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SS3 Physics Revision: Model of Atoms

Topic: MODEL OF ATOMS

Thompson Rutherford Model

Modern atomic theory provides a reasonably satisfactory explanation of the properties of matter, the mechanisms of chemical change and the interaction of matter and energy. Such a theory emerged from the synthesis of the work of several scientists, only a few of which will be discussed here.[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]

John Dalton (1766-1844) is generally credited as the father of the atomic theory but the early Greek philosophers were the originators of the concept of atoms. They taught that matter is composed of atom and is therefore finitely divisible, John Dalton considered the atom as constituting the simplest component of matter. He viewed the atom as ‘indestructible’, tiny hard spheres. The discovery of radioactivity by Henry Becquerel (1891 showed that atoms are complex rather than ‘indivisible’ or ‘indestructible’ but can disintegrate forming atom of different elements. The discovery of cathode rays in electric discharge tubes (1895) by William Crookes revealed that negatively charged electrons were components of the atom.

By 1900, it was already established that matter consists of atom but nothing was known about the structure of the atom. It was only known that the atoms contain electrons but that on the whole the atom was electrically neutral. This neutrality means that there must exist within the atom enough positively charged components to balance the negatively charged electrons. This led Sir J. J. Thomson the English Physicist, to propose an atomic model which visualized the atom as a homogeneous sphere of positive charge inside of which are embedded negatively charged electrons as shown below

thomson pudding model

J. J. Thomson also determined the ratio of the charge to mass, e/m, of electrons, and found e/m to be identical for all cathode-ray particles, irrespective of the kind of gas the in the tube or the metal the electrodes are made of. Read more below:

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