4-Discovery of The Subatomic Particles

Discovery of
the Subatomic
Particles
Objectives
In this lesson, you should be able to:

Point out the main ideas in the discovery of the structure of
the atom and its subatomic particles;
Cite the discovery of JJ Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, and
James Chadwick to the understanding of the structure of
the atom; and
Describe the nuclear model of the atom and the location of
its major components.
The ancient idea of atomism pioneered by
Greek philosophers actually resembles our
modern idea of the atom. Atomism was
adapted by John Dalton in the early 18th
century and postulated most of the
foundations of the modern atomic theory. The
development of this atomic theory greatly
helped in the understanding of the structure
of the atom. Through a series of experiments,
scientists have discovered more about the
atom, including its structure. What makes up
an atom? How do these components of atoms
interact with one another?
JOHN DALTON AND THE
ATOM IN THE 19TH CENTURY
The nineteenth century was a pinnacle
of success in the history of atoms and
the atomic theory. In the early 18th
century, a great chemist John Dalton
adopted Democritus’ and Leucippus’
idea of atomism and refined it to
provide most of the foundations of the
1766-1844
modern atomic theory.
According to Dalton, matter is made up
of very small, indivisible particles
called atoms. These atoms are unique
to each type of substance or element.
Atoms of the same element have the
same mass, size, density, volume, and
other physical properties. These
physical properties are also different
when compared across different
elements.
He explained changes as reactions of these
atoms. Atoms may rearrange, combine,
or separate to give rise to various changes
that can occur in a substance. However,
during these processes, he postulated that
the number of atoms present does not
change. Also, he stipulated that in these
reactions, atoms may combine in a fixed,
whole-number ratio.
These observations of Dalton established most of the
chemical laws you might have already encountered
before. These laws gave us insights into how elements
combine and how chemical reactions proceed.
Interestingly, Dalton did not conduct any experiments
to prove his atomic theory. Instead, he collected data
from other scientists and made inferences and
observations out of their experiments. He first
published his observations in the “The Granger
Collection” before it became the atomic theory.
LOOHCS
YRADNOCES
DAEMDLO
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS SO FAR?
FEEL FREE TO MAKE THIS AN OPEN DISCUSSION FOR
QUESTIONS OR CLARIFICATIONS BEFORE PROCEEDING.
CLASS
SCIENCE
From his atomic theory,
Dalton imagined atoms as
extremely small hard
spheres or billiard balls.
His idea was called the
solid sphere model of an
atom. However, he did not
attempt to describe the Dalton’s solid sphere model
internal structure of the
atom.
A lot of scientists followed Dalton’s path and devoted
their lives searching what an atom looks like and
what is it made of. Nowadays, you know that atoms
are composed of electrons, protons, and neutrons.
Collectively, these are called subatomic particles .
The discovery and property of these subatomic
particles will be discussed in detail in the next few
paragraphs.
Thomson and the
Discovery of Electrons
The discovery of more advanced technologies
and ideas in allied fields have pushed Dalton’s
atomic theory beyond its limit. Through the
19th century, the theory was challenged and
tested with scientific experiments. Some of the
postulates were changed and refined and
some ideas such as concepts of isotopes and
ions were added.
Joseph John Thomson (also known as J.J.
Thomson) was the first person to conduct
an actual experiment and explore the
structure of the atom. He is well known
for his discovery of the electron, one of
the subatomic particles of the atom.
Electrons are negatively charged particles
in an atom. The term electron was
initially coined by George Johnstone
Stoney as the fundamental charge of
electricity.
Joseph John Thomson George Stoney
(1856 – 1940) (1826 – 1911)
Thomson discovered the electron when he
studied the electrical and magnetic properties
of cathode rays. In his experiment, two metal
electrodes, the cathode (negative electrode)
and the anode (positive electrode), were placed
inside a sealed glass vacuum tube. These electrodes
were connected to a source of electricity. When electricity was
turned on, rays of light traveled between the two electrodes.
These rays were called cathode rays because they traveled
from the cathode to the anode.
Fig. 1. The cathode ray tube experimental setup.
When positive and negative plates were introduced, Thomson
observed that the cathode rays were deflected toward the
positive plate. Because opposite charges attract, the deflection
indicated the negative charge of the rays.
Fig. 2. Cathode rays

