydrogen lines in their spectra. (1924) Louis de Broglie (France) hypothesized that the electrons in Bohrs model were confined to discrete orbits because they had the properties of standing waves. He proposed that any particle with a momentum p (p = mv) has an equivalent wavelength given by

. Here m is the mass of the particle and v is its velocity. Calculations based on the assumption that matter at the atomic level can be viewed as waves agreed so well with experiments that it became a cornerstone of quantum mechanics. The theory is known today as the Principle of Complementarity: Waves and particles represent complementary aspects of the same phenomenon. In short, wave phenomena such as light can also have the properties of particles, and particle phenomena such as the constituents of atoms can also have the properties of waves. (1925) Cecilia Payne (England, USA), using the new model of the atom, showed that the sun and stars are composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with only trace amounts of more familiar, heavier, elements. She came to this conclusion by studying the spectral data which had been accumulated at Harvard Observatory over the past quarter century. As was pointed out in the discussion of the Bohr atom, both hot stars (O and B) and cool stars (K and M) do not exhibit strong hydrogen lines for opposite reasons. In the first instance (hot stars), most of the hydrogen atoms are ionized and, thus, have no electrons available to be raised to a higher orbit. In the second instance (cool stars), the stars do not produce many photons of the energy required to raise electrons above the ground state. However, hydrogen lines are not entirely absent; faint hydrogen lines are seen in both groups of stars. This is so because at a given instant a few hydrogen atoms in hot stars do have electrons, and even the coolest stars produce some energy in the range necessary to excite the hydrogen atom. The percentage of non-ionized atoms in hot stars and the percentage of excitation photons in the energy output of cool stars can be calculated statistically. When Cecilia Payne made these calculations, she came to the conclusion that the fact that any hydrogen lines at all are visible in these stars implies that the number of hydrogen atoms present must be enormous over 90% of the total number of atoms and over 70 % of the stellar mass. Similar reasoning led to the conclusion that most of the remaining mass was made up of helium. The same statistical approach was applied to the spectra of the middle range

stars (A, F, and G) and a similar composition was found for these stars as well. For all stars, only a tiny fraction of the stellar mass, typically no more than 2%, was comprised of the heavier elements such as oxygen and silicon, the most common elements on Earth. When the hydrogen emission hydrogen spectra found in gaseous nebulae was factored in, the message seemed clear: The universe is mostly hydrogen and helium, the two simplest elements. (1925) Sir Arthur Eddington (England) produced the first model of stellar structure based on nuclear physics. The energy source of the sun and stars had been a mystery for centuries. It is easy to determine the total energy output of the sun. Basically, you measure how much heat is transferred to a square meter of water (or other calibrated material) in a given amount of time, then multiply this number times the surface area of a sphere centered on the sun with a radius of 1 A.U. This yields a total energy output 26 of about 4 x 10 joules/sec (watts). From geological considerations this amount of energy has been th produced without interruption for about 5 billion years. No energy source known before the 20 century could have produced energy at this rate for this length of time. Scientist studying the nucleus in the early twentieth century noticed that the atomic weight of the helium nucleus was slightly less than the sum of the protons and neutrons that comprised it. The implication was that when protons and neutrons were added together to make helium, energy was produced equal to the 2 mass loss in accordance with Einsteins E=mc equation. However, in order for two or more protons to come together, they had to overcome the couloumb barrier, the electromagnetic repulsion between like charges. This requires the protons to be tremendously energetic, which in turn requires that they be in a very high temperature environment. Eddington showed that the core of the sun was an environment with the necessary temperature. He did this by reasoning that the sun was neither getting smaller or larger. For a fluid substance such a condition is known as hydrostatic equilibrium. The force trying to collapse the sun is gravity. Since the suns dimensions are not changing, the force of gravity must be counter balanced by force acting in the opposite direction. There is a simple equation that relates the pressure (force per unit area), P, of a gas to its density, D, and its temperature, T: P =DT. Knowing the mass and volume of the sun and the temperature at its surface, Eddington was able to calculate the temperature required at any point in the suns interior to produce the outward pressure necessary to counter balance the inward gravitational pressure. He found that at its core, the suns temperature would have to be around 10 million K. When Eddington first published his results it was felt that this was not hot enough. However, further understanding of the behavior of matter at the quantum level showed that the temperature was sufficient. Today we recognize that the conversion of hydrogen (one proton) into helium (two protons + two neutrons) plus energy at the core of the sun is the basic process that makes the sun shine. This process is known generically as thermonuclear fusion.

THE BIRTH OF THE ATOM

THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF EMPEDOCLE OF AGRIGENTE

From his beautiful Sicilian villa in Agrigente, the Greek Empedocle (around 492-432 BC.) divided matter into four elements, that he also called "roots":

water

earth

air

fire

These elements are walled in by the forces of love and hate. With absolute love, they form a homogenous unity, whereas hate separates them. While these two continue to enter

into conflict, the mixing of elements gives rise to all material things. This vision of matter in some ways pre-empted our own, with the notion of elements bound by forces of attraction and repulsion.

THE GREEK ATOMISTS The word "atom" comes from the Greek "a-tomos" and signifies "indivisible". This notion was invented by Leucippe of Milet in 420 before J.C. His disciple, Democrite of Abdere (around 460-370 BC.), explained that matter was made up of particles in perpetual motion and endowed with ideal qualities: Invisible because of their extremely small size indivisible as their name indicates Solid (no void inside) Eternal because they are perfect surrounded by an empty space (to explain their movement and changes in density) having an infinite number of shapes (to explain the diversity observed in nature)
The atom is it Greek in origin? It seems that at the same epoque as that of Leucippe, there existed in India a philosophy (system Vaiseshika) which already taught that matter was formed from indestructible atoms: Their assemblies into visible things is degradable and, at the end of a worldly period, the atomic bonds dissolve, then after a period of rest, reunited themselves into a new world...No Greek monopoly on atoms then...

