Section 1: The History of Atom Discovery

This section covers the history of how the atom was discovered, and how our understanding of atomic nature has changed over time.  Many scientists have contributed smaller discoveries to this understanding, all of which are compiled into models used to represent what an atom is.  Over time, these models have gotten more complex, leading to a better understanding of what an atom is and how it works.

There is no graded work or video for this section, BUT you are responsible for knowing information about the following scientists for our Unit 2 test:

• Democritus and Leucippus

• John Dalton

• JJ Thomson

• Earnest Rutherford

• Niels Bohr

• Erwin Schrodinger

In class we will go through a slideshow together over many meetings, each time talking about one of these scientists.  Here is a copy of that slideshow.

Here is a timeline that shows the process of these discoveries, as well as some simple details for each step along the way.

In other years, we have done student presentations.  Linked here are some of the notes taken by students at the time.  There are more scientists listed in these notes than you are responsible for!