How do scientists know there are such things as atoms?
The short answer is that they don’t. No one has ever seen an atom. However, there are many more ways to show that something could exist than to have ‘seen something’. The idea of the atom has been hypothesised since around 440BC, but the idea has only been widely accepted since the early 19 century, when the atomic theory was first proposed. Since then, our understanding of the atom has significantly developed. But why is the atom so widely accepted in science, without strong visual proof?
To begin to explain why scientists believe atoms exist, it is useful to know what an atom is. The word atom derives from the greek word ‘atomos’, meaning ‘indivisible’ or ‘uncuttable’. This word was …show more content…
The atomic theory states that all matter is composed of these discrete units, called ‘atoms’.
So what proof is there of the existence of ‘atoms’. Whilst there is little direct proof of their existence, there is a lot of strong, indirect evidence to show that this model is likely correct. The law of multiple proportions, produced by John Dalton and expanding on the law of conservation of mass is a great piece of evidence for this, and was used to establish atomic theory. To explain this law, I will give an example of its principles:
The atoms for oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H) can react to form different oxides. One of these is Water, and another is Hydronium. The ratio of hydrogen ‘parts’ to oxygen ‘parts’ in water (H2O) is 2:1 and 3:1 in
Hydronium (H3O), respective of each other.
So why do these compounds produce well defined proportions instead of combining random proportions, say 6:13 and 7:30? These constant proportions suggest that their is the existence of tiny particles, which have specific rules about how they react.
So this provides us with some evidence that these particles could exist. The Bohr Model of atoms however, shows atoms to exist mostly of empty space, with a with a tiny nucleus at the
The short answer is that they don’t. No one has ever seen an atom. However, there are many more ways to show that something could exist than to have ‘seen something’. The idea of the atom has been hypothesised since around 440BC, but the idea has only been widely accepted since the early 19 century, when the atomic theory was first proposed. Since then, our understanding of the atom has significantly developed. But why is the atom so widely accepted in science, without strong visual proof?
To begin to explain why scientists believe atoms exist, it is useful to know what an atom is. The word atom derives from the greek word ‘atomos’, meaning ‘indivisible’ or ‘uncuttable’. This word was …show more content…
The atomic theory states that all matter is composed of these discrete units, called ‘atoms’.
So what proof is there of the existence of ‘atoms’. Whilst there is little direct proof of their existence, there is a lot of strong, indirect evidence to show that this model is likely correct. The law of multiple proportions, produced by John Dalton and expanding on the law of conservation of mass is a great piece of evidence for this, and was used to establish atomic theory. To explain this law, I will give an example of its principles:
The atoms for oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H) can react to form different oxides. One of these is Water, and another is Hydronium. The ratio of hydrogen ‘parts’ to oxygen ‘parts’ in water (H2O) is 2:1 and 3:1 in
Hydronium (H3O), respective of each other.
So why do these compounds produce well defined proportions instead of combining random proportions, say 6:13 and 7:30? These constant proportions suggest that their is the existence of tiny particles, which have specific rules about how they react.
So this provides us with some evidence that these particles could exist. The Bohr Model of atoms however, shows atoms to exist mostly of empty space, with a with a tiny nucleus at the