3.7.2000: Adams James wrote to me: It is from a book on the Bhagavad Gita: "The phenomenal world or material world is also complete in itself because the twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation are completely adjusted to produce complete resources which are necessary for the maintenance and subsistence of this universe. There is nothing extraneous, nor is there anything needed. This manifestation has its own time fixed by the energy of the supreme whole, and when its time is complete, these temporary manifestations will be annihilated by the complete arrangement of the complete. There is complete facility for the small complete units, namely the living entities, to realize the complete, and all sorts of incompleteness are experienced due incomplete knowledge of the complete." Today, We discovered there are 12 particles and the 12 corresponding antiparticles, from which we get 24 building blocks for all existing matter. Isn't it incredible?

The Greek atomist doctrine lay forgotten in the dark throughout the long centuries and left in its place a durable triumph of the theory of four elements of Empdocle.

THE ALCHEMY OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Originating in the middle Ages, alchemy was born from the progress of metallurgy and from the inadequacy of the theory of the 4 elements for representing the diversity of matter. The "grand plan" of alchemy was to achieve the transmutation of lowly metals (like copper) into "noble" metals such as gold. Without doubt because the success of such "Grand Works" (transmutation) opened up prospects of wealth and power, the activities of alchemists were surrounded by secrecy and were performed using extremely ancient processes of the esoteric and of the occult. The beginnings of alchemy (like those of astrology for that matter) established symbolic links which united the microcosme and macrocosme (the world of planets). For example, the element Lead was associated with the planet Saturn because Saturn appears to us has a "leaded" yellow color. In spite of their esoteric beliefs, alchemists developed the observation, experimentation, measurement and classification of the elements: alchemy is therefore a respectable precursor of chemistry. Anyway, don't forget that Newton was adept at alchemy and that today's physics has turned the old dream of transmutation into reality by transforming certain atoms into other atoms.

MENDELEIEVS TABLE

In 1869, the Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev constructed a table which classified all of the chemical elements known at that time according to their chemical properties. This table later served to methodically classify all of the atoms, both natural and man-made, by their atomic number (that is to say the number of protons that they contain).

DISCOVERY OF THE ELECTRON

Then in 1897, Thompson discovered the first component part of the atom: the electron, a particle with a negative electric charge. In 1904, he proposed an initial model of an atom, since nicknamed "Thompsons pudding". He imagined the atom as a sphere full of an electrically positive substance mixed with negative electron "like the raisins in a cake".

DISCOVERY OF THE NUCLEUS In 1912, Rutherford (New Zealand physicist) discovered the atomic nucleus. His new model of the atom showed that its positive electric charge and the majority of its mass were concentrated in an almost point sized nucleus. The electron in an atom moves around this nucleus like planets around the Sun, and the attractive electric force (the - charge of the electron attracting the + charge of the nucleus) plays the role which gravity plays for the planets; which is where we get the name "atomic planetary model". It is worth noting that in contrast to the atom of the Greeks, Rutherford's is neither indivisible (because it's a composite structure), nor is it solid as it contains mostly empty space: The distance nucleus-electrons is 100,000 times greater than the diameter of the nucleus itself (diameter of the nucleus = 10 metres = 1 Fermi).
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DISCOVERY OF NUCLEONS Rutherford understood that the nucleus is itself composed of nucleons. These nucleons are of two types: Positively charged, it's a proton. neutrally charged, it's a neutron

The neutron was effectively discovered in 1932 by Chadwick.

The planetary model of the atom has a serious deficiency. The electrons can emit light under certain conditions (in an electric light bulb for example); in doing so, they lose energy and should therefore get dangerously close to the nucleus right up until they crash into it! Such an atom would not therefore be stable.

BOHRS ATOM

In order to take account of atomic stability, in 1913 Niels Bohr created a new model of the atom: The orbits of the electrons can't be just anywhere but are "quantified"; only certain particular orbits are permitted for the electron. It's not until one jumps from one orbit to another that it can emit (or absorb) light.

TOWARDS QUANTUM PHYSICS Bohr's model is the last model obedient to classical physics, that is to say physics which explains movements and phenomena in terms of our human scale. These models of atoms are therefore easy to understand and to represent. What an intellectual pleasure (and what laziness!) to represent atoms in the form of little balls turning one around another... This model is, moreover, still the one which the general public has in their heads. In fact this model is false because at the atomic scale, new laws apply! These laws are part of a strange physics, very far from our current concepts: quantum physics. Before continuing our descent towards the constituents of the nucleus and discovering what quantum physics is and

its consequence on the representation of the atom, let's just look at what physicists knew about the atom in the 1930s: STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM Matter has mass and takes up space. Atoms are basic building blocks of matter, and cannot be chemically subdivided by ordinary means. The word atom is derived from the Greek word atom which means indivisible. The Greeks concluded that matter could be broken down into particles too small to be seen. These particles were called atoms Atoms are composed of three types of particles: protons, neutrons, and electron. Protons and neutrons are responsible for most of the atomic mass e.g. in a 150 person 149 lbs., 15 oz. are protons and neutrons while only 1 -28 oz. is electrons. The mass of an electron is very small (9.108 X 10 grams). Both the protons and neutrons reside in the nucleus. Protons have a positive (+) charge, neutrons have no charge -they are neutral. Electrons reside in orbitals around the nucleus. They have a negative charge (-). It is the number of protons that determines the atomic number, e.g., H = 1. The number of protons in an element is constant (e.g., H=1, Ur=92) but neutron number may vary, so mass number (protons + neutrons) may vary. The same element may contain varying numbers of neutrons; these forms of an element are called isotopes. The chemical properties of isotopes are the same, although the physical properties of some isotopes may be different. Some isotopes are radioactive-meaning they "radiate" energy as they decay to a more stable form, perhaps another element half-life: time required for half of the atoms of an element to decay into stable form. Another example is oxygen; with atomic number of 8 can have 8, 9, or 10 neutrons. What are elements? All matter is made up of elements which are fundamental substances which cannot be broken down by chemical means. There are 92 elements that occur naturally. The elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are the elements that make up most living organisms. Some other elements found in living organisms are: magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium. By the late 1800's many elements had already been discovered. The scientist Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, proposed an arrangement of knows elements based on their atomic mass. The modern arrangement of the elements is known as the Periodic Table of Elements and is arranged according to the atomic number of elements. Here is an Interactive Table of Elements where you can learn more about each of the elements.

