Atoms and elements

By Jack Campbell
Atoms are the smallest units of matter, and the different types of atoms make up
different elements. They can exist on their own, or bonded together in molecules.
The subatomic particles that make up atoms are protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Elements have unique properties and atomic structure Nucleus Center of an atom,
made up of protons and neutrons.
What they are
1. Nucleus is a center of a atom made up of protons and neutrons.
2. a element is a substance made up of only one kind of atom.
3. A proton is subatomic particle with a positive charge.
4. A atom is a unit of an element with all the properties of that element.
5. Neutron subatomic particle with no charge.
6. A compound is a substance made up with atoms of two or more elements.
7. Molecule two or more atoms joined together.
demonstration
Electron subatomic particle with a negative charge

Atomic number of an element the number of protons

Atom facts
There are three parts to an atom. Protons have a positive electrical charge and are found
together with neutrons (no electrical charge) in the nucleus of each atom. Negatively charged
electrons orbit the nucleus.

Atoms are the smallest particles that make up elements. Each element contains a different
number of protons. For example, all hydrogen atoms have one proton while all carbon atoms
have six protons. Some matter consists of one type of atom (e.g., gold), while other matter is
made of atoms bonded together to form compounds (e.g., sodium chloride).
Atom size
Atoms are mostly empty space. The nucleus of an atom is extremely dense and
contains nearly all of the mass of each atom. Electrons contribute very little mass to
the atom (it takes 1,836 electrons to equal the size of a proton) and orbit so far away
from the nucleus that each atom is 99.9% empty space. If the atom was the size of a
sports arena, the nucleus would be the size of a pea. Although the nucleus is much
denser compared with the rest of the atom, it too consists mainly of empty space.​
Atoms and elements size
There are over 100 different kinds of atoms. About 92 of them occur naturally, while the remainder
are made in labs. The first new atom made by man was technetium, which has 43 protons. New
atoms can be made by adding more protons to an atomic nucleus. However, these new atoms
elements are unstable and decay into smaller atoms instantaneously. Usually, we only know a new
atom was created by identifying the smaller atoms from this decay.
The components of atoms
The components of an atom are held together by three forces. Protons and neutrons
are held together by the strong and weak nuclear forces. Electrical attraction holds
electrons and protons. While electrical repulsion repels protons away from each other,
the attracting nuclear force is much stronger than electrical repulsion. The strong
force that binds together protons and neutrons is 1,038 times more powerful than
gravity, but it acts over a very short range, so particles need to be very close to each
other to feel its effect .Although atoms are the smallest unit of an element, they
consist of even tinier particles called quarks and leptons. An electron is a lepton.
Protons and neutrons consist of three quarks each.
Theories of atoms and elements
1. Nuclear theory of the atom (rutherford) Most of the atom's mass and all of its
positive charge are contained in a small core called the nucleus

2. Most of the volume of the atom is empty space through which the tiny,
negatively charged electrons are dispersed

3. There are as many negatively charged electrons outside the nucleus as there
are positively charged particles (protons) inside the nucleus, so the atom is
electrically neutral.
Theories of atoms and elements
1. Dalton atomic Theory Each element is composed of tiny indestructible
particles called atoms.
2. All atoms of a given element have the same mass and other properties that
distinguish them from the atoms of other elements
3. atoms combined in simple, whole-number ratios to form compounds
1. Atomic numbers the # of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Represented by
the letter z.
2. the # of protons in the atom's nucleus DEFINES the element.
3. Chemical symbol A one-or-two letter abbreviation for the element that
appears directly below its atomic number on the periodic table
Questions for class to answer
1. What is the smallest unit of matter
2. What is a Molecule
3. How many atoms is there
4. What is a element
5. What is nucleus
Resources
Quizlet textbook, khan academy youtube,courses.lumen learning, live science