Scientific ideas

1288 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Historical development of atomic nature

A1.
The atomic theory has been one that has changed greatly throughout time. Even today we are coming up with new technology that is allowing us to learn more about our natural world. I am sure that even within my life time we will change what we know about atoms.
The atomic theory started as a way to explain what matter was made out of. Some people believed matter was made of water, fire, air, and Earth. Others believed it was made of small particles, called atoms, that could not be divided.
With more experimentation we later discovered that atoms did make up matter. Atoms combine to create elements, the basic building blocks of matter. We further discovered that atoms consisted of protons, neutrons, and electrons, as well as the structure of the atom.

A2a.
Right away in the beginning the idea of the atom was rejected. Men that were more influential during that time did not agree with Democritus. For some time people believed that matter was made of fire, air, water, and Earth. Since Democritus had no way to support his hypothesis, his idea was ignored for over 2000 years.
It wasn't until the early 1800's when John Dalton proposed his atomic theory. Even though his idea was very similar to that of Democitus', Dalton could actually determine the atomic weight of the first 21 elements. At this time it was believed that the atom was a solid spherical shape that could not be divided. (Atomic Theory)
In the late 1800's JJ Thomson used the cathode ray tube to discover electrons. The cathode ray passed an electric current through a gas. As the current passed through the tube he realized that the particles were attracted to the positive side of the ray tube. With this discovery Thomson concluded that there must ...

... middle of paper ...

...im at the time and was able to expand upon what Democritus already proposed. (Atomic Theory)

B1. Template Attached (Understanding Science)
The scientific theory initially started as an idea that was started due to personal motivation. It wasn't until later when new technology was developed that scientists were able to undergo experimentation allowing scientists to support their theories. Throughout the years scientists were able to share ideas, allowing others to become inspired by their work. This is an ongoing process, there is no beginning or end. One scientist may begin with an idea, another may try building off of a different theory, while others may have started their idea by an unexpected observation. Yet for all of these ideas to become theories the result should be replicable, undergo peer review and publication, as well as support the hypothesis.

Show More
Related

  • Hantaro Nagaoka Biography

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Physicist in the 1900 first started to consider the structure of atoms. The recent discovery of J. J. Thomson of the negatively charged electron implied that a neutral atom must also contain an opposite positive charge. In 1903 Thomson had suggested that the atom was a sphere of uniform positive electrification , with electrons scattered across it like plum in an pudding. (Later known as the Plum Pudding Model)

    Read More

  • Dalton's Atomic Theory Essay

    422 Words  | 1 Pages

    Dalton’s atomic theory, which stated “the atoms were tiny, indivisible, indestructible particles” (Bender), differed drastically from that of the Greeks’ in that it “wasn’t just a philosophical statement that there are atoms because there must be atoms” (Bender). Although Aristotle believed that there are four terrestrial elements, earth, water, air, and fire, Democratus believed that “a piece of a substance can be divided into smaller pieces of that substance until we get down to a fundamental level at which you can’t divide the substance up and still have pieces of that substance” (“Atoms”). Aristotle’s theory was popular, but incorrect; Democratus’s was closer to our current theory, yet he remained relatively unpopular and obscure. This demonstrates of the key way in which a personal point of view can, in fact, retard the pursuit of knowledge. The scientist with the better oratory abilities has his theories more widely accepted. Dalton’s own theory, which extrapolated upon four basic

    Read More

  • Biography of Robert Burns Woodward

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    physics. The work of Ernest Rutherford, H. G. J. Moseley, and Niels Bohr on atomic

    Read More

  • First Hand Investigations

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, when observations are made, hypothesises are formed. To test these hypothesises scientists conduct experiments. If their hypothesis is right, it is confirmed by further experiments and validated by other scientists. After many experiments and confirmations, a theory is formed. A scientific theory is a broad and general idea or explanation provided by scientists and is related to observations and is supported by a large amount of evidence. A theory is not a fact however it is just a possible explanation. An example of a theory is the Big Bang Theory.

    Read More

  • Lucretius' Writing on the Fear of Death

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although atomism certainly was not a new philosophy by the time Lucretius wrote, or even by the time of Rome’s ascension to power, the original propositions regarding the nature of matter were not enough to construct a philosophy similar to that presented by Lucretius. Over time, atomism had evolved from a binary view that the world consisted solely of atoms and void, ...

    Read More

  • Dark Matter

    2643 Words  | 6 Pages

    For centuries, physicists and philosophers alike have wondered what makes up our universe. Aristotle thought that all matter came in one of four forms: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Since then we have come a long way, with the discovery of the atoms and the subatomic particles they are made of. We can even guess at what makes up protons and neutrons. We have since then discovered and predicted the existence of particles other than the atom, such as the photon, neutrino, axion, and many others.

