Atoms Chris Boykin

The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons (except in the case of hydrogen-1, which is the only stable nuclide with no neutrons). The electrons of an atom are bound to the nucleus by the electromagnetic force. Likewise, a group of atoms can remain bound to each other by chemical bonds based on the same force, forming a molecule. An atom containing an equal number of protons and electrons is electrically neutral, otherwise it is positively or negatively charged and is known as an ion. An atom is classified according to the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus: the number of protons determines the chemical element, and the number of neutrons determines the isotope of the element.[1]

Chemical atoms, which in science now carry the simple name of "atom," are minuscule objects with diameters of a few tenths of a nanometer and tiny masses proportional to the volume implied by these dimensions. Atoms can only be observed individually using special instruments such as the scanning tunneling microscope. Over 99.94% of an atom's mass is concentrated in the nucleus,[note 1] with protons and neutrons having roughly equal mass. Each element has at least one isotope with an unstable nucleus that can undergo radioactive decay. This can result in a transmutation that changes the number of protons or neutrons in a nucleus.[2] Electrons that are bound to atoms possess a set of stable energy levels, or orbitals, and can undergo transitions between them by absorbing or emitting photons that match the energy differences between the levels. The electrons determine the chemical properties of an element, and strongly influence an atom's magnetic properties. The principles of quantum mechanics have been successfully used to model the observed properties of the atom.

The concept that matter is composed of discrete units and cannot be divided into arbitrarily tiny quantities has been around for millennia, but these ideas were founded in abstract, philosophical reasoning rather than experimentation and empirical observation. The nature of atoms in philosophy varied considerably over time and between cultures and schools, and often had spiritual elements. Nevertheless, the basic idea of the atom was adopted by scientists thousands of years later because it elegantly explained new discoveries in the field of chemistry.[8] The ancient name of "atom" from atomism had already been nearly universally used to describe chemical atoms by that time, and it was therefore retained as a term, long after chemical atoms were found to be divisible, and even after smaller, truly indivisible particles were identified. References to the concept of atoms date back to ancient Greece and India. In India, the Ājīvika, Jain, and Cārvāka schools of atomism may date back to the 6th century BCE.[9] The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools later developed theories on how atoms combined into more complex objects.[10] In the West, the references to atoms emerged in the 5th century BCE with Leucippus, whose student, Democritus, systematized his views. In approximately 450 BCE, Democritus coined the term átomos (Greek: ἄτομος), which means "uncuttable" or "the smallest indivisible particle of matter". Although the Indian and Greek concepts of the atom were based purely on philosophy, modern science has retained the name coined by Democritus.[8]

Corpuscularianism is the postulate, expounded in the 13th-century by the alchemist Pseudo-Geber (Geber),[11] sometimes identified with Paul of Taranto, that all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles.[12] Corpuscularianism is similar to the theory of atomism, except that where atoms were supposed to be indivisible, corpuscles could in principle be divided. In this manner, for example, it was theorized that mercury could penetrate into metals and modify their inner structure.[13] Corpuscularianism stayed a dominant theory over the next several hundred years. In 1661, natural philosopher Robert Boyle published The Sceptical Chymist in which he argued that matter was composed of various combinations of different "corpuscules" or atoms, rather than the classical elements of air, earth, fire and water.[14] During the 1670s corpuscularianism was used by Isaac Newton in his development of the corpuscular theory of light.[12][15]

Eelctrons: The electrons in an atom are attracted to the protons in the nucleus by the electromagnetic force. This force binds the electrons inside an electrostatic potential well surrounding the smaller nucleus, which means that an external source of energy is needed for the electron to escape. The closer an electron is to the nucleus, the greater the attractive force. Hence electrons bound near the center of the potential well require more energy to escape than those at greater separations. Electrons, like other particles, have properties of both a particle and a wave. The electron cloud is a region inside the potential well where each electron forms a type of three-dimensional standing wave—a wave form that does not move relative to the nucleus. This behavior is defined by an atomic orbital, a mathematical function that characterises the probability that an electron appears to be at a particular location when its position is measured.[61] Only a discrete (or quantized) set of these orbitals exist around the nucleus, as other possible wave patterns rapidly decay into a more stable form.[62] Orbitals can have one or more ring or node structures, and they differ from each other in size, shape and orientation.[63]

Proton: Proton is a subatomic particle with a positive charge and a mass of × 10−27 kg which is 1,836 times the mass of an electron. When the number of protons in the nucleus is equal to the number of electrons orbiting the nucleus the atom is electrically neutral. Wilhelm Wien (1898) and J.J. Thomson (1910) identified a positively charged particle equal in mass to the hydrogen atom. Ernest Rutherford (1919) observed that nitrogen under alpha-particle bombardment ejects what appeared to be hydrogen nuclei. By 1920 he had accepted that the hydrogen nucleus is a distinct particle within the atom and named it proton.

Neutron Neutron: is a subatomic particle with no electric charge and a mass of × 10−27 kg, greater than that of a proton and an electron. Neutrons and protons are commonly called nucleons. The neutron was discovered in 1932 by the English physicist James Chadwick

Dalton Atomic Theory.!!!

Thomson's atomic theory proposed a model of atom which is known as plum pudding model or Christmas pudding or chocolate chip cookie model. Till the end of the nineteenth century the concept of atom was similar to a small solid billiard ball. In the year 1897 Joseph john Thomson totally changed the view of an atom by discovering electron. Thomson’s atomic theory suggested that the atom is not indivisible as it was of smaller pieces – electrons and protons

J.J. Thomson.!!!

Electrons

Protons

Neutrons