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400
Democritus
Democritus was the first scientist to create a model of the atom. He was the first one to discover that all matter is made up of invisible particles called atoms. He created the name "atom" from the Greek word "atomos", which means uncuttable. He also discovered that atoms are solid, insdestructable, and unique. HIs model was just a round solid ball. Democritus didn't know about a nucleus or electrons, all he knew was that everything is made of atoms. -
Period: 400 to
Timespan
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Dalton
John Dalton was an English chemist that created the Atomic Theory of Matter, a composition of previous findings by Democritus and his own findings. He included in this theory that all matter is made of atoms, that atoms cannot be created or destroyed and that atoms of different elements combine in whole ratios to form chemical compunds. His theory would later contribute to an advance in the atomic model. -
Thomson
J.J. Thomson was a very important scientist when it came to the atomic model. Up until his time, all models of the atom looked like a big solild ball. J.J. Thomson discovered the electron, which led him to create the "plum pudding" atomic model. In this model, he thought that the atom was mostly positive, and negative electrons wandered around the atom. The "plum pudding" model influenced other scientists to make better atomic models. -
Rutherford
Rutherford was another scientist that changed the atomic model. He felt that Thomson's model was incorrect, so he created a new one. He created the nucleus, and said that instead of the positive matter being the whole atom, it was just in the middle. He said the atom was mostly empty space and that the electrons surrounded the positive nucleus. This model influenced one of his own students to perfect the atomic model later on. -
Bohr
Bohr was a Danish scientist that was a student of Rutherford. He decided to make a new model based off of Rutherford's model, but changed the orbit of the electron. Also, he created energy levels in the atom, where only a certain amount of electrons could fit on one energy level of the atom. Bohr also used Planck's ideas in order to create quantum mechanics, his new concept regarding energy. This model is still used today. -
Chadwick
Chadwick was an English scientist that discovered the neutron. Before this discovery, Rutherford had concluded that the nucleus was made of positive matter. It made sense that the atom was neutral because the negative electrons and the positive protons cancelled out. But, Chadwick started to question why there was a difference between the atomic mass and the number of protons. Chadwick then found that the missing component was a neutral part: the neutron.
