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Structure of the Atom
Structure of the Atom
- The fundamental particle discussed in Chemistry is the Atom.
- An Atom is 'The Smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist'
- In chemistry atoms are made of 3 subatomic particles:
- Protons
- Neutrons
- Electrons
- Protons and Neutrons are found in a Central area together called the NUCLEUS (see diagram)
- Electrons 'orbit' the Nucleus
Sub-atomic Particles
Sub-atomic Particles
Sub Atomic Particle Mass Charge
Proton 1 +
Neutron 1 0/=
Electron 0 -
The above table represents the Mass and Charge of each subatomic particle.
Here you can see that:
- The Mass of an Atom is all found in the Nucleus
- Protons and Electrons are Oppositely Charged
Protons
Protons
All Elements have a UNIQUE PROTON NUMBER. This cannot be easily changed. An atom can have many different numbers of electrons and neutrons, as long as it has the same proton number then it will always be that distinct element. This number os found in the periodic table and is the smallest number in the elements box. It can sometimes be called the 'ATOMIC NUMBER'
In the above example taken from the Periodic table we can see that an element of Potassium has a Proton Number of 19. If this number was 20 it would be the element Calcium. Here I hope you can see that we use the number of protons to identify the element.
In the below example we can see a diagram of an element alongside its Element Symbol from the Periodic Table. You can see that the two + particles in the Nucleus represent Protons and that this constitutes the Proton Number of 2 in Helium.
Atom Class Activity
Atom Class Activity
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