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Chemistry Important Questions

Atoms and Molecules Type your search

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Practise This Question
In a biogas plant, methane gas (CH4 ) is
produced as a fuel. Find the mass ratio
of carbon to hydrogen in methane.

3:1

2:1

1:3

4:2

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What are Atoms?
Atoms are the building blocks of matter. It is the smallest constituent unit of matter that
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posses the properties of the chemical element. Atoms don’t exist independently, instead,
they form ions and molecules which further combine in large numbers to form matter that
we see, feel and touch.

What is the size of an atom?

The size of an atom is extremely small, much smaller than our imagination. A layer of an
atom as thick as a thin sheet of paper is formed when more than millions of atoms are
stacked together. It is impossible to measure the size of an isolated atom because it’s
diAcult to locate the positions of electrons surrounding the nucleus. However, the size of
an atom can be estimated by assuming that the distance between adjacent atoms is equal
to half the radius of an atom. Atomic radius is generally measured in nanometres.

1 m = 109 nm

Relative Sizes

Examples Radii (m)

Atom of Hydrogen 10−10 m

Molecule of water 10−9 m

Molecule of hemoglobin 10−8 m

Grain of Sand 10−4 m

What are Atoms made of?

An atom is composed of three particles, namely, neutrons, protons and electrons with
hydrogen as an exception without neutrons.

Every atom has a nucleus that bounds one or more electrons around it.
The nucleus has typically a similar number of protons and neutrons which are
together known as nucleons.
The protons are positively charged, electrons are negatively charged and neutrons
are neutral.

What is Atomic Mass?

It is the mass of an atom in a chemical element. It is roughly equivalent to total neutrons Join BYJU'S Chemistry
and protons present in the atom. It is expressed in atomic mass units (denoted by u). Learning Program
1amu is equal to the exactly one-twelfth the mass of 1 atom of C-12 and the relative
atomic masses of elements is determined with respect to-12 atom. Name
Atomic masses of Some Elements

Elements Atomic Mass (u) Mobile Number

Hydrogen 1
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Carbon 12

Nitrogen 14 Email Address

Oxygen 16
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Sodium 23

Magnesium 24

Sulfur 32

Chlorine 35.5

Calcium 40

Salient features of Dalton’s Atomic Theory

The matter is composed of minute particles known as atoms.
Atoms are indivisible particles that can’t be destroyed or created through chemical
reactions.
All atoms of an element have identical chemical properties and mass whereas,
atoms of different elements have different chemical properties and masses.
Atoms combine in a ratio of small whole numbers to form compounds.

Matter is anything and everything in our surrounding. It has basic structural and
fundamental units. Let us examine the concept of matter with an example. Taking a
storybook into consideration and dividing its structure. The book contains many pages,
each page consists of paragraphs, and each paragraph has many sentences. Each
sentence will further have many words and each word will have characters. Therefore we
have divided a storybook into characters. This is exactly the same case when we take
matter into account. The matter is made up of substances which contain molecules. The
molecules, in turn, are made up of groups of atoms.

Atoms in simple terms are deZned as the smallest unit of matter. In ancient times the
scientists wondered whether matter could be further divided or not. Around 500 BC the
idea of divisibility of matter evolved in India. A scientist named Maharishi Kanad stated
that matter can be divided into smaller and smaller units. The smallest unit of matter after
which further division was not possible was known as parmanu.

What are Molecules?

A molecule is deZned as the smallest unit of a compound that contains the chemical
properties of the compound. Molecules are made up of groups of atoms. Describing the
structure of an atom, an atom is also sub-divided into smaller units. Proton, electrons, and
neutrons are sub-particles of an atom. The protons and neutrons are contained inside the
nucleus of atom and electrons revolve around the nucleus. Protons are positively charged
particles whereas electrons are negatively charged particles. Neutrons do not carry any
charge. So we can say that the nucleus is positively charged due to the presence of
protons. The nucleus is a bulk mass at the center of an atom. Atoms are largely vacant.

Every element has certain atomic number. The atomic number of an element is deZned as
the number of protons present in its nucleus. It is denoted by Z.

When we talk about the mass of atoms, the mass of its particles is taken into
consideration. Electrons have negligible mass. Hence the mass of an atom is the sum of
the mass of protons and neutrons. The mass number is denoted by A.

We have brie^y seen the properties of atoms and molecules. Stay tuned with us for more
information on Atoms and Molecules.

Practise This Question

According to Dalton atomic theory, atoms are divisible particles and can be created in a
chemical reaction.

True
False

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