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Atomic Theory Of Matter In The 1920's

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Throughout history, science has been evolving and changing in a variety of ways. A vast number of proclamations have been both proven and disproven over time. An example of an ever-changing statement is the Atomic Theory of Matter. This theory states that matter is composed of extremely small units called atoms, what those atoms are made of, and what they do. This theory dates back all the way to ancient Greece and was most recently updated in the 1920's. Five main scientists have had a part in shaping and evolving this theory. They are Democritus, John Dalton, Joseph John Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, and Neils Bohr. In 5th century BC, a Greek philosopher named Democritus created the earliest form of the theory of matter. He was aware that two halves of a stone were overall identical, so he came to the conclusion that the stone would eventually become too small to cut if it continued to be separated. He referred to these minuscule pieces of matter as "atomos", the Greek word for indivisible. Democritus theorized that an atom differed in size and shape, as well as believing that they were in …show more content…

Firstly, he believed that all matter was made of sphere-like atoms that were always in many different stages of motion. In addition, he theorized that atoms could not be destroyed, created, divided, or transformed into other atoms. Dalton based this assumption on the law of conservation of mass. Another theory of his was that elements were characterized by the weight of their atoms and that atoms of the same element had an identical weight. Finally, he believed that chemical reactions combined atoms into small whole-number ratios, and element reactions combine into more than one whole-number ratios. This theory was usually accepted due to the fact that it explained the laws of conservation of mass, as well as multiple and definite

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