The Physics Of Atomic Theory

Many different scientists contributed to the atomic theory known today. Every single one of them played an important role in creating the atomic theory known today. Around 400 BCE Leucippus, the scientist who originally came up with the atomic theory, began to lay a foundation for the theory known today. Then, Democritus adopted the ideas of Leucippus , his mentor. Democritus soon developed the idea of an atom. Democritus believed everything was made up tiny particles of matter, he called these particles atoms. He chose this name because, in Greek, atom means indivisible. After Democritus, Isaac Newton was the next scientist to contribute to the atomic theory. Isaac Newton began to realize that atoms were constantly moving and were not

John Dalton was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. John Dalton was one of the first scientists to use homemade instruments to make weather observations. He recorded over 20,000 weather observations over a period of 57 years,(Retrieved from Infobase Learning). His fascination for the weather and atmosphere pursue him to research the nature of gases, which in turn lead him to his biggest accomplishment. He built the atomic theory, after two centuries, this theory still remain valid in the field of modern chemistry. John Dalton is considered to be the father of modern atomic theory.

Around 2,500 years ago, Democritus and his partner Leucippus were the first ones to develop the atomic theory in written history. Their theory proposed that every kind of matter was made up of tiny particles, which were named atomos, which means that it is indivisible. This meant that Democritus and Leucippus thought there were little particles of everything, but, the next breakthrough in atomic theory wasn’t made until the early 1800s with a french chemist by the name of Antoine Lavoisier, he was the one who came up with the idea of the law of the conservation of mass, which states that matter stays the same even when it changes shape or form. Then, James Dalton said that all matter was made up of atoms, which were indivisible, and unbreakable.

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.

At the beginning of the twentieth century a scientist called Albert Einstein had a special theory about atoms. His theory was that atoms had a lot of energy locked within them. After this theory was published scientists worked hard to prove that this theory was true. After thirty years of experiments they discovered that within the nucleus there is a lot of energy and splitting the atom would release it.

“By 1687, he had theorized that gravity was a force that could hold objects, such as the moon, in orbit around the Earth, and he worked out equations to prove it” (Challenging Limits). He then calculated the laws of motion that held the planets in their orbits around the sun. Along with his research, he invented calculus, the method for working out the speed of an object at any given moment during its path. By the 20th century, scientist could demonstrate atoms and the tiny charged particles they contained called electrons. The electrons are virtually invisible, but Leeuwenhoek used them from an electron microscope that magnified ten million times. Allowing future scientist to develop the MRI scanner, a precise diagnostic tool used to learn about the work of the brain. In addition to the discovery of atoms and their electrons, a physicist by the name of Albert Einstein formulated the theorem E=mc2. Stating that energy resided in matter itself. With this, scientist learned that atoms are our greatest repository of energy. Scientist began to ask if they themselves, “if we could split atoms, could we release the new, limitless supply of energy” (Challenging Limits)? Soon, scientist did split atoms that released massive surges of energy, but also produced lethal radioactivity. This groundbreaking discovery provided a possible solution to what created the

Honor means to hold with high respect or esteem. My view of honor is to give respect to those who deserve it. Dmitri Mendeleev, the creator of the first periodic table, is one of those who deserve the respect honor has to offer. Dmitri Mendeleev was born February 8, 1834. When he was young, his father went blind and couldn’t work.

One scientist that helped was Werner Heisenberg. Heisenberg worked very closely with Bohr, sort of like an assistant. They both worked on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg developed the uncertainty principle, which set the limits to the position and speed determined of an atom. Another person that helped was Max Born. Max Born was sort of an ‘unsung hero’ to quantum mechanics, as he did an incredible amount of work on the mathematics part of it. He discovered that the Schrodinger wave equation would be used to predict where the particle would be. The Copenhagen view thought up by these many scientists would be later known as the standard that we use

Atomic energy re-invigorated technological and scientific purpose of the early 20th century. Augmenting knowledge through scientific inquiry motivated researchers and academics to collaborate in labs and conferences in developing an emerging field. As discoveries dotted the path to scientific self-indulgence, the purported results of the research which was often purely coincidental, was promoted as yielding untold benefits to society. Medicine would be radically transformed and the scarcity of energy to fuel engines of economic growth would be a thing of the past (De Groot, Steg & Poortinga, 2013). The marvels of the atomic age, it seemed, would become the Holy Grail that would breathe renewed life to human progress.

He discovered the electron and experimented by testing the electric discharge in a high vacuum cathode ray tube. (Nobel Lectures.1967)

As technology advances so do the experiments to discover more about the atom. By 1911, Rutherford disproved Thomson's plum pudding model with his gold foil experiments. He discovered that atoms are mostly empty space and deflections are caused between a repulsive force between the positively charged nucleus and the alpha particles. James Chadwick, a co worker of Rutherford, found that there was another subatomic particle located in the nucleus called the neutron. While Rutherford’s model of the atom showed the electrons orbiting the nucleus, Bohr’s model shows the electrons traveling around the nucleus, the distance of the electrons from the nucleus are determined by energy. Then in the late 1910’s, Robert Millikin calculated the mass of a single electron by performing the oil droplet

In 1808, John Dalton published his theory that all materials were made up of atoms and that atoms can bond together in different combinations. After experimenting with his theory and proving it was indeed true alchemist, chemist and scientist were all on the hunt to find new atoms and this started a scientific revolution. With the inventions of better technology and the scientific innovation scientists were able to find many different atoms. Afterward chemist worked harder to determine whether these substance were elements. These scientist soon identified many groups to elements. A Russian chemist, Dimitri Mendeleev organized and formed the periodic table based on all of the information he had collected. Although Mendeleev did not have all

He stated that this was a mysterious force but never continued his research on it. Then in 460 B.C. there was a philosopher named Democritus. Democritus and his mentor Leocippus posed the question that if he broke bread into multiple pieces how many would breaks would it take until there was no more bread. He then was able to make a few theories being all matter was created of atoms and atoms are solid but not invisible. However, there was a man named Aristotle and many other philosophers who disagreed with Democritus and said matter was composed of four main elements. Earth, fire, air, and water. For example, a liquid was made of water and a stone was made of rock. Therefore, Democritus’s theory “ was rejected by Aristotle, one of the most influential philosophers of Ancient Greece; and the atomic theory was ignored for nearly 2,000 years.”(

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)

Ernest Rutherford firstly developing the modern science by found the theory of radioactivity from an experiment. Radioactivity is “the emission of energetic particles or waves from atoms”