the atom

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?

Democritus was Greek and said that all matter is made up of atoms, atoms are invisible, and atoms ca not be divided.
John Dalton came up with the atomic theory, which states that all matter is composed of tine, indesrtuctible particles called atoms. He said that all atoms of a like element are alike and have the same atomic weight.
J.J Thomson discovered the electron and developed the "plum-pudding" model of the atom.
Ernest Rutherford discovered the proton by using his "gold-foil" experiment.
Neils Bohr stated that the electrons moved around the nucleus and also came up with the Bohr atomic model.
Chadwick discovered the neutron.

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

When they grew up and where they grew up was definitely a factor in what they discovered. Depending on how much money they had would depend on how much research and how many different experiments they could perform. For example someone that was wealthy could afford the materials they needed to perform a specific lab in order to help their discovery move along where as someone who wasn't as wealthy would just have to have curiousity and talent.

3. WHy do we consider the atomic theory still a theory?

The atomic theory is still a theory because only some of the parts of it have been completely proven and some of the theory has some missing parts.

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

It is important that we understand the structure of the atom because our world and everything around us is made up of atoms.