deflected upon introduction
of charged metal plates.
Based on his experiments, Thomson concluded that
cathode rays were composed of negatively charged
particles. These particles were the electrons. Thomson
changed the material used to fabricate the cathode, but the
experimental results did not change. He concluded that the
ability to produce cathode rays is a characteristic of all
materials. He also calculated the charge to mass ratio of
the particles from the different cathodes. He noted that the
negatively charged particles were the same, regardless of
the source.
According to Thomson, positive
charges would be present to
balance the negative charges.
However, he was not able to identify
the location of these charges. Based
on this inference and his findings,
he proposed the plum pudding
model of the atom in 1904. In his
model, the negatively charged
particles occupied a region of space Fig. 3. Thomson's plum pudding
that had a uniform positive charge. model of the atom
Ernest Rutherford and the
Discovery of the Protons
Thomson’s plum pudding model does not
resemble how the current scientific community
view atoms nowadays. The inaccuracy of the
position of the positive charges has been tested
and challenged by a physicist named Ernest
Rutherford by his gold foil experiment . In 1919, he
discovered and named the subatomic particles
protons , which are positively charged subatomic
particles inside an atom.
In 1886, Eugen Goldstein discovered anode rays
(also known as canal rays ). Unlike cathode rays,
anode rays were composed of positively charged
particles produced from gases. However, the
charge to mass ratio of these particles changed
depending on the type of gas. Therefore, the
particles could not be identified with a single
particle, unlike the electrons discovered by
Thomson.
In the early 1900s, it was believed that protons
and electrons were uniformly distributed
throughout the atom. However, an experiment
by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden , two
researchers in Rutherford’s laboratory, proposed
that the positively charged particles are
concentrated in a small, dense region of the
atom. This region is called the nucleus .
Geiger and Marsden fired alpha particles (positively charged particles) at a
thin gold foil. They measured the scattering pattern on a fluorescent screen.
The alpha particles came from positively charged helium nuclei.
Fig. 6. The gold foil experiment.

They observed that most
of the alpha particles
traveled straight through
the foil. However, a small
fraction rebounded, which
meant that the positively
charged particle hit Fig. 5. Magnified view of alpha particles
(red arrows) passing through the gold
something with the same atoms and alpha particles being
charge. deflected and scattered.
Rutherford proposed that there was a force
behind the deflections. The deflection is caused
by the repulsion of the positively charged alpha
particles by a positively charged material. If this
charge existed in a sphere of the same size as
the atom, the force should have been weak. This
led to the assumption that the charge was
concentrated in a small space or sphere.
Based on his students’ experimental results,
Rutherford concluded that the positively
charged particles called protons were
concentrated in a small part of the total
volume of the atom called the nucleus . He
also noted that the nucleus contained most of
the mass of the atoms. Around the nucleus
where the negatively charged electrons.
The gold foil experiment showed that the positive charges were not evenly
distributed throughout the atom, opposing JJ Thomson’s plum pudding model. As a
result, Ernest Rutherford developed the nuclear model of an atom. In this model,
all the positive charges are in the nucleus, while the electrons are orbiting around
it.
Fig. 8. Rutherford’s nuclear model of the atom. The electrons are in green while the
nucleus is in red
James Chadwick and the
Discovery of Neutrons
In 1932, James Chadwick proved
the existence of neutrons which
are neutral particles in the
nucleus of the atom. He
bombarded alpha particles on
beryllium and found a stream of
radiation was emitted. When this
radiation hits the paraffin,
protons were knocked loose and
were then detected by a Geiger
1891-1974
counter .
Chadwick found out that the stream of radiation was neutral and
extremely penetrating. He then concluded that the stream of radiation
was composed of neutral particles called neutrons.
The bombardment of alpha particles on beryllium produced carbon
atoms and neutrons.
Fig. 4. Chadwick’s experiment on beryllium.

The discovery of the neutrons answered the question
of how protons stick themselves together in the very
small nucleus. Based on electrostatics, like charges
repel each other. Without anything in between,
protons would rip out the nucleus and will be repelled
by some distance. Neutrons serve as buffers between
these protons and hold them together in one piece.
The force that holds protons and neutrons together is
called the strong nuclear force .
Thank you!

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Discovery of

In this lesson, you should be able to:

Fig. 2. Cathode rays

Fig. 6. The gold foil experiment.

Fig. 4. Chadwick’s experiment on beryllium.

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