Week 2 - Structure Of The Atom Flashcards
A negatively charged particle that has a very small mass compared to the mass of other subatomic
particles and surrounds the atom.
Electron
: An experiment, led by J.J. Thomson, which proposed that the atom was comprised of
negatively charged particles in a disperse field of positively charged particles.
plum pudding model
When certain substances emit charged particles
Radioactivity
An experiment, led by Ernest Rutherford, which proposed that atoms consist of a small
positively charged nucleus surrounded by negatively charged electrons.
gold foil experiment
A positively charged particle that has a relatively large mass compared to electrons. This can be
found in the nucleus of the atom.
Proton
An uncharged particle with a mass nearly equal to that of the proton. This can be found in the
nucleus of the atom.
Neutron
After the development of Dalton’s atomic theory, several important discoveries were made that led to a new understanding of the atom.
-read
In 1877, _____ (1832-1919) was studying how electrical current behaves in a vacuum tube. In one
experiment, he passed an electric current through an evacuated phosphorous-coated glass cylinder with an object in
the center, as shown in Figure 1.6.
Upon passing a current through the tube, _____ noticed that a “shadow” was cast by the object in the tube. The
phosphorus on the terminal end of the tube became brightly fluorescent, except for the region directly behind the
central object. He interpreted this to mean that the electrical current was blocked by the object. He reasoned that
the electrical current, which he later called cathode rays, was composed of streams of particles.
William crookes
Thomson’s interpretation of this effect was that cathode rays must consist of charged particles that have mass.
Thomson presented his work in 1897, where he referred to these negatively charged particles as corpuscles. Later
on, this name was changed and negatively charged particles became known as electrons. Thomson revised the model
of the atom into what became known as the plum pudding model. He hypothesized that the atom was comprised of
negatively charged particles in a field of positive charge (positively charged particles had not yet been discovered).
This proposed arrangement was compared to the arrangement of plums in plum pudding, as illustrated in Figure
1.7.
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In 1909, ______ devised what is known as the oil drop experiment to determine the
charge of a single electron.
Robert milikan and harvey fletcher
Using this information, Millikan calculated the charge of an electron to be 1.5924 × 10−19 coulombs. A coulomb (C)
is the SI unit for electric charge, where 1 coulomb = 1 ampere × 1 second. (Remember, an ampere is an SI base unit
for electric current.) Today, the accepted value for the charge of an electron is 1.602176487 × 10−19 C. Despite the relatively simple apparatus with which it was determined, Millikan’s value was within 1% of the currently accepted
value. Combining this value with information from J. J. Thomson’s experiments, Millikan was also able to calculate
the mass of an electron. The currently accepted value is 9.10938215 × 10−31 kg.
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Right around the time that Thomson was formulating his model of the atom, a scientist named Wilhelm Conrad
Roentgen was studying the behavior of electricity in discharge tubes. These were partially evacuated gas-filled
tubes which would conduct an electric current, similar to the Crookes tube used in the cathode ray experiments. .
Discovey of the x ray
This was the first “roentgenogram” ever taken. He interpreted this to mean that another ray, other than the cathode
rays, was being produced that could penetrate and travel through objects at a distance. He called these X-rays, and
he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his brilliant work.
-read
By 1900, it was known that the electron carried a negative charge. It was also known that the electron makes up
an extremely small fraction of the mass of an atom. Ernest Rutherford set out to determine how the remainder of
the mass and charge was distributed in the atom.
-rear
One of Rutherford’s famous experiments was called the ______ (illustrated in the Figure 1.11). In
this experiment, Rutherford used a radioactive source to direct alpha particles toward a very thin sheet of gold foil.
Surrounding the foil was a screen that fluoresced when struck by the alpha particles
Gold foil experiment
As shown in the video, most alpha particles easily passed through the gold foil and struck the fluorescent screen
behind the foil. However, there were some instances in which the alpha particles were deflected very strongly,
often back toward the emission source. If the ____ were correct, all of the alpha particles would
be expected to pass through the gold foil with little or no deflection. The strong deflection experienced by a small
portion of the alpha particles could be better explained by an atom that contained a very small, dense nucleus.
Because some of the alpha particles emitted from the source were repelled by the nucleus, Rutherford concluded
that the nucleus must be made up of these positively charged alpha particles, which he named protons. He proposed
that atoms consist of a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by negatively charged electrons, as shown in
the Figure 1.12.
Plum pudding model
A British chemist, ____ studied under Rutherford and brilliantly developed the application of X-ray
spectra to study atomic structure.
Henry moseley