What makes each element unique? Every atom would like to have an electron configuration like noble gases. In noble gases the outer electron shell is complete. This makes the element chemically inert. Helium is an example of a noble (inert) gas. It is not present in organisms because it is not chemically reactive.

Historical Models of the atom BOHR MODEL

Bohr model shows electrons circling the nucleus at different levels or orbitals much like planets circle the sun. Electrons move from one energy state to another but can only exist aft definite energy levels. The energy absorbed or released when electrons change states is in the form of electromagnetic radiation. THE WAVE MODEL AND QUANTUM THEORY The Bohr model was only able to explain the very simplest atoms, like hydrogen. Today's modern day theory is based on mathematics and the properties of waves. The wave model forms the basis for the Quantum Theory . This theory gives the probability of locating electrons in a particular location, unlike assuming electrons orbit the nucleus as in the Bohr model.

How are electrons organized around the nucleus? All atoms would like to attain electron configurations like noble gases. That is, have completed outer shells. Atoms can form stable electron configurations like noble gases By: 1. 2. 3. losing electrons sharing electrons Gaining electrons.

For a stable configuration each atom must fill its outer energy level. In the case of noble gases that means eight electrons in the last shell (with the exception of He which has two electrons). Atoms that have 1, 2 or 3 electrons in their outer levels will tend to lose them in interactions with atoms that have 5, 6 or 7 electrons in their outer levels. Atoms that have 5, 6 or 7 electrons in their outer levels will tend to gain electrons from atoms with 1, 2 or 3 electrons in their outer levels. Atoms that have 4 electrons in the outer most energy level will tend neither to neither totally lose nor totally gain electrons during interactions. This Periodic Table of Elements will show you the electron configuration for any element you click on.

Visualizing Atomic Orbitals The atomic orbitals of the hydrogen atom can be visualized as a cloud around the nucleus. The orbital represents a probability of finding the electron at a particular location. Darker regions signify a greater probability. Shown below are the 1s (lowest orbital and the 2s orbital.

1s

2s

Atomic orbitals do not always have the shape of a sphere. Higher orbitals have very unusual shapes.

2px

3px

ATOMS
(A short history of the knowledge of the atom) Compiled by Jim Walker Originated: Sept. 1988 Latest revision: Nov. 2004

Atom n. A unit of matter, the smallest unit of an element, consisting of a dense, central, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a system of electrons, equal in number to the number of nuclear protons, the entire structure having an approximate diameter of 10-8 centimeter and characteristically remaining undivided in chemical reactions except for limited removal, transfer, or exchange of certain electrons.

The history of the study of the atomic nature of matter illustrates the thinking process that goes on inthe philosophers and scientists heads. The models they use do not provide an absolute understanding of the atom but only a way of abstracting so that they can make useful predictions about them. The epistemological methods that scientists use provide us with the best known way of arriving at useful science and factual knowledge. No other method has yet proven as successful.

In the beginning Actually, the thought about electricity came before atoms. In about 600 B.C. Thales of Miletus discovered that a piece of amber, after rubbing it with fur attracts bits of hair and feathers and other light objects. He suggested that this mysterious force came from the amber. Thales, however, did not connect this force with any atomic particle. Not until around 460 B.C., did a Greek philosopher, Democritus, develop the idea of atoms. He asked this question: If you break a piece of matter in half, and then break it in half again, how many breaks will you have to make before you can break it no further? Democritus thought that it ended at some point, a smallest possible bit of matter. He called these basic matter particles, atoms. Unfortunately, the atomic ideas of Democritus had no lasting effects on other Greek philosophers, including Aristotle. In fact, Aristotle dismissed the atomic idea as worthless. People considered Aristotle's opinions very important and if Aristotle thought the atomic idea had no merit, then most other people thought the same also. (Primates have great mimicking ability.)

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For more than 2000 years nobody did anything to continue the explorations that the Greeks had started into the nature of matter. Not until the early 1800's did people begin again to question the structure of matter. In the 1800's an English chemist, John Dalton performed experiments with various chemicals that showed that matter, indeed, seem to consist of elementary lumpy particles (atoms). Although he did not know about their structure, he knew that the evidence pointed to something fundamental.

Thomsons 'Rasin in the Pudding' model of the atom In 1897, the English physicist J.J. Thomson discovered the electron and proposed a model for the structure of the atom. Thomson knew that electrons had a negative charge and thought that matter must have a positive charge. His model looked like raisins stuck on the surface of a lump of pudding.

In 1900 Max Planck, a professor of theoretical physics in Berlin showed that when you vibrate atoms strong enough, such as when you heat an object until it glows, you can measure the energy only in discrete units. He called these energy packets, quanta. Physicists at the time thought that light consisted of waves but, according to Albert Einstein, the quanta behaved like discrete particles. Physicists call Einstein's discrete light particle, a "photon*."

Photoelectric effect Atoms not only emit photons, but they can also absorb them. In 1905, Albert Einstein wrote a groundbreaking paper that explained that light absorption can release electrons from atoms, a phenomenon

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called the "photoelectric effect." Einstein received his only Nobel Prize for physics in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect. * Note: I anachronistically use the word photon here. Actually, physicists did not refer to light quanta as photons until after Gilbert N. Lewis proposed the name in an article in Nature, Vol 118, Pt. 2, and December 18, 1926.

A heated controversy occurred for many years on deciding whether light consisted of waves or particles. The evidence appeared strong for both cases. Later, a physicist showed that light appears as either wave-like or particle-like (but never both at the same time) depending on the experimental setup.

