Atomic Structure Flashcards
What is the radius of an atom
1 x 10^-10 metres or 0.1 nanometres
Nucleus
- contains protons and neutrons
- centre of the atom
- the radius of 1 x 10^-14 (1/10000 of the radius of an atom)
- positive charge because o the protons
- Almost the whole mass of the atom is concentrated on the nucleus
Electrons
- orbit around the nucleus in electron shells
- negatively charged and tiny
- cover a lot of space
- volume of orbit determines the size of the atom
- electrons have virtually no mass
The relative mass of a proton
1
The relative mass of an electron
0
The relative mass of a proton
1
The charge of a proton
+1
The charge of an electron
-1
The charge of a neutron
0
What is the charge of an atom?
Atoms have no overall charge, they have the same number of electrons and protons and the charge on the electrons is the same size as the charge on the protons but opposite so they cancel each other
What is the charge of an ion
The number of protons does not equal the number of electrons so ions have an overall charge
What is the mass number
total number of neutrons and protons in an atom
What is the proton number
number of protons in an atom
what is an element
A substance that only contains atoms with the same number of protons and cannot be broken down into any other substance.
There are 100 different types of elements
What is an isotope
Isotopes are different forms of the same element, which have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons
Chemically they react the same way because they have the same number of protons
