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This is a block of GOLD Being an ELEMENT, it is a PURE substance, so it contains particles of only ONE kind

GOLD ATOMS

An atom is the smallest particle of an element that can exist.

Cut a diamond up with a magic knife until you have the smallest piece possible, and you have a .

CARBON ATOM

Lets look at the atom in more detail..

In the middle are larger particles in the NUCLEUS and there are some tiny particles spinning round it in ORBITS

Its made up of even smaller This is an atom of HELIUM. particles!

Lets freeze the action and take a closer look at these sub-atomic particles

These are PROTONS

These are NEUTRONS

These are ELECTRONS

A PROTON is positively charged, and has the same mass as ..a NEUTRON, which has no charge. An ELECTRON is negatively charged, but has a mass less than 1/2000 of that of either of the other particles!

Looking at the Helium atom again, lets see how many of each subatomic particle there are

2 protons and 2 neutrons make up the nucleus. Together, lets say they have a mass of 2 + 2 = 4

Two protons means 2 positive charges

and two electrons means 2 negative charges.

so thats +2 -2 = 0 , so theres no overall electric charge on the atom!

A helium atom is a typical atom, so we can say the rules are. Number of protons + = Mass number

Number of neutrons Number of protons (is equal to)

= Atomic Number

Number of electrons

so for Helium, thats

Mass number 4

He
Atomic number 2

Lets look at carbon again There are 6 protons, so there must also be 6 electrons. That makes its atomic number to be 6

6 protons and 6 neutrons means its mass number is 12

so weve got

12 6

Time for you to get some practice in! Fill in the gaps in this table:
Name
Hydrogen Li Potassium Beryllium Ca Iron Boron Cl Ne 35 17 10 10 40 26 20 30 6 5

Symbol

Mass No.
1

Atomic No.

protons

neutrons

electrons
1

3 19

4 20 5 4

Extension: Look at your periodic table.

Fill in a similar table for :

the alkali metals (down to rubidium),

the alkaline earth metals (down to calcium),

the halogens (down to iodine) and

the inert gases (down to xenon).

Can you see any patterns?

Did you get it right?

Name
Hydrogen Lithium Potassium Beryllium Calcium Iron Boron Chlorine Neon

Symbol
H Li K Be Ca Fe B Cl Ne

Mass No.
1 7 39 9 40 56 11 35 20

Atomic No.
1 3 19 4 20 26 5 17 10

protons
1 3 19 4 20 26 5 17 10

neutrons
0 4 20 5 20 30 6 18 10

electrons
1 3 19 4 20 26 5 17 10

A October presentation end 2005 by R. G. Smith