    Read More

  • The Scientific Method

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Scientific Method, as it is called, has existed for quite some time. Throughout human history scientists and mathematicians have followed the basic rudiments of the Method, although they were seldom documented and rarely followed the Method exactly. The term 'Scientific Method' was first coined by Italian doctor Francesco Redi in the late 17th century, following his experiment which disproved the spontaneous generation of maggots on decomposing trash. He first observed that maggots seemed to 'magically' form on decomposing meat, and hypothesized that this was not true. In his experiments, he had three pieces of meat, one in an open container, one in a container w...

    Read More

  • Life of John Dalton

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    This showed that dissolved gases were mechanically mixed with the water and weren?t mixed naturally. But in 1803 it was found that this depended on the weight of the individual particles of the gas or atoms. By assuming the particles were the same size, Dalton was able to develop the idea of atomic weights. In 1803 this theory was finalised and stated that (1) all matter is made up of the smallest possible particles termed atoms, (2) atoms of a given element have unique characteristics and weight, and (3) three types of atoms exist: simple (elements), compound (simple molecules), and complex (complex molecules).

    Read More

  • Essay On The Periodic Table

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Atomic Theory began in roughly 400BC with Democritus in Ancient Greece and is universally believed to be correct today. Democritus who was born in 460 BC and died 370 BC and is known as the father of modern science. Democritus proclaimed that everything is made up of atoms. He continued his theory to say that atoms will always be in motion, between atoms there is empty space, atoms are unbreakable, there are an infinite number of atoms all different sizes and shapes. He also said that iron atoms are solid and strong and have hooks to lock them together, water atoms are smooth and slippery, salt atoms have sharp jagged edges because of its taste and air atoms are light and spiralling.

    Read More

  • John Dalton

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dalton was the first person to develop a scientific atom theory, the ancient Greeks had ideas about the atom but could not prove it scientifically.

    Read More

  • The Higgs Boson Particle

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    The next big step in the discovery of the atom was the scientific test that proved the existence of the atom. After the discovery of the atom we had the discovery of subatomic particles. With the discovery of the subatomic particles came the research, which came from experiments that were made to find out more about the subatomic particles. This research is how we uncovered that most of the weight of an atom is from its nucleus. With the gold foil experiment, tested by Ernest Rutherford, he discovered the existence of the positively charged nucleus. He proved this when the experiment was happening, a small fraction of the photons th...

    Read More

  • Atomic Energy

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    Scientists from earlier times helped influence the discoveries that lead to the development of atomic energy. In the late 1800’s, Dalton created the Atomic Theory which explains atoms, elements and compounds (Henderson 1). This was important to the study of and understanding of atoms to future scientists. The Atomic Theory was a list of scientific laws regarding atoms and their potential abilities. Roentagen, used Dalton’s findings and discovered x-rays which could pass through solid objects (Henderson 1). Although he did not discover radiation from the x-rays, he did help lay the foundations for electromagnetic waves. Shortly after Roentagen’s findings, J.J. Thompson discovered the electron which was responsible for defining the atom’s characteristics (Henderson 2). The electron helped scientists uncover why an atom responds to reactions the way it does and how it received its “personality”. Dalton’s, Roentagen’s and Thompson’s findings helped guide other scientists to discovering the uses of atomic energy and reactions. Such applications were discovered in the early 1900’s by using Einstein’s equation, which stated that if a chain reaction occurred, cheap, reliable energy could b...

    Read More

  • History of Physics

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    Democritus was the leader of a group called Atomists. Although they were unable to prove that matter was made up of small particles, they were the first to come up with the idea. Democritus believed that atoms differed in size, shape, and movement but were all made of the same substances. Aristotle was the most important scientific philosopher in Greece. He believed that all matter on earth consisted of four pure substances or elements, which were earth, air, fire, and water. He also believed that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that anything beyond the earth consisted of a fifth pure substance called quintessence. Archimedes was an inventor and mathematician, who discovered several basic scientific principles and developed a number of measuring techniques. Ptolemy was an Egyptian astronomer. He developed a model for predicting the positions of the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Like Aristotle, he believed that the earth was the center of the universe. Between 400 AD. and 1000 AD.

    Read More

  • John Dalton's Atomic Theory

    379 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Dalton was one of the first men to say that there is a possibility of matter to be made up of small particles. He reviewed a Greek philosophers idea of the atom and with experimenting he came up with his Dalton's Postulates state that all matter is composed of small, indivisible particles called atoms. All atoms of a given element are identical in mass and properties. Atoms are not created, destroyed, or converted into other kinds of atoms during chemical reactions; they are simply rearranged into new compounds. Compounds are formed by a combination of two or more atoms in definite arrangements in the ratio of small whole numbers.John Dalton later proposed the Law of Multiple Proportions. This law

    Read More

  • Science, Technology And Society

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    The pre- science phase unrolled in the ancient years. In those years science appeared in Egypt, Greece, India, etc. These ancient researchers put the bases for the development of science and gave to the society very important information about astronomy, mathematics, physics and medicine. In this phase we could report that the ideas were not very systematic. The theoretical development was in a very low level and so was the development in mathematics. The importance of this phase was the primitive discoveries that took place. (Dr. Nedeva Maria, Lecture “The story of science”, 2006)

    Read More

More about Scientific ideas

Open Document