Smart Dead Guys

Smart Dead Guys

(Also Known as the History of the Atom)

By Amber Milesi

Table of Contents

● Beginner’s Information
● Democritus
● Aristotle
● John Dalton
● J.J. Thomson
● Ernest Rutherford
● Niels Bohr
● Erwin Schrodinger
● Albert Einstein
● Werner Heisenberg
● Modern Model
● Works Cited

Beginner's Information

The thing that makes up all matter evolved over many years and the creation of its model
over many bright minds to create what we now know as the atom.
From Roman civilization to modern day society, it changed the way we think. So let’s go
over the history and see what it was these smart dead guys thought.

The Guy with the Questions (Democritus)

Discovery: 492 BC
In Greece the philosopher Democritus and his mentor discovered that
Everything was made up with the same unbreakable article they called
Atomos, or unbreakable. But it was just theory that these small particles that moved
and changed existed. Many believed them to be defying the belief in God and did not
Agree at all. But, even with the lack of proof, he continued to research.

Democritus Cont.

Fun Fact: Democritus was known as the “laughing philosopher” because of
his cheerful attitude at work!

Analogy: Think egg

The Guy Who Ignored Those Questions (Aristotle)

Discovery: 450 BC
Aristotle, who disagreed entirely with the atom theory instead believed that
things were all made of specific amounts of four core elements, fire, earth,
air and water. And although humans are made up of water, he kissed the tiny detail
that water alos is made up of smaller particles as well. His core belief came from the
idea that everything that made up earth could be found on earth which was soon to
be disproven.

Aristotle Cont.

Fun Fact: Aristotle's name roughly translates to “the best purpose” but maybe
it wasn’t about his skill in what made up the universe.

Analogy: Think four elements

The First Guy From Jolly England (John Dalton)

Discovery: 1803
Decades later, as the era moved past BC and AC new scientist took up the atom theory
hunt. But, a John Dalton, who had not the tools to compose proof of his theory tried an
approach using proven laws: The law of conservation of Mass and the law of constant composition.
He stated that if what goes into a reaction comes out the same then the atoms that make up the
reactants must have similar properties and also the result is different because of the different ways
atoms rearrange themselves. He believed falsely that atoms were indivisible. But his theory had no
proof and that lacking factor had to be solved for others to digest the concepts.

Dalton Cont.

Fun fact: John Dalton was a quaker, or a christian believer who believed in the
work of christ directly on the soul and not in worship.

Analogy: Think a toy ball

The Second Guy ( J.J. Thomson)

Discovery: 1897
J.J. Thomson believed in the atomic theory and went deeper in to see what
Made the atom tick. He found that, using the heat from two charged plates, known as
a cathode, created a ray of electrically charged particles. He found that these particles
where not the atoms themselves but small negatively charged particles he named
electrons that ran within the atom. This was the first piece of evidence in shaping the
atom model. And helped establish hard proof that the atom existed and how it
worked. But he believed the atom was a fluid, undefined substance which was incorrect.

Thomson Cont.

Fun Fact: he enrolled in a college, Trinity College, at age fourteen. What a guy with
goals.

Official Analogy: Think Plum Pudding (vegan) :)

The Third Guy ( Ernest Rutherford)

Discovery: 1908

Rutherford disprove Thomson by conducting an experiment that found the atom to have a nucleus
and develop its nuclear or planetary model. He found that when shining a beam of positively charged
particles through a thin piece of gold foil, a pure element, it bounced back towards the source
indicating interactions with other positively charged particle within the gold sheet. This served as
proof that the atom was not composed of empty space but had a nucleus in its center. But this model
too lacked certain explanations about how the electron move around the nucleus with the laws of
gravity like a planet but something else entirely.

Rutherford Cont.

Fun fact: Rutherford became the first research student at Cambridge
University, a well made move by the college.

Analogy: Think ball of yarn

The Fourth Guy Was A Weirdo(Niels Bohr)

Discovery: 1922
Bohr refined Rutherford model and gave it a legitimate look to explain his
Theory. He claimed that there was a positively charged nucleus and that the
Electrons moved around it in set rings depending on their state of energy and with
quantum radiation they could jump from one state to another, hypothesize as to why they could
move closer or farther from the nucleus while staying in the specific orbits. Although this lead to
the formulation of quantum theories, this still didn’t account for the movement of
electrons as they didn’t seem to move in the patterns Bohr depicted.

Bohr Cont.

Fun fact: His work and fame helped other jewish intellectuals during the time
when Nazism was on the rise to continue with their work. (He was a weirdo
because he thought an atom had the internal look of an onion!)

Analogy: Think an onion

The Fifth Guy, Another Weirdo (Erwin Schrodinger)

Discovery: 1926
Schrodinger expanded Bohr’s model by focusing on the movement of electrons.
He found that by using a series of mathematical equations called Quantum Mechanics where he
could predict the next location of the electron but not that there were specific rings of energy
that they obrited on. He envisioned the model as having a denser area of electrons in a cloud
around the nucleus where they would most likely be found and vice versa if they were less
dense. But the complete atom model had yet to be fully defined.

Schrodinger Cont.

Fun fact: Schrodinger developed an interest in italian paintings! (he was weird
because what scientists can actually understand art without developing an
equation for it!)

Analogy: Think eraser shavings

The Sixth Guy May Have Been Smart (Albert Einstein)

Discovery: 1921
Einstein took a step away from just the electrons and formulated a few
Mathematical ways to determine the size of an atom, its reality. By calculating how
an atom moved in certain substances, liquid, gas he founded the theory of
Relativity, that anything with mass could be measured and therefore the atom’s
movement in a substance could also be measured which helped for scientists to
understand atoms further. But the work did not end there.

Einstein Cont.

Fun fact: Einstein couldn’t speak until the age of three. Maybe all that silence just meant
the genius was thinking a lot.

Analogy: An unfinished cake finally given some icing (Vegan) :)

The Last Guy Formulated A No-Brainer (Werner Heisenberg)

Discovery: 1925
Werner disproved multiple scientist on one single front that concluded the hunt for
the finalized atom model. He claimed something now known As the uncertainty
principle, that the more precise one wants to be on the location of a particle the more room for
uncertainty builds. Thus, the exact location of the electron couldn’t be determined absolutely
because instead of orbiting around the nucleus depending on energy levels they were really just
a mass of electrons independently moving around the nucleus and clashing with each other.

Heisenberg Cont.

Fun Fact: His father became a professor in Modern Greek languages in
Munich. Germany. Maybe he decided his son was smart enough that he could
retire into an easier job than chemistry.

Analogy: Think swarm of bees

The Eighth Guy Sadly Isn’t A Guy (Modern Model)

Discovery: 2019, and still counting. The newest and
most modern atom model is complete with a nucleus
Of protons and neutrons and surrounded by a cloud
Of electrically charged electrons. And to this day,
Represents what we now call the Atom.

Analogy: Think a storm with lightning and hail

Works Cited

J.J. Thomson's Experiment and the Charge-to-Mass Ratio of the Electron,
www.nyu.edu/classes/tuckerman/adv.chem/lectures/lecture_3/node1.html.

The Atom - A Timeline, theatomtimeline.yolasite.com/werner-heisenberg.php.
History of the Atom, www.absorblearning.com/chemistry/demo/units/LR301.html.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Rutherford Model.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 Sept. 2019,
www.britannica.com/science/Rutherford-model.

Indrajit, et al. “History Of Atoms and Subatomic Particles.” QUARK UNIVERSITY, 13 July
2017,quarkuniversity.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/history-of-atoms-and-sub-atomic-particles/.