The Structure of the Atom - Atoms are composed of several basic types of smaller particles that determine the

atoms chemical properties - atom: the smallest particle of an element that retains the chemical properties of that element - all atoms consist of two regions - the nucleus and the electron cloud - nucleus: contains protons and neutrons - electron cloud: contains negatively charged electrons - protons, neutrons, and electrons are often referred to as subatomic particles Discovery of the Electron - The first subatomic particle came from investigating relationships between electricity and matter - experiments such as these were conducted through passing a current through various gases at lower pressures (because atmospheric pressured gases dont conduct electricity well) - carried out particularly in glass tubes called cathode-ray tubes. Cathode Rays and Electrons - when current was passed through the cathode-ray tube, a stream of particles continuously traveled from one side of the tube to the other. - experiments testing this found that - cathode rays were deflected by a magnetic field in the same manner as a wire carrying electric current, which was known to be negatively charged - the rays were deflected away from a negatively charged object - these observations came to suggest the particles that compose cathode rays are negatively charged - after various tests by J.J. Thomson, it was decided that cathode rays are composed of identical negatively charged particles, called electrons Charge and Mass of the Electron - experiments revealed that the electron has a large charge-to-mass ratio - cathode rays have identical properties regardless of the element used, so it was concluded electrons are in all atoms of all elements - Robert A. Millikan measured the charge of an electron - based on what is learned, two other inferences are made about atoms: - because atoms are neutral, they must contain a positive charge to balance the negative electrons - atoms must have other particles because the electrons are so small compared to an atoms mass - The Plum Pudding model is proposed based on these concepts, by Thomson Discovery of the Atomic Nucleus - Ernest Rutherford and his associates performed the Gold Foil Experiment to discover that there was something inside atoms besides the electrons - His conclusion? A densely packed bundle of matter with a positive electric charge lived in the center of an atom

- He called this the nucleus. - Niels Bohr then proposes his Bohr Model, that suggests electrons float around an atom as the planets orbit the sun Composition of the Atomic Nucleus - All atomic nuclei are made of two kinds of particles: protons and neutrons - A proton has a positive charge equal in magnitude to the negative charge of an electron - A neutron is electrically neutral - The nuclei of atoms of different elements differ in their number of protons and therefore in the amount of positive charge they possess Forces in the Nucleus - when two protons are extremely close to each other, there is a strong attraction between them - more than 100 protons can be so close together to form the nucleus - similarly, neutrons can be very close to each other - these forces holding these particles together are called nuclear forces The Sizes of Atoms - the radius of an atom is the distance from the center of the nucleus to the outer portion of this electron cloud - picometers are used to express atomic radii