-
Period: 460 BCE to 370 BCE
Democritus
Democritus was the first person with the idea of an 'atom' coming from the latin work 'atomus' meaning indivisible. He made the first model of an atom that looked only as a metal sphere. fun fact- people still debate about his exact birth year. it is either 460 bc or 470 bc. -
Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle made the 'element' theory where everything was made of either water, fire, earth and air. and things like heat, cold, dry and wet are fixed in-between these. fun fact- he also taught royalty. -
Period: to
John Dalton
Many years later, John Dalton comes in and starts digging deeper into atoms. He believes that atoms are the smallest thing and make up every single thing like what you're reading this from and even oxygen. fun fact- Dalton also discovered colour blindness. -
Period: to
JJ Thompson
JJ Thompson has a very simple-to-understand theory, the plum pudding theory. Let me explain it to you: imagine you have a muffin or pudding, and there are little pieces of blueberries or plums inside, there are the electrons and the muffin or pudding is the atom. He discovered electrons. fun fact- he won a Nobel prize. -
Period: to
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus and protons, the protons that have a positive charge and nucleus thats inside the atom, holding the protons and the electrons scattering around the nucleus. fun fact- his parents had 12 kids, him being the 4th. -
Period: to
Neils Bohr
Neils Bohr has the 'planet' theory, Because he thought about the protons and electrons in an atom and if they are opposites, then why won't the interact with each other? so he thought about shells, electrons that go on the shells (like planets) and the nucleus being the sun. the electrons then don't interfere with the protons but instead orbit them. fun fact- he was good friends with Albert Einstein.