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The current theoretical model of the atom involves a dense nucleus surrounded by a probabilistic "cloud" of electrons. Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. The definition of the word "atom" has changed over the years in response to scientific discoveries.
Niels Henrik David Bohr (7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
The basic idea that matter is made up of tiny indivisible particles is an old idea that appeared in many ancient cultures. The word atom is derived from the ancient Greek word atomos, [a] which means "uncuttable". But this ancient idea was based in philosophical reasoning rather than scientific reasoning.
The classical model of the atom is called the planetary model, or sometimes the Rutherford model—after Ernest Rutherford who proposed it in 1911, based on the Geiger–Marsden gold foil experiment, which first demonstrated the existence of the nucleus. However, it was also known that the atom in this model would be unstable: according to ...
Magnenus was the first to arrive at a scientific estimate of the size of an "atom" (i.e. of what would today be called a molecule). Measuring how much incense had to be burned before it could be smelled everywhere in a large church, he calculated the number of molecules in a grain of incense to be of the order 10 18 , only about one order of ...
1897 J. J. Thomson discovered the electron; 1897 Emil Wiechert, Walter Kaufmann and J.J. Thomson discover the electron; 1898 Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the existence of the radioactive elements radium and polonium in their research of pitchblende; 1898 William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon, and negatively charged beta particles
He called the particle a "corpuscle", but later scientists preferred the term electron. Joseph Larmor explained the splitting of the spectral lines in a magnetic field by the oscillation of electrons. [5] [6] Larmor, created the first solar system model of the atom in 1897. He also postulated the proton, calling it a "positive electron".
In 1897, J. J. Thomson discovered the electron, and new radioactive elements found by Marie and Pierre Curie raised questions about the supposedly indestructible atom and the nature of matter. Marie and Pierre coined the term " radioactivity " to describe this property of matter, and isolated the radioactive elements radium and polonium .