Introduction to the Atom

The Atom

According to the Particle Theory of Matter, all matter is made of tiny particles. These particles are either individual atoms or groups of atoms called molecules. There are two main parts to an atom. These are the nucleus and the electrons.

The Nucleus

In the center of each atom is the nucleus. Within the nucleus there are two kinds of particles. Positively-charged particles called protons and particles with no charges called neutrons. The protons give the nucleus a positive charge. For example, a helium atom has 2 protons and 2 neutrons. It has a nuclear charge of +2. A carbon atom has 6 protons and 6 neutrons. It has a nuclear charge of +6.

The number of protons in the nucleus defines the type of atom. For example, all gold atoms have 79 protons and all silver atoms have 47 protons. The protons and neutrons in the nucleus are held together by a force called the strong nuclear force. 

Did you know?

Neutrons were not discovered until 1932. They were discovered by scientist James Chadwick.

The Electrons

Moving around the nucleus are tiny, negatively-charged particles called electrons. Electrons are 2 000 times smaller than protons and neutrons. This means that most of the mass of an atom is found in its nucleus. 

Electrostatic forces keep the electrons close to the nucleus. These are the forces that pull negatively-charged and positively-charged particles towards each other. But electrons also have kinetic energy. This pushes them away from the nucleus. In a stable atom, these two forces are balanced. This keeps the electrons within certain areas around the nucleus.

In nature, most atoms are stable. A stable atom has the same number of electrons as protons. For example, a gold atom has 79 protons and 79 electrons. Silver has 47 positively-charged protons and 47 negatively-charged electrons. These positive and negative charges cancel each other out. This means that stable atoms have a neutral charge.

Did you know?

Any particle smaller than an atom is called a subatomic particle. Protons, neutrons and electrons are all subatomic particles.

Atomic Models

It can be tough for people to understand things they cannot see. This was the case for the atom. Over time, scientists created different scientific models. They did this as they performed experiments and made observations. These models helped them explain and predict how atoms behave.

Thomson Plum Pudding Model

At the start of the 20th century, J.J. Thomson did experiments to learn about the atom. He showed that positively-charged and negatively-charged particles made up atoms. What he was not sure about was how they fit together. His idea at the time was that the negative electrons were stuck into a positive sphere. He imagined that the atom looked like a popular Christmas cake that had raisins in it. That is why this model is known as the plum pudding model.

Rutherford Planetary Model

Scientists’ understanding of the atom changed in 1911. This was due to the gold foil experiment done by Ernest Rutherford and his team. In their work, they saw that the positive charge of atoms seemed to be concentrated at their centres. Rutherford called this the nucleus. He also predicted that the electrons would orbit the nucleus, like planets around the Sun. This is why Rutherford's model is also called the planetary model. You have probably seen this model. Lithium atoms, like the one below, are often used as a symbol to represent science!

Bohr Model

Rutherford’s planetary model explained a lot. But it didn’t answer some questions that scientists still had. They wondered where the electrons actually were. Could their location be predicted? They also wondered why the orbiting electrons didn’t lose energy and crash into the nucleus. Luckily, Danish scientist Niels Bohr was trying to find those answers.

Bohr was part of a group of scientists interested in a new field called quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is the study of how atomic particles exist and interact with each other. Bohr was particularly interested in the energy possessed by electrons. 

Scientists were beginning to understand more about energy and subatomic particles. Based on this, Bohr suggested that electrons orbit the nucleus along specific paths. He called these paths electron shells. Remember the atomic models of gold and silver above? Those are Bohr models. The electron shells are labelled using either letters (K, L, M, N, O, P, Q) or quantum numbers (n=1 to n=7).

Electron Cloud Model

The Bohr Model quickly became popular. We still use it today because it helps us understand how and why atoms interact with each other. But scientists were not finished trying to understand how atoms look.

In 1926, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger took Bohr’s model a step further. He proposed a model which described the likelihood of finding an electron in a given place. This model is known as the electron cloud model or the quantum mechanical model. Drawings of electron clouds look like fuzzy shapes. Where the shape is the most dense, there is the most chance of finding an electron. The area where an electron is most likely to be found is called its orbital.

Remember that the Bohr model showed the location of electrons in shells? That is still important in this model. Within each shell are subshells. Within each subshell are a specific number of orbitals. Each of the subshells can hold a certain number of electrons. They also have characteristic shapes. These shapes can get pretty complex as the number of electrons increases. Below are the shapes of the s, p and d subshells.

Atomic models are a great example of how scientific thinking changes over time. As well as how new tools, such as computer modeling, can lead to new ways of things about how things work.