The Atom
Atom is the smallest unit of an element, it is also what everything is made of!
Nucleus
-Nucleus is in the center of the atom
-It is made up of protons and neutrons
-Nucleus carries overall positive charge
Electron
-An electron is the smallest particle in an atom.
-Each electrons carries a -1 charge and has the mass of 1/1000, it is so small and light that we usually just say it has no mass.
Protons
-Protons is in the nucleus of the atom
-no element has the same number of protons
-Each proton carries a +1 charge, and has a mass of 1
neutron
-Neutron is in the nucleus of an atom.
-Each neutron carries a neutral or 0 charge and has a mass of 1
Lithium atom
Atomic No. &
Atomic Mass
The atomic number is the numbers of protons in the atom. It also let people to predict the location of the element in the periodic table, the bigger the number is the more below the element is in the periodic table. For example, the atom of lithium (above), it has 3 protons, therefore it has an atomic number of 3, and we can predict that it is in the topside of the periodic table since the number is really small.
The atomic mass is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons of the atom (protons + neutrons). For example, the lithium atom has 3 protons and 4 neutrons, and we can know the mass number of lithium atom by adding the number of protons and neutrons, which is 7 (3+4), therefore we can say that it has the mass of 3
Sources:
-Khan Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2016, from https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/history-of-life-on-earth/radiometric-dating/a/atomic-number-atomic-mass-and-isotopes-article
-Mr. Teasdale's Chemistry class @ School of the Nations Macau