Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Structure of the Atom

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students learn about the important discoveries of subatomic particles, and how they led to our current understanding of the atom.
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Joseph John Thomson

For Students 9th - 10th
Joseph John Thomson, better known as J. J. Thomson, was a British physicist who first theorized and offered experimental evidence that the atom was a divisible entity rather than the basic unit of matter, as was widely believed at the...
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Enrico Fermi

For Students 9th - 10th
Enrico Fermi was a titan of twentieth-century physics. He outlined the statistical laws that govern the behavior of particles that abide by the Pauli exclusion principle and developed a theoretical model of the atom in his mid-twenties....
Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: The Structure of an Atom: A Labeled Diagram

For Students 9th - 10th
Looks at the scientists who developed the model of the atom by building on previous scientists' discoveries about its structure.
Handout
PBS

Pbs: Planck Discovers the Quantum Nature of Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
PBS offers a short summary of the discovery of the quantum nature of the atom by Max Planck. Easy to follow.
Graphic
Other

Beautiful Chemistry: Beautiful Structures: Quasicrystals

For Students 9th - 10th
An interactive display of quasicrystals allows students to study the inner components and molecular make-up of these structures. Since the discovery of quasicrystals, a lot of efforts have been put on finding the locations of atoms...
Unknown Type
Other

A Short History of the Atom

For Students 9th - 10th
A classroom wiki where students present profiles of scientists who developed models of the atom or who contributed to the understanding of atomic theory. Covers Democritus, Aristotle, John Dalton, J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Marie...
Handout
PBS

American Experience: Technology Timeline: 1752 1990

For Students 9th - 10th
Short descriptions of important technological innovations produced in America and the date of their introduction.