Beginning of Chemistry: Contributors to the Atom

-who were the main characters in the development of the atom-

Well in my opinion it was those of those who firstly discovered the atom. Democritus and Leucippus; as well as another scientist who found a use for the atomic theory, John Dalton, who was a long ways down the timeline. It was these men who contributions stood the test of time and leads us still to new and exciting discoveries.

Why were they vital to the development of the atom_

Well of coarse as to Democritus and Leucippus, well they are the founding fathers of the atom! Why with out the very idea of these men we may not be as far into the knowledge of the atom today as we are, if we would be at all. If it were not for these two men we may have had absolutly no knowledge of the ever expanding mysteries of the atom. Now as for John Dalton, well we actually went beyond finding new discoveries and went to using what he already had. He continued to wonder as to how the gases of the air could occupy the same space at the same time, something of which solid bodies can not do. So he experimented and figured that the states of matter must be composed of small "particles" and believed that they must be different parts with different sizes.

what made them differnt if anything-

To be honest, if anything i believe would seperate Democritus, Leucippus, and Dalton would be the effects of the time. Basically, their stand on religion. Not to get into a debate of sorts, but the out-take and in-take of religious strength has not stood the test of time as well as other discoveries. Democritus and Leucippus come from a time when religion limited all things. They as Greek Philosiphers, I believe would only go so far, lest they anger thier gods by questioning them. In the time of Dalton, I'm sure, religion did not hinder him so much as those before him. The idea of brandishing a new discovery was put in the controling path of religion.


Why do we consider the atomic theory still a theory?

We still can only call the atomic theory a "theory" because we have barely steped into the light of its potential. There is most definitly more than we can imagine to this.

What are the new developments-

Sorry Roessboss, but i actually searched for hours trying to find an answer for this and i got -zip-. Sorry.

- Why does it matter that we understand the structure of the atom

I can not honestly say right of the top of my head what great importance may be of knowing the structure of the atom but i'm sure its important.