About Atoms

1) Who were the main characters in the development of the atom? Why were they vital to the development of the atom? What made them different if anything?

I believe these men were very vital to the development of the atom:

Democritus: He stated that all matter is made up of atoms and that atoms were invisible.

John Dalton: Dalton formulated the atomic theory. 1. Matter is made up of atoms. 2. atoms of the same element are the same in weight and other properties. 3. Atoms of different elements are different in weight and other properties. 4. Chemical reactions were a rearrangement of atoms.

J.J Thomson: Founded the electron and the Thomson model (or structure of an atom)

Ernest Rutherford: Founded protons by using his "gold-foil" experiment. He also founded the Rutherford model.

Neils Bohr: He stated that electrons moved around the nucleus. He also founded the Bohr model.

Chadwick: He discovered the neutron.

Men such as Rutherford, Bohr and Thomson created the classical version of the atomic structure this later began the Quantum Model.

2) Think about your lessons in history and discuss how the time period that they lived in determined the outcome of their discovery/ or how it influenced those individuals by names that we know today. (did it matter where they grew up or if they had money?)

When, where, and how they lived determined each scientist's point of view. Some scientists took the work of other scientists and added their own thoughts and tried to find new discoveries within those experiments. Such as Lavosier who continued the experiments of Priestly and found Oxygen and Mercury. Other scientists made discoveries through curiosity or by pure accident like the guy who discovered rubber.

3) Why do we consider the atomic theory still a theory?

The atomic theory is a theory because only some parts have been proven while other parts have been disproved by the atomic bomb.

4) Why does it matter that we understand the structure of the atom?

Everything around us is made up of atoms. It is important that we understand the structure and what atoms are made up of in order to understand the world around us.