Atom is from the Greek atomos. What does it mean?Answer: Uncuttable, or indivisible. Source: Wikipedia, Atom; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
Bohr's model gave a good account of the spectrum of which element?Answer: Hydrogen. Source: NobelPrize.org, Erwin Schrödinger, Facts; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
In Bohr's model, what happens when an electron jumps to a lower-energy orbit?Answer: The energy difference leaves as radiation, such as light. Source: NobelPrize.org, Niels Bohr, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
In Dalton's theory, how do atoms form compounds?Answer: Atoms of different elements join in fixed whole-number ratios. Source: Wikipedia, John Dalton. Read 2026-10-08.
In the modern quantum model of the atom, what does an orbital describe?Answer: Where an electron is likely to be found around the nucleus. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory; Wikipedia, Atomic orbital. Read 2026-10-08.
In the plum pudding model, where are the electrons?Answer: Spread through a sphere of positive charge. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory; Wikipedia, Plum pudding model. Read 2026-10-08.
Which Greek philosopher, a pupil of Leucippus, taught that matter is made of atoms?Answer: Democritus. Source: Wikipedia, Democritus; Wikipedia, Atom. Read 2026-10-08.
Show all 30 questions (23 more)
Who proposed which model, continued
Which list puts the models of the atom in order, oldest first?Answer: Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford, Bohr, Schrödinger. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory; Wikipedia, John Dalton; Wikipedia, Plum pudding model; NobelPrize.org, Niels Bohr, Facts; NobelPrize.org, Erwin Schrödinger, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
Which particle did James Chadwick discover in 1932?Answer: The neutron. Source: NobelPrize.org, James Chadwick, Facts; Wikipedia, Discovery of the neutron. Read 2026-10-08.
Who gave the hydrogen nucleus the name proton, in 1920?Answer: Ernest Rutherford. Source: Wikipedia, Proton; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
Who proposed in 1911 that an atom's positive charge and most of its mass sit in a tiny center?Answer: Ernest Rutherford. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory; Wikipedia, Plum pudding model. Read 2026-10-08.
Who proposed the model of the atom that came to be called the plum pudding model?Answer: J. J. Thomson. Source: Wikipedia, Plum pudding model; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
Who proposed, in the early 1800s, that each element is made of its own kind of atom with its own weight?Answer: John Dalton. Source: Wikipedia, John Dalton; Wikipedia, Atom. Read 2026-10-08.
Who wrote, in 1926, the wave equation that treats the electron as a wave?Answer: Erwin Schrödinger. Source: NobelPrize.org, Erwin Schrödinger, Facts; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
Whose model of 1913 put electrons in fixed orbits around the nucleus?Answer: Niels Bohr. Source: NobelPrize.org, Niels Bohr, Facts; Wikipedia, Bohr model. Read 2026-10-08.
Which experiment showed what 15
In the experiments that led to the neutron, which element was struck by alpha particles and gave off a strong, unknown radiation?Answer: Beryllium. Source: NobelPrize.org, James Chadwick, Facts; Wikipedia, Discovery of the neutron. Read 2026-10-08.
In the gold foil experiment, what did most of the alpha particles do?Answer: They went through the foil. Source: Wikipedia, Rutherford model. Read 2026-10-08.
In which year did Rutherford publish his model of the atom with a nucleus?Answer: 1911. Source: Wikipedia, Rutherford scattering experiments; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
What did J. J. Thomson's cathode ray experiments of 1897 show?Answer: Cathode rays are made of negatively charged particles far lighter than atoms. Source: Wikipedia, Cathode ray; NobelPrize.org, J.J. Thomson, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
What did Rutherford conclude from the alpha particles that were turned back?Answer: The positive charge and most of the mass are packed into a very small center. Source: Wikipedia, Rutherford model; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
What did the oil drop experiment of Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletcher measure?Answer: The electric charge of one electron. Source: Wikipedia, Oil drop experiment; NobelPrize.org, Robert A. Millikan, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
What did Thomson use to bend the cathode rays?Answer: Electric and magnetic fields. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
What kind of particles were fired at the gold foil?Answer: Alpha particles. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
What was wrong with a simple planetary atom, according to the physics of the time?Answer: An orbiting electron should radiate energy, so the orbit would not be stable. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory; Wikipedia, Bohr model. Read 2026-10-08.
Which discovery first showed that atoms are not the smallest pieces of matter?Answer: The electron. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory; NobelPrize.org, J.J. Thomson, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
Which evidence did Bohr's model explain?Answer: The fixed lines in the light given out by hydrogen. Source: Wikipedia, Bohr model; NobelPrize.org, Niels Bohr, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
Which experiment led Rutherford to the nucleus?Answer: Firing alpha particles at thin metal foil. Source: Wikipedia, Rutherford scattering experiments; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
Which Nobel Prize did Ernest Rutherford receive in 1908?Answer: Chemistry. Source: NobelPrize.org, Ernest Rutherford, Facts. Read 2026-10-08.
Which pattern in chemical data did Dalton take as evidence for atoms?Answer: Elements combine in small whole-number ratios. Source: Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
Which result of the gold foil experiment could Thomson's model not explain?Answer: A few alpha particles were turned back by more than 90 degrees. Source: Wikipedia, Rutherford scattering experiments; Wikipedia, History of atomic theory. Read 2026-10-08.
How this list was compiled: Questions, wrong choices and explanations were written for this site. Each fact was checked on the page named in the question's source line: Wikipedia (History of atomic theory, Atom, Democritus, John Dalton, Plum pudding model, Cathode ray, Rutherford scattering experiments, Rutherford model, Bohr model, Atomic orbital, Proton, Discovery of the neutron, Oil drop experiment) and the laureate facts pages of NobelPrize.org for J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, Robert A. Millikan, Erwin Schrödinger and James Chadwick, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/. All read 2026-10-08. Licence: own work
How it works
This history of the atom quiz asks who proposed each model and which experiment stood behind it: cathode rays, gold foil, oil drops and the neutron. It works as an atomic history quiz for a chemistry unit.
Read the full guide
Two sets
Who proposed which model runs from the Greek atomos through Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford and Bohr to Schrödinger's wave equation, and ends by putting the models in order. Which experiment showed what asks about the evidence: what was fired, bent or measured, and what it proved.
Years
A year is asked only where the sources agree, such as 1897 for the electron and 1932 for the neutron. Where they differ, as for the oil drop experiment, the question gives no year.
Questions and answers
What are the models of the atom in order?
Dalton's indivisible atoms (1808), Thomson's plum pudding model (1904), Rutherford's nuclear model (1911), Bohr's model of fixed orbits (1913) and the quantum model built on Schrödinger's wave equation (1926).
Who discovered the electron?
J. J. Thomson, in 1897. He showed that cathode rays are made of negatively charged particles far lighter than any atom, so atoms had to have smaller parts.
What did the gold foil experiment show?
Most alpha particles crossed the foil; a few were turned back. Rutherford concluded in 1911 that an atom's positive charge and most of its mass sit in a very small center, later called the nucleus.
Who discovered the neutron?
James Chadwick, in 1932. He showed that the radiation given off when alpha particles hit beryllium is a neutral particle about as heavy as a proton.