Alex

Main characters in the developement of the atom:
Democritus, Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford, Millikan,
Bohr, Chadwick, Heisenberg
Vital to the developement/ differences/ new developements:
Democritus- suggested atomic theory, thought atoms
were completely solid, homogenous,indestructable objects
Dalton-all matter is made of atoms, atoms are indivisible
and indestructable, all atoms of a given element are identical
in mass and properites, compounds are formed by a combination
of two or more dieffernet kinds of atoms, a chemical reaction is
a rearrangement of atoms
Thomson-subjected cathode rays to magnetic and electric
fields and showed that the beam was deflected as would be
expected for negatively charged particles, calculated the
raito of the electron's charge to its mass, DID NOT coin the
term "electron" yet he is generally credited with the discovery
of the electron, "plum pudding" model of the atom which
suggested a solid atom with positively and negatively charged
particles evenly distriburted throughout the mass of the atom
Rutherford-credited with discovering that most of the atom
is made up of "empty space", condudted the "gold foil" experiment
from which he concluded that "the greater part of the mass was
concentrated in a minute nucleus", had a model where the positively
charged nucleus was surrounded by a great deal of "empty space"
through which the electrons moved
Millikan-conducted an "oil drop" experiment which allowed him to
measure the charge on an electron, found that the mass of the electron
to be 9.11x10^-28g
Bohr-proposed the improvement to Rutherford's atomic model, the
planetary model of the atom is sometimes called the Rutherford-Bohr
model, added the idea of fixed orbits or energy levels for the electron
traveling around the nucleus, this model allowed for the idea that
electrons fcan become "excited" and move to higher energy levels for
brief periods of time
Chadwick-known as the discoverer of the neutron, found these
uncharged particles with essentially the same mass as the proton
Heisenberg-pointed out that it is impossible to know both the exact
position and the exact momentum of an object at the same time, applied
this concept to the electron and realized that in order to get a fix on an
electron's position at anytime you would alter its momentum, any attempt
to study the velocity of an electron will alter its position, called this the
Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, this idea effectively destorys the idea
of electrons traveling around in nedat orbits, any electron that is subjected
to photons will have its momentum and position affected
Where they grew up or if they had money:
Some of them had money and others did not. Some of them went to school
and others did not. This was not an issue. All had some connection to science
other than themselves.
Theory not law:
As with a lot of things, proving is very difficult. Getting enough
information to support an idea is possible. Organic mechanisms
are one example. Data from many sources shows that a theory is
possible, but never really proves something is exact.
- Joe Schultz
There have been so many things about the atomic theory proven
wrong that you can not considered the whole thing a law, only parts
are completely true.
Important structure understanding:
It is important to understand the structure of the atom because
everything is made up of atoms. I think that if you cannot understand
atom, you cannot undertand what might happen in chemical reactions.
If you do not know what will happen in chemical reactions, then you may
not understand the chemical reactions in the body keeping you alive.