Journal Prompt #1

Please answer EACH of the following questions. Write as much information as you need to explain your answer. Use evidence and examples from class to support your explanation. In addition to class examples, you may bring in prior knowledge into your discussion.

You should write about one paragraph (~5 sentences each) per bullet point.

• How has our understanding of the atom changed since Aristotle and Democritus's time?

Our understanding of the atom has changed a lot since Aristotle and Democritus' time. During their time, people thought that atoms were just large spheres that couldn't be cut into anything more. But, as time went on, people discovered there is more to the atom. We learned that there are electrons inside of every atom, as well as protons. We also learned that at the very center of the atom is a nucleas which all the electrons suround.

• What sort of evidence did scientists collect to make their models of the atom? Discuss Rutherford and Thomson.

Scientists collected a lot of evidence to prove that the atom wasn't just a solid sphere. Thomson used a device so that he could prove that there were electrons inside of an atom. Still, Thomson thought that atoms where made of a fluid type thing with no density at all. But, Rutherford discovered that there was a hard and denses part of the atom; the nucleas. He shot particles through a sheet of gold, and some bounced back after hitting the nucleas.

• Think back to the beginning of the school year… how was your construction of the Enigma Machine similar to what Rutherford and his colleagues did to infer the existence of the nucleus? How were the processes different?

At the beginning of the year, we made an Enigma Machine. This is similar to what Rutherford and his colleagues did to infer the existence of the nucleas because at first it was just guessing. We had no true way to prove that there was something in the middle of the Enigma Machine making it do what it did. Rutherford had no true proof that there was a nucleas. He just knew that there was something dense in the middle of the atom.