The Idea Behind Discovery of Atom

DoubtConnect
3 min readSep 1, 2022

To explain the nature of atoms and matter, the science of atomic theory incorporates ideas from physics, chemistry, and mathematics. According to contemporary physics, atoms are made up of subatomic particles, which themselves are made up of subatomic particles. The atoms of a particular element are similar to those of other elements and different from one another in many ways. To form molecules and compounds, atoms combine in predetermined ratios.

The theory evolved over time, shifting from the atomistic philosophy to modern quantum mechanics. The following is a timeline of atomic theory:

This concept has been floating back and forth for thousands of years. Ancient cultures did recognize the general notion that matter is composed of more basic elements (although they were fairly unanimous as to what counted as elements), and that these elements I knew would combine in interesting and fruitful ways to form complex things. As a chair and a beer. But throughout those thousands of years, the question remained: If I separated the single elements and cut them in half, then cut those halves in half, and so on, what would the final Can you find the smallest possible element for ? No hacks? Or will it continue indefinitely?

The Greek philosopher Democritus was the first to use the word atom (atomos: indivisible). He believed that if you take a piece of matter and divide it repeatedly, you will eventually reach a point where you can no longer divide it. Democritus referred to this fundamental or basic item as an atom.

The questions highlighted by Thomson’s findings had to be answered by the subsequent generation of scientists. What matters most is how something may be smaller than an atom and what it means for the makeup of atoms.

The decision to shoot objects at gold to see what would happen was made by Ernest Rutherford, Hans Geiger, and Ernest Marsden, three of Thomson’s own former students. Because gold could be fabricated into incredibly thin sheets, the scientists decided to utilize it as their test subject for atomic physics. And they fired incredibly tiny projectiles called alpha particles, which are charged helium atoms. These particles are the ideal scientific bullets since they are light, hefty, and quick.

Most of the alpha particles flew right through the gold as the researchers practiced hitting their targets. But occasionally, one of the particles would veer off in an arbitrary path. And every so often (about 1 in every 20,000 rounds; yep, the scientists meticulously counted), an alpha particle would bounce off the gold and smash back the opposite direction.

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