Introduction to Atoms

What is matter? Matter is anything you can touch. Includes – Solids – Liquids – Gases Yes, you can touch a gas, you can feel the air molecules hitting your face when a fan is on.

Matter is made of smaller particles

How was this painted?

Small particles combine to make the larger object

How was this made?

What do these pieces of art have to do with matter?

It's also like a picture stored in a computer... from a distance, it looks continuous, but if you blow it up, you can see the individual pixels that it is made from.

Legos It's also like building things out of Legos... You can take small, individual pieces and put them together to make something bigger.

Like the art, matter is made of small particles

These small particles are called atoms

Atoms are tiny

Atom Atoms are the building blocks of all materials An atom is made of 3 parts: – Protons and Neutrons are in the nucleus (center) – Electrons orbit around the nucleus

An atom is the smallest unit of an element

There are 118 known elements An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances.

Each element has unique physical characteristics and chemical behaviors

Hydrogen -Clear gas -Less dense than air -Flammable Helium - Clear gas - Less dense than air - Not flammable

An atom is the smallest unit of an element that has all the physical characteristics and chemical behaviors of that element.

So how do I know what element I have? ?

The number of protons in an atom’s nucleus tells us what element it is.

No two elements have the same number of protons.

So how do I know how many protons are in an element?

Reading the Periodic Table The atomic number tells us how many protons are in the nucleus.

How many protons are in aluminum? Nitrogen? Sulfur? Carbon?

The periodic table is arranged by atomic number- smallest to largest

The element block will also include a symbol for the element The symbol is a short hand way of writing the element’s name

Some elements have a single letter for their symbol The first letter is ALWAYS capitalized If there is a second letter, it is ALWAYS lower case Element symbols and some unusual names

Review 1.Everything on Earth is made of ________ (anything you can touch) - matter

Review 2. Matter is made of small particles called ____ -Atoms

Review 3. Atoms are made of three smaller particles called _____ -protons, neutron, and electrons

Review 4. An atom is the smallest unit of an ________ -Element

Review 5. Each element is different, physically and chemically, because each element has a different number of ______ in its nucleus - protons

Review 6. The _______ _________ tells us how many protons are in the nucleus. -Atomic number

Review 7. The element can be represented by a symbol. The first letter is always ______ and the second letter is always _______ ________ -capitalized -lower case

Homework-Element Gossip Use the atomic number given to find the element. Write the element symbol on the blanks (1 st letter of the symbol is capitalized, 2 nd (if present) is lower case. Then write the full name of each element. Periodic tables can be found in your agenda book page 119.

UE