Atomic Structure

Question 1

atom

Answer 1

the basic building block of all things; made of smaller particles called electrons, protons, and neutrons

Question 2

electron

Answer 2

a negatively charged particle that spins around the nucleus of an atom

Question 3

nucleus

Answer 3

the center of the atom that contains protons and neutrons

Question 4

proton

Answer 4

a positively charged particle inside the nucleus of an atom

Question 5

neutron

Answer 5

a particle with no electrical charge inside the nucleus of an atom

Question 6

molecules

Answer 6

combinations of tightly bound atoms

Question 7

quarks

Answer 7

smaller subatomic particles that make up protons and neutrons

Question 8

shells

Answer 8

energy levels around the nucleus containing electrons

Question 9

atomic number

Answer 9

the number of protons in the nucleus; indicates what substance it is

Question 10

mass number

Answer 10

the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom

Question 11

mass spectrometer

Answer 11

a machine that identifies atoms by sorting them by mass

Question 12

isotope

Answer 12

an alternate form of an atom, having the same number of protons and electrons, but a different number of neutrons
All isotopes of an atom have the same atomic number, but different mass numbers.
Isotopes have different physical properties, but their chemical properties are the same.

Question 13

Early atomic thinkers

Answer 13

Aristotle, John Dalton, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, James Chadwick

Question 14

allotrope

Answer 14

one of the different forms in which certain elements can exist because their atoms can bond together in different ways (for example, carbon can exist as graphite, diamond, or buckminsterfullerene)