Monday, January 10, 2011

Activity 3

What is an Atom? The smallest characteristic particle of an element

What are the particles that make up an atom, list their mass and charge?
Protron (positive)
1.673 x 10-24
Neutron(neutral)
1.675 x 10-24

Electron(negative)
9.109 x 10-28
What is the size of an atom?
An atom is around 0.1 nanometer, or 100 picometers.
It does depend a fair amount on the particular atom. The smallest atom is a hydrogen atom (37 picometers) whereas some larger atoms more than 5 times larger (lanthanum is 187 picometers). If the atom is an ion, it will also change it's radius significantly (positive ions are smaller and negative ions are larger than the neutral atom).

What is the shape of an atom, where are the particles?
The shape of an atom isn't known for certain because it is known to change throughout the different elements, but the shape of the electron cloud surrounding the nucleus is generally tagged as a sphere. The electron particles are distributed on in the electron cloud outside of the radius, and the protons and neutrons are located in the nucleus.

What are the characteristics of electrons?
Charge: It is a negatively charged particle.
Mass of electron: Mass of electron is 1.1 x 10-31 kg.

 

 
 

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