Atomic history

Question 1

Briefly state Democritus’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 1

Proposed the original model of the indivisible atom (atomos)

Question 2

Who proposed the original model of the indivisible atom?

Answer 2

Democritus

Question 3

Briefly state Dalton’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 3

Proposed the billiard ball model of the atom - no nucleus or electrons

Question 4

Who proposed the plum pudding model of the atom?

Answer 4

J. J. Thomson

Question 5

Who discovered the nucleus via the gold foil experiment?

Answer 5

Ernest Rutherford

Question 6

Who proposed the billiard ball model of the atom?

Answer 6

John Dalton

Question 7

Who proposed that electrons act as waves around the nucleus in certain orbitals?

Answer 7

Erwin Schrodinger

Question 8

Briefly state Thomson’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 8

Proposed the plum pudding model of the atom - discovery of the electron

Question 9

Who predicted the wave/particle duality nature of electrons?

Answer 9

Louis DeBroglie

Question 10

Briefly state Rutherford’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 10

Demonstrated that atoms are mostly empty space, discovering the nucleus (gold foil experiment)

Question 11

Who proposed that matter was quantized?

Answer 11

Max Planck

Question 12

Briefly state Bohr’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 12

Proposed that particulate electrons orbited the nucleus

Question 13

Briefly state Schrodinger’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 13

Proposed that electrons act as waves around the nucleus - can only narrow down the regions (orbitals) where an electron is likely to be found

Question 14

Who made the discovery of the neutron?

Answer 14

James Chadwick

Question 15

Briefly state DeBroglie’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 15

Predicted the wave/particle duality nature of electrons

Question 16

Briefly state Bohr’s contribution to the quantum atomic model.

Answer 16

Noted the behaviour of hydrogen atoms and predicted the hydrogen emission spectrum/energy levels of electrons

Question 17

Briefly state Planck’s contribution to the atomic model.

Answer 17

Proposed that matter was quantized, i.e. that a physical quantity can only have certain discrete quantities (for example, you cannot have a population of 13.5 people)

Question 18

Who conducted the double slit experiment?

Answer 18

Thomas Young

Question 19

Briefly explain how the double slit experiment worked and what it showed.

Answer 19

Photons are shot through two slits, creating a wave interference pattern.

If one slit is blocked, photons gather like particles would in one area.

If photons are sent one at a time, with time in between, the wave interference pattern appears.

When trying to determine which photon went through which slit, the wave pattern disappears.

Question 20

What are two possible theories for the double slit experiment’s results?

Answer 20

1. Multiverse theory - photons go certain ways in our universe and different ways in another universe
2. A “master wave” controls the path that the photon takes