Class 6 Physics: (Lesson details for Final exams)

Syllabus: Atoms, elements and the periodic table

States of matter
Atoms:
Atom: An atom is a tiny particle that makes up everything around us, starting from living things like humans to
non-living things like a table and a chair.
An atom contains three even tinier particles called subatomic particles; they are electron, proton and neutron.

Subatomic particles: An electron has a negative charge (-ve) and The structure of an atom:
is found in (electronic) shells in an atom.
An also electron has no mass. A proton has a positive charge (+ve) and
a neutron has no charge. Both are found inside a space called the
nucleus in an atom. Both also have the same mass that is 1.

Atomic number: The number of protons in an atom determines it’s

atomic or proton number.
Atomic mass: The total number of proton and neutron (proton +
neutron) in atom determines its atomic
mass.

Arrangement of electrons: The electrons are arranged in electronic shells as following -

The first shell can contain at most 2 electrons and the later shells can contain up to 8 electrons.

Why an atom is neutral: An atom is always neutral (has no charge) even though the electrons and protons inside
it have charges. This is because inside an atom, the total number of protons and electrons are always equal. So
the charges cancel out.

Elements:
Element: An element is a pure substance containing only one type of atom. Example: The element sodium
contains only sodium atoms. Some other examples are: Lithium, Carbon, Oxygen, Boron etc. There are two types
of elements: metals and non-metals.

Symbol: An element is often represented by a symbol. For example, sodium is represented by Na which comes
from its Latin name Natrium. Whereas the symbol of oxygen is “O” and it comes from its English name.

The Periodic Table:

The periodic table: is a chart in which the elements are arranged or displayed. In the table there are numbered
(horizontal) rows and (vertical) columns.
The rows are called periods and the columns are called groups. The elements in a group have similar chemical
properties.
The metal elements and non-metal elements are separated by a zigzag line in the table.
Two factors of the periodic table are:
1. The group number indicates the number of outer shell electrons. Meaning group 1 elements all contain one
electron in their outermost shell.
2. The period number indicates the number of electron shells. Meaning all period 4 elements have 4 electron
shells.

(For your syllabus you only need to know the first 20 elements)

States of Matter:
Matter: Anything that has mass and occupies space is called matter. There are three states of matter. They are:
solid, liquid and gas.

Solids: The particles in a solid are close together and can only vibrate about fixed positions. Solids have fixed
shape and volume.

Liquids: The particles in a liquid are farther apart and can move about each other. Liquids have fixed volume but
no fixed shape.

Gases: The particles in a gas are far apart from each other and move freely in all directions. Gases do not have
fixed shape or volume.