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Earlier we spoke about everything been made up of particles, from a lump of gold to our entire body! Now we are
going to give these particles a name - atoms.
Single atoms are far too small to be seen even with the most powerful microscope. However, in spite of their tiny size,
we know an awful lot about atoms.
Scientists have found that every atom contains a nucleus, and a cloud of particles called electrons that rotate around
the nucleus in the centre of the atom.
Charge:
proton
1 unit
positive (+1)
neutron
1 unit
neutral
electron
A magnesium atom:
The different energy levels for the electrons are called energy shells. Each shell can hold a limited number of
electrons.
The above table supplies the reader with plenty of facts about individual atoms belonging to all the known elements.
This table is known as the PeriodicTable.
Each element is given a symbol, a sort of shorthand version of its name, for example Sodium has the symbol Na. Next
to the symbol are two numbers, the top number (the larger of the two), is known as the mass number, the lower
number (smallest of the two) is the proton number.
The periodic table is arranged in order of proton number, a hydrogen atom having the smallest!
Proton number
Look at the magnesium atom diagram again. It has 12 protons. This fact is used to identify an atom since it is specific
to them.
For example: only a magnesium atom has 12 protons, only a sodium atom has 11 protons!
The magnesium atom has 12 electrons. The number of electrons for an atom always equals the number of protons.
This means that their opposite and equal charge cancel one another out. Atoms are neutral!
Mass number
The electrons in an atom have negligible mass. So the mass number only takes into account the number of protons and
neutrons.
The mass no. = the no. of protons + the no. of neutrons.
Since we already know the number of protons, as given by the proton number, we can calculate the number of
neutrons.
For a magnesium atom:
Mass number = 24
The atoms of an element are not always the same! Although they may contain the same number of protons their
neutron numbers may differ from atom to atom.
Isotopes are atoms of the same element, with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.
Element
Symbol:
Carbon
Hydrogen H
Aluminium Al
Sodium
Na
Potassium K
Lithium
Li
Silver
Ag
Mercury
Hg
Lead
Pb
The symbol for a compound is called its formula. It is made up from the symbols of the elements it contains and also
tells us about the % composition of each element within the compound.
Example: H2O - A molecule of water contains 2 hydrogen atom for every oxygen atom.