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- First person to use the term 'atom', meaning indivisible.- Stated that atoms are tiny solid bits of matter that make up everything in the world and are too small to be seen.
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- Adapted Democritus' theory into the first ever atomic model
- Theorised that atoms can neither be created or destroyed
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- Discovered the electron
- Used a cathode ray tube to conduct his experiment
- Proposed the plum pudding model
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- Disagreed with JJ Thompson
- Set up the gold foil experiment, where he fired alpha particles at a gold foil where only some particles deflected.
- Discovered the nucleus of the atom
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- Developed Rutherford's model
- Discovered that electrons travel in separate orbits around the nucleus.
- Stated that the number of electrons in the outer orbit determines the properties of an element
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- Proposed electron probability through wave function equations The Electron Cloud Model is still used to this day and is one of the most accurate atomic models
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- Discovered neutrons
- Explained that electrons can only exist in specific energy levels
- Stated that electrons have definite orbits