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Models of the Atom

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Models of the Atom
Models of the Atom
a) Plum Pudding Model
The plum pudding model imagines the atom as a positively charged entity that contains randomly dispersed (negative) electrons within it. It is called the plum pudding model because the electrons in the positively charge cloud resemble raisins in a pudding.

Thomson realized that all atoms must contain electrons, and since the atoms had a neutral charge, they must also include protons. This led him and other to think of the atom as a positively charged cloud with electrons randomly scattered in it.
Rutherford later found this model to be false from his metal foil experiments because the large deflections of the alpha particles could only occur with a large, concentrated mass at the center of the atom. This supported the idea that there was a nucleus, a dense center of protons and neutron.

b) Nuclear Models (Rutherford)
The nuclear model supports a dense nucleus containing protons and neutrons, with extremely distant electrons circling the center. The model does not specify whether these electrons are in an organized or disorganized orbit, or whether they are randomly scattered very far away from the center.
Rutherford developed this model from his metal foil experiments in which the large deflections of the alpha particles supported that the atom contained a large, concentrated mass at its center. This led to the idea that the atom contained a nucleus, a dense center of protons and neutrons.

c) Bohr Model
The Bohr model shows the atom containing a small, positively charged nucleus, surrounded by electrons that travel in circular orbits around the nucleus. The model was proposed by Niels Bohr as a quantum physical interpretation of the Rutherford model.
Bohr noticed that the Rutherford model predicted that all atoms are unstable, as electrons would lose energy, causing it to collide with the nucleus. Bohr states that all electrons can orbit in predefined orbits and distances, allowing them to maintain their

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