Atoms and the n i g g a s who made em

Ernest Rutherford

Born in New Zealand, conducted the "gold foil" experiment where a lead box with a small opening containing a radioactive material, shot out heavy alpha particles at a piece of gold foil. He discovered that there are positively charged particles mixed in with the negative electrons of the "plum pudding". Made Nuclear model

Chadwick experiment

Chadwick proved that protons and neutrons had similar mass

Plum pudding model

Atoms are positively charged bodies that contain small negatively charged particles, known as electrons. The positive and negative charges balance out to maintain the neutrality of the atom

James Chadwick

Discovered a neutral particle that had similar mass to that of a proton. This was the neutron

Robert A. Millikan

Discovered in 1909 that natural units all have electric charge. Also discovered the exact charge of an electron

Gold foil experiment

Radioactive material in a lead box shot alpha particles through a small hole in the box. The particles would hit a piece of gold foil, where they would deflect and scatter. Rutherford concluded that most of the space in an atom is empty. Because some particles would bounce off the center of the atom, it was thought to have positive particles and was called the nucleus.

J.J. Thomson

Used a cathode ray tube to shoot rays and see if they would be deflected by an electric field. Created the plum pudding model, basically discovering the electron

Oil drop experiment

Used falling droplets of oil that were lit up from a light source to determine the charge. They would pass through a metal plate and receive a negative charge