Other particles got discovered around this time called alpha rays. These particles had a positive charge and physicists thought that they consisted of the positive parts of the Thompson atom (now known as the nucleus of atoms). In 1911 Ernest Rutherford thought it would prove interesting to bombard atoms with these alpha rays, figuring that this experiment could investigate the inside of the atom (sort of like a probe). He used Radium as the source of the alpha particles and shinned them onto the atoms in gold foil. Behind the foil sat a fluorescent screen for which he could observe the alpha particles impact.

The results of the experiments came unexpected. Most of the alpha particles went smoothly through the foil. Only an occasional alpha veered sharply from its original path, sometimes bouncing straight back from the foil! Rutherford reasoned that they must get scattered by tiny bits of positively charged matter. Most of the space around these positive centers had nothing in them. He thought that the electrons must exist somewhere within this empty space. Rutherford thought that the negative electrons orbited a positive center in a manner like the solar system where the planets orbit the sun.

Rutherford's atom 12

Rutherford knew that atoms consist of a compact positively charged nucleus, around which circulate negative electrons at a relatively large distance. The nucleus occupies less than one thousand million millionths (10) of the atomic volume, but contains almost all of the atom's mass. If an atom had the size of the earth, the nucleus would have the size of a football stadium.

Not until 1919 did Rutherford finally identify the particles of the nucleus as discrete positive charges of matter. Using alpha particles as bullets, Rutherford knocked hydrogen nuclei out of atoms of six elements: boron, fluorine, sodium, aluminum, phosphorus, and nitrogen. He named them protons, from the Greek for 'first', for they consisted of the first identified building blocks of the nuclei of all elements. He found the protons mass at 1,836 times as great as the mass of the electron.

But there appeared something terribly wrong with Rutherford's model of the atom. The theory of electricity and magnetism predicted that opposite charges attract each other and the electrons should gradually lose energy and spiral inward. Moreover, physicists reasoned that the atoms should give off a rainbow of colors as they do so. But no experiment could verify this rainbow. In 1912 a Danish physicist, Niels Bohr came up with a theory that said the electrons do not spiral into the nucleus and came up with some rules for what does happen. (This began a new approach to science because for the first time rules had to fit the observation regardless of how they conflicted with the theories of the time.) Bohr said, "Here's some rules that seem impossible, but they describe the way atoms operate, so let's pretend they're correct and use them." Bohr came up with two rules which agreed with experiment: RULE 1: Electrons can orbit only at certain allowed distances from the nucleus. RULE 2: Atoms radiate energy when an electron jumps from a higher-energy orbit to a lower-energy orbit. Also, an atom absorbs energy when an electron gets boosted from a low-energy orbit to a highenergy orbit.

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Bohr's atom for Hydrogen The electron can exist in only one of the orbits. (The diagram shows only five orbits, but any number of orbits can theoretically exist.)

Light (photons) emit whenever an electron jumps from one orbit to another. The jumps seem to happen instantaneously without moving through a trajectory. The examples above show only two possibilities from Rule 2. By the 1920s, further experiments showed that Bohr's model of the atom had some troubles. Bohr's atom seemed too simple to describe the heavier elements. In fact it only worked roughly in these cases. The spectral lines did not appear correct when a strong magnetic field influenced the atoms.

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Bohr- Sommerfeld model of the atom Bohr and a German physicist, Arnold Sommerfeld expanded the original Bohr model to explain these variations. According to the Bohr-Sommerfeld model, not only do electrons travel in certain orbits but the orbits have different shapes and the orbits could tilt in the presence of a magnetic field. Orbits can appear circular or elliptical, and they can even swing back and forth through the nucleus in a straight line.

The orbit shapes and various angles to the magnetic field could only have certain shapes, similar to an electron in a certain orbit. As an example, the fourth orbit in a hydrogen atom can have only three possible shapes and seven possible traits. These added states allowed more possibilities for different spectral lines to appear. This brought the model of the atom into closer agreement with experimental data. The conditions of the state of the orbit got assigned quantum numbers. The three states discussed so far consist of: orbit number (n), orbit shape (l) and orbit tilt (m). In 1924 an Austrian physicist, Wolfgang Pauli predicted that an electron should spin (kind of like a top) while it orbits around the nucleus. The electron can spin in either of two directions. This spin consisted of a fourth quantum number: electron spin (s).

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Pauli's Exclusion principle Pauli gave a rule governing the behavior of electrons within the atom that agreed with experiment. If an electron has a certain set of quantum numbers, then no other electron in that atom can have the same set of quantum numbers. Physicists call this "Pauli's exclusion principle." It provides an important principle to this day and has even outlived the Bohr-Sommerfeld model that Pauli designed it for. In 1924 a Frenchman named Louis de Broglie thought about particles of matter. He thought that if light can exist as both particles and waves, why couldn't atom particles also behave like waves? In a few equations derived from Einstein's famous equation, (E=mc2) he showed what matter waves would behave like if they existed at all. (Experiments later proved him correct.)

