Jennifer Easley :)

-Who were the main characters in the development of the atom?
Bohr, Thompson, Rutherford, and Dalton were the main characters in the development of the atom.

-Why were they vital to the development of the atom?
Democritus was the guy who made up the 4 element theory. That everything was made out of.
Dalton formed the atomic theory, which states that all matter is composed of tiny, indestructible particles called atoms that are all alike and have the same atomic weight. Thompson discovered the electron and developed the plum-pudding model of the atom. Rutherford used the results of his gold-foil experiment to state that all the mass of an atom were in a small positively-charged ball at the center of the atom. Bohr stated that the electrons moved around the nucleus in successively large orbits. He also presented the Bohr atomic model which stated that atoms absorb or emit radiation only when the electrons abruptly jump between allowed, or stationary, states.

-What made them different if anything?
Well Dalton was color blind while doing all his research and alter went onto publish “Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours” They were all different and uniquely smart and will always be known for discovering the basic building blocks of matter.

-Think about your lessons in history and discuss how the time period that they lived in determined the outcome of their discovery/ or how it influenced those individuals to be the names that we know today (aka did it matter where they grew up or if they had money?)
They were definitely were handicapped by the technology of their time, but theypersevered through and brought us one of the most important discoveries in science history. Yes it might have helped if they had plenty of money to back them up but they probably would have ended up with the same results just a shorter period.

-Why do we consider the atomic theory still a theory? What are the new developments?
Dalton's atomic theory is still only but a theory because not all of his accusations can’t be scientifically tested and proven.

-Why does it matter that we understand the structure of the atoms?
They are the basic building blocks of matter.