Atomic Model/Theory Webquest



History of the atom

Learning Target

I can describe the importance of models for the study of atomic structure.

I can describe the crucial contributions of scientists and the critical experiments that led to the development of the modern atomic model.

Introduction:

All matter is made of tiny particles called atoms. These atoms are in turn made of even smaller particles called protons, neutron and electrons. Everything that matter is and everything that matter does can be explained by the behavior of atoms!

How have scientists come to understand these particles we cannot see?

How has this understanding changed and evolved over time?

What remains to be discovered?

Instructions:

Go to each website and use the information and animations to answer the questions. This is an exploration....explore. The links should work.....if they do not, try cutting and pasting the address into your browser. If you come across other interesting sources, please share.



This above website gives a really nice general timeline for a lot of physics/chemistry type milestones. These include the important people dates and discoveries in the development of atomic Theory/Model

Democritus and Aristotle (400 B.C.)





1. According to Democritus, what is the composition of matter?

2. What is the root of our word "atom" and how is this root misleading?

3. What else was incorrect about the five postulates of Democritus and Aristotle’s theory?

John Dalton (1803)





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1. Why was Dalton’s theory a modern theory (Hint: Dalton did something the Greeks never did!)?

2. What are the five main ideas of Dalton's theory?

3. What elements of the Greek Theory/Model did he retain?

J.J. Thomson (1898)



Look at the introductory page and then scroll down to the table of content at the lower left. Go through the sections of the table of contents.









1. Describe a cathode ray tube.

2. How did Thomson use the cathode ray tube in his research?

3. Explain what was done in the 1897 experiments and what was learned from them.

4. What were the three hypotheses that came out of Thomson’s work?

5. How were these hypotheses received by other scientists?

6. How did Thomson’s findings revise Dalton’s Atomic Theory?

7. What was Thomson’s model called?





10. Describe and sketch Thomson’s model of the atom. What is wrong with the picture presented on the iun.edu page?

Ernst Rutherford (1909)



Good general information on Rutherford’s experiment and his findings









1. Go to the site. What do you observe when the slit width is adjusted to 4.0 nm?

2. How did Rutherford’s experiment disprove Thomson’s model of the atom?

3. What new model did Rutherford propose? Sketch it.

4. Describe Rutherford’s experiment.

5. What is an alpha particle?

6. If Thomson’s model had been correct, what did Rutherford expect to see happen? What did happen?

7. Why was Rutherford’s model called the planetary model?

8. What was wrong with Rutherford’s model? Why didn’t folks accept it?

James Chadwick (1931)





1. Which subatomic particle did James Chadwick discover? Compare its mass to that of a proton.

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