Dalton’s Billiard Ball Model In Chapter 2, you learned that John Dalton proposed that an atom was simply a very tiny hard ball. To see this simulated, in the top left corner, switch from Experiment to Predict and highlight the Billiard Ball model. Use words or a drawing to describe this model of the hydrogen atom: What is the atom like? What happens when photons are absorbed by the atom in this model? The photons are absorbed, and then other photons are emitted. The photons divide into smaller photons. The photons deflect off of the atom. For this model, is there an emission spectrum? Yes. Why do you think the Dalton model does not include electrons? (Circle all correct answers) A) Dalton thought electrons were unimportant. B) Dalton placed electrons in the nucleus. C) The smallest particle in Dalton’s model is the atom, which is indivisible. D) It does not include sub-atomic particles like electrons. E) Electrons were discovered by J.J. Thomson 50 years after Dalton’s death.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
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Dalton’s Billiard Ball Model In Chapter 2, you learned that John Dalton proposed that an atom was simply a very tiny hard ball. To see this simulated, in the top left corner, switch from Experiment to Predict and highlight the Billiard Ball model. Use words or a drawing to describe this model of the hydrogen atom: What is the atom like? What happens when photons are absorbed by the atom in this model? The photons are absorbed, and then other photons are emitted. The photons divide into smaller photons. The photons deflect off of the atom. For this model, is there an emission spectrum? Yes. Why do you think the Dalton model does not include electrons? (Circle all correct answers) A) Dalton thought electrons were unimportant. B) Dalton placed electrons in the nucleus. C) The smallest particle in Dalton’s model is the atom, which is indivisible. D) It does not include sub-atomic particles like electrons. E) Electrons were discovered by J.J. Thomson 50 years after Dalton’s death.Generate the correct answer and 300 words explanation WITHOUT USING THE WORD WE
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Correct Answers:
- What happens when photons interact with the atom in this model?
D) The photons deflect off of the atom. - Why does the Dalton model not include electrons?
C) The smallest particle in Dalton’s model is the atom, which is indivisible.
E) Electrons were discovered by J.J. Thomson 50 years after Dalton’s death.
Explanation
John Dalton’s atomic theory, developed in the early 1800s, described atoms as the smallest indivisible particles of matter. According to this model, atoms are solid, indestructible spheres, similar to billiard balls. There are no internal components in this model—no protons, neutrons, or electrons—making the atom a simple, neutral particle. This was a foundational idea in chemistry and marked a significant shift from ancient Greek philosophical theories to evidence-based scientific reasoning.
Because Dalton’s model did not acknowledge internal structure, it does not account for electrons or their behavior. Therefore, when photons, or light particles, interact with atoms in the Billiard Ball model, they are expected to deflect off the atom (Option D), as there is no mechanism within the atom to absorb or emit energy. Unlike later models—such as Bohr’s or the Quantum Mechanical Model—that explain photon absorption and emission based on electronic transitions, Dalton’s model lacks this complexity.
The model does not include electrons because, at the time Dalton proposed his theory, electrons had not yet been discovered. Electrons were later identified by J.J. Thomson in 1897, nearly half a century after Dalton’s death. Hence, Dalton’s theory naturally omits them (Option E). Furthermore, Option C highlights that Dalton viewed the atom as indivisible, which excluded the possibility of it containing subatomic particles like electrons.
The other options are incorrect. Option A is incorrect because Dalton didn’t think electrons were unimportant—he simply did not know about them. Option B is inaccurate because placing electrons in the nucleus was not part of Dalton’s model; that idea came from later atomic theories.
In summary, Dalton’s Billiard Ball Model represents the atom as a simple, solid particle without internal structure, incapable of absorbing or emitting photons, and lacking subatomic components like electrons.