In 1926 the Austrian physicist, Erwin Schrdinger had an interesting idea: Why not go all the way with particle waves and try to form a model of the atom on that basis? His theory worked kind of like harmonic theory for a violin string except that the vibrations traveled in circles. The world of the atom, indeed, began to appear very strange. It proved difficult to form an accurate picture of an atom because nothing in our world really compares with it. Schrdinger's wave mechanics did not question the makeup of the waves but he had to call it something so he gave it a symbol:

The "psi" symbol of Schrdinger's wave came from the Greek lettering system. In 1926, a German physicist, Max Born had an idea about 'psi'. Born thought they resembled waves of chance. These ripples moved along waves of chance, made up of places where particles may occur and places where no particles occurred. The waves of chance ripple around in circles when the particle appears like an electron in an atomic orbit, and they ripple back and forth when the electron orbit goes straight through the nucleus, and they ripple along in straight lines when a free particle moves through interatomic space. You can think of them as waves when traveling through space and as particles

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whenever they travel in circles. However, they cannot exist as both waves and particles at the same time. Just before Schrdinger proposed his theory, a German physicist Werner Heisenberg, in 1925, had a theory of his own called matrix mechanics which also explained the behavior of atoms. The two theories seemed to have entirely different sets of assumptions yet they both worked. Heisenberg based his theory on mathematical quantities called matrices that fit with the conception of electrons as particles whereas Schrdinger based his theory on waves. Actually, the results of both theories appeared mathematically the same. In 1927 Heisenberg formulated an idea, which agreed with tests, that no experiment can measure the position and momentum of a quantum particle simultaneously. Scientists call this the "Heisenberg uncertainty principle." This implies that as one measures the certainty of the position of a particle, the uncertainty in the momentum gets correspondingly larger. Or, with an accurate momentum measurement, the knowledge about the particle's position gets correspondingly less.

The visual concept of the atom now appeared as an electron "cloud" which surrounds a nucleus. The cloud consists of a probability distribution map which determines the most probable location of an electron. For example, if one could take a snap-shot of the location of the electron at different times and then superimpose all of the shots into one photo, then it might look something like the view at the top. Note: Just as no map can equal a territory, no concept of an atom can possibly equal its nature. These models of the atom simply served as a way of thinking about them, albeit they contained limitations (all models do).

Although the mathematical concept of the atom got better, the visual concept of the atom got worse. Regardless, even simplistic visual models can still prove useful. Chemists usually describe the atom as a simple solar system model similar to Bohr's model but without the different orbit shapes. The important emphasis for chemistry attempts to show the groupings of electrons in orbital shells. (The example above shows the first eleven elements.)

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Chemical behavior of the elements form together to create molecules. Molecules may share electrons as the hydrogen and water molecules above illustrates. (Atoms which share electrons have the name "ions.") The outer electron shell of an atom actually does the sharing and bonding of the atoms. This in turn allows chemists to describe the interactions of chemistry. Even though the orbit model of the atom does not provide an accurate model, it works well for describing chemistry.

A helium atom with two electrons orbiting a nucleon made of two protons and two neutrons A mystery of the nature of the nucleus remained unsolved. The nucleus contains most of the atom's mass as well as the positive charge. The protons supposedly accounted for this mass. However, a nucleus with twice the charge of another should have twice the number of protons and twice the mass. But this did not prove correct. Rutherford speculated in 1920 that there existed electrically neutral particles with the protons that make up the missing mass but no one accepted his idea at the time. Not until 1932 did the English physicist James Chadwick finally discover the neutron. He found it to measure slightly heavier than the proton with a mass of 1840 electrons and with no charge (neutral). The proton-neutron together, received the name, "nucleon."

Isotopes of Hydrogen Although scientists knew that atoms of a particular element have the same number of protons, they discovered that some of these atoms have slightly different masses. They concluded that the variations in mass result, more or less, from the number of neutrons in the nucleus of the atom. Atoms of an element having the same atomic number but different atomic masses get called "isotopes" of that element.

Antimatter

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In 1928, Paul Dirac produced equations which predicted an unthinkable thing at the time- a positive charged electron. He did not accept his own theory at the time. In 1932 in experiments with cosmic rays, Carl Anderson discovered the anti-electron, which proved Dirac's equations. Physicists call it the positron. For each variety of matter there should exist a corresponding 'opposite' or antimatter. Physicists now know that antimatter exists. However, because matter and antimatter annihilates whenever they come in contact, it does not stay around for very long. (By the way, an unsolved problem remains as to why the universe consists of mostly regular matter and not an equal amount of antimatter. Physicists call this "symmetry breaking".) There exists not only anti-electrons but in 1955, physicists found the anti-proton and later the antineutron. This allows the existence for anti-atoms, a true form of antimatter. When scientists found out about the atomic nucleus, they questioned why the positively charged protons should remain so close without repelling. The scientists realized that there must exist new forces at work and the secrets must lie within the nucleus. They knew that the force which holds the protons together must occur much stronger than the electromagnetic force and that the force must act over very small distances (otherwise they would have noticed this force in interactions between the nucleus and the outer electrons). In 1932, Werner Heisenberg concluded that charged particles bounce photons of light back and forth between them. This exchange of photons provides a way for the electromagnetic forces to act between the particles. The theory says that a proton shoots a photon at the electron, and the electron shoots a photon back at the proton. These photon exchanges go on all the time, very rapidly. However, because no one can see them (measure them), Heisenberg called these exchange particles, virtual photons. (Virtual meaning, not exactly 'real'.) In 1935 a Japanese physicist, Hideki Yukawa, suggested that exchange forces might also describe the strong force between nucleons. However, virtual photons did not have enough strength for this force, so he thought that there must exist a new kind of virtual particle. Yukawa used Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to explain that a virtual particle could exist for an extremely small fraction of a second. Since its time of existence occurs nearly exactly, there would occur a great uncertainty in the energy of the virtual particle. This uncertainty allowed the particles to exist very strongly only at certain times and the particles could slip in and out of existence. He also calculated that these particles should be about 250 times as heavy as an electron. Later, in 1947, the physicist Cecil F. Powell detected this particle and called it the "pion." Although the pions describe the transmitters of the strong force, they do not get classed with the other force-transmitting particles, such as the photon or the W and Z particles. Pions now appear not as elementary particles but rather composites made up of "quarks." The strong force gets transmitted by the pions only at relatively larger nuclear levels. Physicists presently think that all the forces in the universe get carried by some kind of quantum particle. This theory started in 1928 with Paul Dirac stating that photons transmit the electromagnetic force. The theory called "quantum electrodynamics," or QED, developed from work by Richard

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Feynman, Julian Schwinger, and Sin-Itiro in the late 1940s. The four known forces and their particles appear as follows: PARTICLE Photon W+, W-, Z Gluon (8 types) Gravitation NATURE AND ROLE

