- Dalton - the discovery of the atom (1808)
- Thought it was the smallest thing ever
- Knew that all objects were made up of them
- Thought it was just a solid sphere that made up an element
- Thomson - plum pudding model (1904)
- A model where the atom had negatively charged electrons dotted around randomly inside of it
- Theorised that the atom wasn’t the smallest object
- Disapproved Dalton
- Rutherford - gold foil experiment (1908)
- Shone positively charged alpha particles at a thin sheet of gold foil
- Alpha particles went in random directions, hit the foil, or went straight through it
- Showed that there were gaps in the atom and that there was something in the middle
- Disapproved Thomson
- Bohr - bohr model (1913)
- Theorised that electrons were on shells around a nucleus
- Disapproved Rutherford