One way to think about an atom is to imagine trying to isolate it from a larger number of atoms.

Each of you has a piece of aluminum. Cut the square in half with your scissors. Keep a record of the
cuts you make. Then take only one half piece and cut it in half. Take one of those new half pieces and
cut it in half again and so on until you are unable to make another cut.
1. How many cuts did you make to get to the smallest piece of Aluminum foil?

Analysis Questions:
2. How does the size of the smallest piece of aluminum compare to the size of the original piece?

3. Does the smallest piece of Al have the same properties as the original piece of aluminum foil?
How could you test this?

4. The atom is the smallest piece of an element which keeps the same properties as the element.
Since you can still cut the aluminum in pieces, you have not reached the size of a single atom.
Imagine that there was a way to cut the aluminum into smaller and smaller piecesHow small
can the smallest piece be and still keep the properties of aluminum?

5. Could you cut the piece in half again 10 more times? 100 more times? 1000 more times?

Using your imagination, you CAN & WILL eventually get to one atom of aluminum!
6. Definition of the atom:

This definition of the atom was first presented by John Dalton

1. All elements are made of atoms, which are indivisible and indestructible particles.
2. All atoms of the same element are exactly alike - they have the same mass.
3. Atoms of different elements are different they have different masses.
Daltons ideas are still useful today, but modifications to his theory have been made
1. Atoms are NOT indivisible they can be broken apart into protons, neutrons, and electrons.
2. Atoms of the same element are NOT all exactly alike isotopes

Question:
1. Which of Daltons ideas below do we no longer believe?
a. elements contain only one type of atom
b. atoms rearrange in chemical reactions
c. atoms are solid masses that cant be split into smaller particles

J.J. Thomson (1897):

At the end of the nineteenth century, a scientist called J.J. Thomson discovered the electron. This
is tiny negatively charged particle that is much, much smaller than any atom.
What conclusion did Thomson draw from his observations?
1) Thomson discovered the electron
2) He also discovered that the electron has a negative (-) charge
Thompson used a cathode ray tube in his experiment to prove the existence of electrons.
What is a cathode ray tube?
_______________________________________________________________________________
Cathode Ray Demonstration
What can we see from this demonstration? __________________________________________
Thomson proposed his famous

Plum Pudding Model

-

tiny negative (-) charges embedded in a large mass of (+) particles

electrons are like raisins in a plum pudding

Negative charges
Positive charge

Thomsons
Plum Pudding
Think of an example on your own:

- - - -

Key:
* The gray is positive charge
* The black is negative charge
Scattered on top of the
Positive charge