Carrier of the electromagnetic force (magnetism, light, heat, EMR, electricity) Carrier of the weak force (radioactivity) Carriers of the strong force (holds the quarks) Carrier of the gravitational force (undetected so far at the time of this writing)

From 1947 until the end of the 1950's, physicists discovered many more new particles (dozens of them). The various types of particles needed a new theory to explain their strange properties. In 1960, Murray Gell-Mann and Yuval Ne'man independently proposed a method for classifying all the particles then known. The method became known as the Eightfold Way. What the periodic table did for the elements, the Eightfold Way did for the particles. In 1964 Gell-Mann went further and proposed the existence of a new level of elementary particles and called them "quarks" (the spelling derives from a phrase in James Joyce book, Finnegans Wake, "Three quarks for Muster Mark." Gell-Mann thought there existed at least three types of quarks. They have the names, "up," "down," and "strange." From 1974 thru 1984 the theory predicted three more quarks called "charm," "bottom" (or beauty), and "top" (or truth). And each quark has their corresponding anti-quark.

The theory of the quark explains the existence of several particles including the nucleus of the atom. In fact the proton and neutron each get made up of three quarks and the force which holds the quarks together come from particles called "gluons." Quarks do not exist by themselves but only in pairs (mesons) or triplets (baryons). The following charts list the various particle groupings: LEPTONS (spin 1/2, mass < mesons) MASS LIEFTIME CHARGE 0.5511 MeV Stable -1 0.5511 MeV Stable +1

NAME Electron Positron

SPIN 1/2 1/2

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Muon & 105.6 MeV Antimuon Tau & Antitau Muon neutrino & Antineutrino Tau neutrino & Antineutrino 1.78 GeV < 50 eV 0 (?) <.05 MeV 0 (?) <70 MeV 2 x 10-6 s

-1 +1 0 0 0 0 0 0

1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2

291 x 10-15s

Stable (?)

Stable (?)

NAME Up & Antiup Down &

QUARKS (particles with 1/3 or 2/3 charge) MASS LIFETIME CHARGE 1.5-4.5 MeV Stable * +2/3 -2/3 -1/3 +1/3 -1/3 +1/3 +2/3 -2/3 -1/3 +1/3 +2/3 -2/3

SPIN 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2

5.0-8.5 MeV Antidown Strange & ~100 MeV Antistrange Charm & ~1.2 GeV Anticharm Botton & ~4.2 GeV Antibottom Top & 175 GeV Antitop

Variable *

Variable *

Variable *

Variable *

Variable *

* As quarks occur only in pairs or triplets, their lifetimes vary BOSONS (force carrying particles) NATURE MASS LIFETIME Electromagnetic 0 Stable Weak force W-minus Z Weak force 80.4 GeV 91.2 GeV 10-25 s 10-25 s

NAME Photon W-plus

CHARGE 0 +1 -1 0

SPIN 1 1 1 1 21

Gluon Graviton*

Strong force 0 Stable Gravity 0 Stable * Undetected at the time of this writing

0 0

1 2

NAME Pion (pi-zero) Pion (pi-plus) Pion (pi-minus) Kaon (K-zero) Kaon (K-plus)

MESONS (masses between the electron and proton) MASS LIFETIME CHARGE 135 MeV 0.8 x 10-16 s 0 140 MeV 2.6 x 10-8 s 10-10 s 5 x 10-8 s 1.2 x 10-8 s 10-20 s 10-12 s 4 x 10-13 s 10-20 s BARYONS LIFETIME Stable (?) Stable (?) Stable in nuclei 15 Min. free 2.6 x 10-10 s +1 -1 0

SPIN 0 0 0 0

498 MeV

494 MeV Kaon (K-minus) J/PSI D (D-zero) D (D-plus) UPSILON 3.1 GeV 1.87 GeV 9.46 GeV

0 0 0 +1 0

0 1 0 1

NAME Proton Antiproton Neutron Antineutron Lambda Antilambda Sigma (sigma +) Sigma (sigma - ) Sigma (sigma 0 ) XI (xi-minus) XI (xi-zero) Omega minus

MASS 938.3 MeV 938.3 MeV 939.6 MeV 939.6 MeV 1.115 GeV 1.115 GeV 1.189 GeV 1.197 GeV 1.192 GeV 1.321 GeV 1.315 GeV 1.672 GeV

CHARGE +1 -1 0 0 0 0 +1 -1 0 -1 0 -1

SPIN 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 3/2

0.8 x 10-10 s 1.5 x 10-10 s 6 x 10-20 s 1.6 x 10-10 s 3 x 10-10 s 0.8 x 10-10 s

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Charmed lambda

2.28 GeV

2 x 10-13 s

1/2

And this only describes the beginning! From the time of the ancient Greeks until today, the visual concept of the atom has proved elusive and obscure, yet the mathematical concepts have grown stronger. Although nothing has yet proven absolute, humans can now predict the behavior of atoms with great accuracy. But the world of the atom, the quanta of particles, appears so strange that we can no longer visualize what we think and talk about. The particles have a quality of complete random existence and non-existence about them; and yet the methods of quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromo dynamics (QCD), and the whole of quantum mechanics provide such precise, useful, and powerful tools, that it encompasses all of the classical physical laws. The predictions of quantum mechanics have verified themselves many times and to a precision of better than one part in a billion. No predictive method has yet come as close. Even the unproven psychics, soothsayers, and prophets can only dream about such powers of prediction. If you delve into the strange world of atoms, you might start going crazy and start speaking to dogs:

Atomic Structure Timeline

Welcome to the atomic structure timeline. This site explores discoveries related to atomic structure including the electron, proton and neutron. The dates used for events are open to debate since many scientists spent decades studying a topic. Check the links for more in depth material. Most of all enjoy.

