AQA · Chemistry · 8462
GCSE Chemistry: The development of the model of the atom (common content with physics)
Atomic structure and the periodic table · AQA GCSE Chemistry (8462), specification point 4.1.1.3. Cards are generated from the exam board's own specification for "The development of the model of the atom (common content with physics)", and every card links back to the page it came from. Specification © AQA — used with attribution.
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Before the discovery of the electron, what were atoms thought to be?
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Tiny spheres that could not be divided.
Which discovery led to the plum pudding model of the atom?
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The discovery of the electron.
Describe the structure of the atom in the plum pudding model.
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A ball of positive charge with negative electrons embedded in it.
Which experiment led to the plum pudding model being replaced by the nuclear model?
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The alpha particle scattering experiment.
What did the alpha particle scattering experiment show about where an atom's mass is located?
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The mass is concentrated at the centre of the atom, in a charged nucleus.
What is the key difference between the plum pudding model and the nuclear model of the atom?
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Plum pudding: positive charge spread throughout a ball with electrons embedded in it. Nuclear: positive charge and mass concentrated in a tiny central nucleus, with electrons outside it.
How did Niels Bohr adapt the nuclear model of the atom?
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He suggested that electrons orbit the nucleus at specific distances (energy levels).
Why was Bohr's model of the atom accepted?
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His theoretical calculations agreed with experimental observations.
The positive charge of a nucleus can be subdivided into a whole number of smaller particles, each with the same positive charge, called ?.
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protons
Whose experimental work provided evidence for the existence of neutrons in the nucleus?
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James Chadwick.
Roughly how long after the nucleus became an accepted idea was the neutron's existence shown?
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About 20 years.
What can cause a scientific model to be changed or replaced?
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New experimental evidence that the existing model cannot explain.
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