Atomic theory

  • 460 BCE

    Democritus

    Democritus
    Stated that the world is made of small particles named atomon. They only differ in shape, arrangement, position, and magnitude.The Void, and atoms are the only things that exist.
  • 384 BCE

    Aristotle

    Aristotle
    Stated that matter was made of four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Matter also only had four properties: Hot, cold, dry, and wet.
  • Period: 1492 to 1502

    Columbus's Voyage

  • Lavoisier

    Lavoisier
    Named oxygen, and proved the Law of Conservation of Mass. Also replaced the Phlogiston theory with the Theory of Oxygenation.
  • Period: to

    Revolutionary war

  • Dalton

    Dalton
    Performed experiments that led to acceptance of atoms. This helped to state that all matter is made of atoms, small uncuttable, and indestructible particles. All atoms of one element are alike, while different element atoms are different.
  • Avogadro

    Avogadro
    Developed the Mole, which is also known as Avogadro's number. It is the number of molecules in a single gram molecule. Also contributed a distinction between atom and molecule.
  • Berzelius

    Berzelius
    Developed a way to advance chemical nomenclature, which allowed him to name any compound regularly. Also developed a system of notation that shows the compositions of any compound. The system had Latin names of the elements, and applied superscripts to designate atom numbers in each element.
  • Period: to

    Civil War

  • Plum Pudding Model

    Plum Pudding Model
  • Thomson

    Thomson
    Discovered that electrons are in an atom. Theorized that atoms are positive, and that they have electrons inside of them.
  • Curie, M

    Curie, M
    Discovered radioactivity, which led to the x-ray. She also found out that radioactive particles cause atoms to break down.
  • Planck

    Planck
    Developed Planck's constant, which was the relationship between the energy of a photon, and its frequency. The constant was a formula relating the energy of the radiation to the frequency. He also found out that oscillators emitted energy in parts, which would have the hv proportional to frequency.
  • Rutherford's model

    Rutherford's model
  • Rutherford

    Rutherford
    Proved that atoms are not filled with electrons by firing charged positive at gold foil. He theorized that atoms have a small positive center, the nucleus. He also stated that the nucleus is small compared to the atom, because an atom is mostly open space.
  • Millikan

    Millikan
    Determined the charge of an electron. Many results were multiples of a single number, the electron's charge. Also verified the photoelectric effect and used that information to find Planck's constant.
  • Sinking of the Titanic

  • Moseley

    Moseley
    Found relationships between lines in an x-ray spectra. The frequencies were proportional to the squares of whole numbers that are equal to the atomic number, plus a constant. This became known as Moseley's Law, which has helped to identify atoms.
  • Bohr's "Solar system" Model

    Bohr's "Solar system" Model
  • Bohr

    Bohr
    Proposed that electrons moved in orbital shells. Outer shells contained higher energy, which determined the element's chemical properties. Also explained that element spectral lines were from electrons releasing energy to jump to higher or lower orbits.
  • Period: to

    World War 1

  • Heisenberg

    Heisenberg
    Developed a theory of quantum mechanics that led to the discovery of allotropic forms of hydrogen. Also states a principle of uncertainty, which detailed that determining the position and momentum of a moving particle contain errors which can't be skipped when studying atoms.
  • Schrodinger

    Schrodinger
    Produced papers that start foundations to quantum wave mechanics. Explained how electrons move in wave form, and his Schrodinger equation also helped to describe the quantum state of a system that changes over time.
  • Chadwick

    Chadwick
    Discovered the neutron. This was found when an unknown radiation with a neutral charge came out of beryllium. The knowledge of the neutron eventually leads to fission, and the atomic bomb.
  • Period: to

    World War 2

  • Mother's birth

  • Father's Birth

  • My birth

  • Modern day model

    Modern day model