Created by Lee Buescher, Science Dept, Watertown High School Watertown, Wisconsin 53098 USA Visit these sites for original papers in chemistry. 1. Selected Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry by Carmen Giunta at Le Moyne College. 2. John Parks Chem Team site on Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry Early theories of the structure of matter were not based upon experiments. As scientists began to study the relationship between several physical phenomenon such as electricity, and magnetism they began to develop different models about atomic structure. Greek era Democritus "by convention bitter, by convention sweet, but in reality atoms and void"

Year Scientist(s) Discovery 23

1704

Isaac Newton- Proposed a mechanical universe with small solid masses in motion.

1803 John Dalton- Proposed an "atomic theory" with spherical solid atoms based upon measurable properties of mass. 1832 Michael Faraday- Studied the effect of electricity on solutions, coined term "electrolysis" as a splitting of molecules with electricity, developed laws of electrolysis. Faraday himself was not a proponent of atomism. 1859 J. Plucker - Built one of the first gas discharge tubes ("cathode ray tube").

1869 Dmitri Mendeleev- Arranged elements into 7 groups with similar properties. He discovered that the properties of elements were periodic functions of the atomic weights". This became known as the Periodic Law. 1873 James Clerk Maxwell- Proposed electric and magnetic fields filled the void.

1879 Sir William Crookes- Discovered cathode rays had the following properties: travel in straight lines from the cathode; cause glass to fluoresce; impart a negative charge to objects they strike; are deflected by electric fields and magnets to suggest a negative charge; cause pinwheels in their path to spin indicating they have mass. 1886 E. Goldstein - Used a CRT to study "canal rays" which had electrical and magnetic properties opposite of an electron. 1894 G.J. Stoney- Proposed that electricity was made of discrete negative particles he called electrons ". (Link to info on electrons) 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen- Using a CRT he observed that nearby chemicals glowed. Further experiments found very penetrating rays coming from the CRT that were not deflected by a magnetic field. He named them "X-rays". 1896 Henri Becquerel- While studying the effect of x-rays on photographic film, he discovered some chemicals spontaneously decompose and give off very pentrating rays. 1897 J.J. Thomson - Used a CRT to experimentally determine the charge to mass ratio (e/m) of an electron =1.759 x 10 8 coulombs/gram. 1897 1898 beta. J.J. Thomson - Studied "canal rays" and found they were associated with the proton H +.

Rutherford- Studied radiations emitted from uranium and thorium and named them alpha and

1898 Marie Sklodowska Curie- Studied uranium and thorium and called their spontaneous decay process "radioactivity". She and her husband Pierre also discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium.

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1900 Soddy- Observed spontaneous disintegration of radioactive elements into variants he called "isotopes" or totally new elements, discovered "half-life", made initial calculations on energy released during decay. 1900 Max Planck- used the idea of quanta (discrete units of energy) to explain hot glowing matter.

1903 Nagaoka- Postulated a "Saturnian" model of the atom with flat rings of electrons revolving around a positively charged particle. 1904 Abegg - Discovered that inert gases had a stable electron configuration which leads to their chemical inactivity. 1905 1906 Albert Einstein- Published the famous equation E=mc 2 Hans Geiger- Developed an electrical device to "click" when hit with alpha particles.

1909 R.A. Millikan- Oil drop experiment determined the charge (e=1.602 x 10 -19 coulomb) and the mass (m = 9.11 x 10 -28 gram) of an electron. 1911 Ernest Rutherford- Using alpha particles as atomic bullets probed the atoms in a piece of thin (0.00006 cm) gold foil. He established that the nucleus was: very dense, very small and positively charged. He also assumed that the electrons were located outside the nucleus. 1914 H.G.J. Moseley- Using x-ray tubes, determined the charges on the nuclei of most atoms. He wrote The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus". This work was used to reorganize the periodic table based upon atomic number instead of atomic mass. 1919 Aston - Discovered the existence of isotopes through the use of a mass spectrograph.

1922 Niels Bohr- Developed an explanation of atomic structure that underlies regularities of the periodic table of elements. His atomic model had atoms built up of successive orbital shells of electrons. 1923 de Broglie- Discovered that electrons had a dual nature-similar to both particles and waves. Particle/wave duality. Supported Einstein. 1927 Heisenberg- Described atoms by means of formula connected to the frequencies of spectral lines. Proposed Principle of Indeterminacy - you cannot know both the position and velocity of a particle. 1929 Cockcroft / Walton- Built an early linear accelerator and bombarded lithium with protons to produce alpha particles 1930 Schrodinger- Viewed electrons as continuous clouds and introduced "wave mechanics" as a mathematical model of the atom. 1930 Paul Dirac- Proposed anti-particles. Anderson discovered the anti-electron (positron) in 1932 and Segre/Chamberlain detected the anti-proton in 1955... 25

1932 James Chadwick- Using alpha particles discovered a neutral atomic particle with a mass close to a proton. Thus was discovered the neutron. 1938 Lise Meitner, Hahn , Strassman- Conducted experiments verifying that heavy elements capture neutrons and form unstable products which undergo fission. This process ejects more neutrons continuing the fission chain reaction. 1941 51 Glenn Seaborg- Synthesized 6 transuranium elements and suggested a change in the layout of the periodic table. 1942 Enrico Fermi- Conducted the first controlled chain reaction releasing energy from the atoms nucleus. 1950's -New findings/particles- Follow this link to current theories about atomic structure. 500 BC Alchemists - searched for the Philosopher's Stone, which had the ability to transform base materials like copper or lead, into valuable substances, like gold. They also searched for the Elixir of Life, which when drunk by a particular person, would grant him immortality. 450 BC Democritus, Greece - stated that all matter is made up of atoms. He also stated that atoms are eternal and invisible and so small that they cant be divided, and they entirely fill up the space theyre in.

