The First Atomic Structure And Its Impact On Science

In this experiment, you will have a chance to test the hypothesis that Ernest Rutherford used when determining the size of the nucleus. In his "gold foil experiment," Rutherford shot alpha particles at gold atoms. Once he realized that the alpha particles were hitting a concentrated positive mass, he developed the nuclear model of the atom. Next, he set out to determine the relative size of the nucleus compared to the rest of the atom. He reasoned that the smaller the nucleus, the less likely it was to be hit by an alpha particle. This led to a simple comparative ratio:

The Ancient Greeks were the firsts to speculate on the composition of matter. They thought that it was possible that individual particles made up matter.

the old view of atoms as the basic building blocks of the material world and Newtonian physics

  The understanding of the structure of atoms has changed throughout history. The first documented case of the discovery of atoms dates back to 450 B.C with two Greek philosophers, Leucippus and Democritus (Doc. 1). This was only a theory; however, they proposed the idea that all matter is made up of atoms.

What is an atom? An atom is the basic building block of everything. An atom is made of electrons protons and neutrons and the number of protons determines the element. Back in the 1800’s this whole idea was unknown. In the 1800’s steam was starting to power everything. It became important to know how steam works, so you can learn to use it more effectively. It was this idea that drove Dalton to research the atom.

What is the atomic structure you may ask? Well, it’s the law stating the structure of an atom. It is composed of a positively charged nucleus containing a certain amount of protons (positive), neutrons (neutral charge), and electrons (negative). The amount of each subatomic particle (proton, neutron, and electron) all depend on what the element is. Now although this statement may seem fairly simple it was most definitely not. People have been studying the atomic structure for more than 300+ years and are still studying it. So after reading this you may wonder who even made this atomic structure up. After hundreds of years of research there is not any one individual who made the structure up but roughly

During the early 1940’s atomic science had just began to mature. Many people were exploring the powerful mystery of the atom. Two of those people were Eugene Booth and John Dunning, who, in 1941, synthesized uranium-235. Immense scientific growth followed their contribution, since it allowed for nuclear fission (Griffith). In the years following this discovery, nuclear science took a turn. Once only used as a constructive power source, atoms began being explored for their destructive power. In 1942 the United States government funded the Manhattan Project that sole goal was to develop a nuclear bomb. The initiator for this endeavor was surprisingly the famous scientist Albert Einstein. He wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt , and tipped him off

Within the last hundred years, the atomic model gone through dramatic changes allowing to apply the knowledge of matter understanding at atomic level into different industries like medicine such as MRI and X-Ray. This knowledge allowed doctors to treat, diagnose and certainly save millions of people throughout the years, which could not have been done without research being done on the structure of the atom funded continuously for these scientists to find more application which benefit people and comprehend the world we live in on an atomic level.

Democritus made the atomic theory widely known, which stated that the universe is composed of two elements: the atoms and the void in which these atoms exist and move. (More, 1646)

Over the course of the last 5000 years, mankind’s knowledge has been constantly advancing. Chemistry, a branch of science, has experienced a tremendous leap and expansions since ancient Greek civilization. One of the major breakthroughs in the advancement in Chemistry was the creation of the Atomic theory, which laid a foundation for the modern-day Chemistry and future of science. The Atomic theory introduced the idea of atoms, which are defined as the discrete units of matter. There are five key scientists that significantly contributed to the Atomic model over a span of thousands of years. They are: Democritus, John Dalton, J.J. Thompson, Ernest Rutherford, and Niels Bohr.

Before Rutherford’s Geiger-Marsden experiment the most popular model of the atom was the “plum pudding model” developed in 1904 by the person who also discovered the electron in 1897, J.J. Thompson. It was the most common model of the atom and stated that electrons (plum) floated around with

The Discovery of the Atom first came from the Greeks which made a theory “The idea that all matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles, or atoms, is believed to have originated with the Greek philosopher Leucippus of Miletus and his student Democritus of Abdera in the 5th century B.C. (The word atom comes from the Greek word atomos, which means “indivisible.”)” (InfoPlease Atomic theory)

“The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.”-Original quote from Dmitri Mendeleev. Dmitri Mendeleev was known for assembling the final periodic table and he predicted the arrangement of the elements. It is said in the Kahn Academy article that Dmitri Mendeleev got the idea for the Periodic Table from playing solitaire. He also envisioned the periodic table in a dream after a three day work binge. He also was known for finding thirty elements, with his own element called mendelevium. He managed to predict the location of so many of the elements by arranging the elements that they knew at the time. Much of his work actually involved his use of cards. Dmitri Mendeleev made

Democritus made many famous theories in his lifetime. One of them was that “the world, including human beings, is composed of very small particles”. He later gave these particles a name, which he called them “atomos” or as we know atoms for short. He argued that atoms are very small and basically invisible to humans with our naked eye. This Greek philosopher was the first to theorize that the shapes of the atoms have a close similarity with the physical properties of the element they make up. He stated that atoms are eternal, and so small that their size can never be decreased. Also, he tried his hardest to find ways to show people how the universe and atoms work.

Democritus known as to how atoms were created. His ideas influenced on modern science and he is remembered for his formulation of the atomic theory of the universe. He found Aristotle to be the biggest contributor to discoveries in natural science. Democritus’ main contribution to chemistry was the suggestion that all matter is made up of particles which he called atoms. He was the first to create an atomic model and he helped people to understand the idea and helped scientists in the future.