Science Common Sense
1199 - What is the development of atomic models.
Imagine you're on a journey to understand the tiny building blocks of everything around us, called atoms. Here's how our understanding of atoms changed over time:
Democritus (460-370 BC): He thought that atoms were tiny, indivisible particles that couldn't be broken down further.
J.J. Thomson (1856-1940): Later, scientists found out that atoms have tiny, negatively charged particles called electrons. They thought that atoms were like a big ball of positive charge with electrons stuck inside, like a plum pudding.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937): Rutherford did an experiment where he shot tiny particles at a thin layer of gold. Some particles bounced back, which led him to think that atoms have a tiny, heavy center called a nucleus. He said that electrons orbit the nucleus like planets around the Sun.
Niels Bohr (1885-1962): Bohr added that electrons orbit the nucleus in specific energy levels or "shells." He also said that electrons jump from one shell to another when they gain or lose energy.
Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) and Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976): Later, scientists found out that electrons are like waves and can be in many places at the same time. This is called quantum mechanics.
Today: Our current understanding of atomic models is based on quantum mechanics. We think that atoms are made up of three tiny particles: protons (positive), neutrons (no charge), and electrons (negative). Protons and neutrons are in the nucleus, and electrons orbit around it in specific energy levels.
That's the journey of how our understanding of atomic models developed over time.