400 BC Aristotle, Greece - provided the method of gathering scientific facts, which proved as the basis for all scientific work. 350 BC 1700s 1750 AD Lavoisier (1777), France - provided the formula for the conservation of matter in chemical reactions, and also distinguished between an element and a compound. Couloumb (1780's), France - formulated the Coulomb's law, which states that that the force between two electrical charges is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, one of the main forces involved in atomic reactions. Crookes (1870), England - created the Crookes tube and demonstrated that cathode rays travel in straight lines and produce phosphorescence and heat when they strike certain materials. 1800 AD 26

John Dalton (1803), England - formed the atomic theory, which states that all matter is composed of tiny, indestructible particles called atoms that are all alike and have the same atomic weight. 1850 AD W.K. Roentgen (1895), Germany - discovered x-rays while experimenting with cathode-ray tubes. Becquerel (1896), France - discovered radioactivity when he investigated uranium and other radioactive substances. The Curies (1898), France - discovered radium and polonium when they started to investigate radioactive substances J.J Thomson (1898), England - discovered the electron and developed the plum-pudding model of the atom. 1900 AD Max Planck (1900), Germany - originated the quantum theory Albert Einstein (1905), Germany - postulated that light was made up of different particles that, in addition to wavelike behavior, demonstrate certain properties unique to particles. He also brought forth the theory of relativity. Robert Millikan (1908), USA - found out the electric charge of the electron Ernest Rutherford (1909), England - used the results of his gold-foil experiment to state that all the mass of an atom were in a small positively-charged ball at the center of the atom. Neils Bohr (1913), Denmark - stated that the electrons moved around the nucleus in successively large orbits. He also presented the Bohr atomic model which stated that atoms absorb or emit radiation only when the electrons abruptly jump between allowed, or stationary, states.

Geiger (1925), Germany - introduced the first detector of alpha particles and other radiations. Erwin Shroedinger (1926), Austria - introduced the Shroedinger Equation, a wave equation that describes the form of the probability waves that govern the motion of small particles and how these waves are altered by external influences. Chadwick (1931), England - discovered the neutrally-charged neutron.

Otto Hahn (1938), Germany - discovered nuclear fission, in which the nucleus of an atom breaks up into two separate nuclei, while experimenting with uranium. Lise Meitner (1938), Vienna - worked with Otto Hahn to discover uranium fission. 27

1950 AD Glen T. Seaborg (1951), USA - isolated and identified elements heavier than uranium, and in the process, added elements number 94 - 102, and 106. Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig (1964), USA - brought forth the idea of "quarks", little bits of matter which when used kind of like building blocks; serve to explain some complex chemical substances. 2000 AD All pictures of scientists copyright Britannica.com. All atom pictures found at http://members.tripod.com/craigjm/physics2.html

_____________________________________________________________________________
Alchemists - searched for the Philosopher's Stone, which had the ability to transform base materials like copper or lead, into valuable substances, like gold. They also searched for the Elixir of Life, which when drunk by a particular person, would grant him immortality. 450 BC The Solid, Indivisible Sphere

400 BC Democritus, Greece - stated that all matter is made up of atoms. He also stated that atoms are eternal and invisible and so small that they cant be divided, and they entirely fill up the space theyre in. Aristotle, Greece - provided the method of gathering scientific facts, which proved as the basis for all scientific work. 350 BC 1700's 1750 AD

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Model II Planetary System Lavoisier (1777), France - provided the formula for the conservation of matter in chemical reactions, and also distinguished between an element and a compound. Couloumb (1780's), France - formulated the Coulomb's law, which states that that the force between two electrical charges is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, one of the main forces involved in atomic reactions. 1800 AD John Dalton (1803), England - formed the atomic theory, which states that all matter is composed of tiny, indestructible particles called atoms that are all alike and have the same atomic weight.

Model III The Plum-Pudding 1850 AD Crookes (1870), England - created the Crookes tube and demonstrated that cathode rays travel in straight lines and produce phosphorescence and heat when they strike certain materials. W.K. Roentgen (1895), Germany - discovered x-rays while experimenting with cathode-ray tubes. Becquerel (1896), France - discovered radioactivity when he investigated uranium and other radioactive substances.

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The Curies (1898), France - discovered radium and polonium when they started to investigate radioactive substances J.J Thomson (1898), England - discovered the electron and developed the plum-pudding model of the atom. 1900 AD Max Planck (1900), Germany - originated the quantum theory Albert Einstein (1905), Germany - postulated that light was made up of different particles that, in addition to wavelike behavior, demonstrate certain properties unique to particles. He also brought forth the theory of relativity. Robert Millikan (1908), USA - found out the electric charge of the electron Ernest Rutherford (1909), England - used the results of his gold-foil experiment to state that all the mass of an atom were in a small positively-charged ball at the center of the atom.

Model IV Rutherford's Nucleus Atom Neils Bohr (1913), Denmark - stated that the electrons moved around the nucleus in successively large orbits. He also presented the Bohr atomic model which stated that atoms absorb or emit radiation only when the electrons abruptly jump between allowed, or stationary, states.

The Electron Cloud Atom Geiger (1925), Germany - introduced the first detector of alpha particles and other radiations.

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Erwin Shroedinger (1926), Austria - introduced the Shroedinger Equation, a wave equation that describes the form of the probability waves that govern the motion of small particles and how these waves are altered by external influences. Chadwick (1931), England - discovered the neutrally-charged neutron.

Detail of an Electron Cloud Otto Hahn (1938), Germany - discovered nuclear fission, in which the nucleus of an atom breaks up into two separate nuclei, while experimenting with uranium. Lise Meitner (1938), Vienna - worked with Otto Hahn to discover uranium fission. 1950 AD Glen T. Seaborg (1951), USA - isolated and identified elements heavier than uranium, and in the process, added elements number 94 - 102, and 106. Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig (1964), USA - brought forth the idea of "quarks", little bits of matter which when used kind of like building blocks; serve to explain some complex chemical substances. 2000 AD All pictures of scientists copyright Britannica.com. All atom pictures found at http://members.tripod.com/craigjm/physics2.html

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