P4 Flashcards
Characteristics of an atom
Items are very small, having a radius of about 1×10^-10 metres
What is the basic structure of an atom?
A positively charged nucleus composed of both of protons and neutrons surrounded by negatively charged electrons
What is the radius of the nucleus?
The radius of a nucleus is less than 1/10000 of the radius of an atom, most of the mass of an atom is concentrated in the nucleus
How do the electron arrangements change?
- The electrons arranged at different distances from the brackets (different energy levels).
- The electron arrangement may change with the absorption of electromagnetic magnetic radiation move (further from the nucleus; a higher energy level) or by the invention of electromagnetic radiation (move closer to the nucleus; a lower energy level)
What charge do atoms have and why?
Atoms have no overall electrical charge as in an atom, the numbers of electrons is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus
What is the mass number of an element?
The total number of protons and neutrons in an atom
What is the atomic number of an element?
The number of protons and electrons in the atom
What are isotopes?
Isotopes of an element are atoms with the same number of protons (the same atomic number, and so the same charge on the nucleus) but a different number of neutrons (a different mass number). E.g. (18top 8bottom)O is an isotope of oxygen.
If elements lose electrons in their outer shell what do the atoms turn into?
Positive ion
What are similarities in the same isotopes?
They share similar chemical properties
All elements have different isotopes, though how many stable isotopes are there?
One or two
Note:
Go to page 196 and see how isotopes are
What do new experimental evidence do to scientific models?
Leads them to be changed or replaced
What were electrons thought to be before its discovery?
Atoms were thought to be tiny spheres that could not be divided (this was before 1897)
What happened after the discovery of the electron (1897)?
- The discovery of the electron led to the plum pudding model of the atom
- JJ Thompson suggested The plum pudding model, that the atom is a pool of positive charge with negative electrons embedded in it
What happened in 1909 with Rutherford’s experiment?
- They conducted the famous alpha particle scattering experiments
- They fired positively charged alpha particles at an extremely thin sheet of gold
- From the plum pudding model,they were expecting the particles to pass straight through the sheet or be slightly deflected at most
- This was because the positive charge of each atom was though to be very spread out through the pudding of the atom
- But,whilst most of the particles did go straight through the sheet,some were deflected more than expected,and a small number were deflected backwards
- So the plum pudding model could not be right
What did the Rutherford experiment do as a result?
The results from the alpha particle scattering experiment lead to the conclusion that the mass of an atom is concentrated at the centre (nucleus), and that the nucleus was charged this nuclear model replace the pump pudding model
The nuclear model of the atom.In this a tiny,positive charged nucleus at the centre,where most of the mass is concentrated.A ‘cloud’ of negative electrons surrounds this nucleus - so most of the atom is empty space.
These were the conclusions because even though most alpha particles passed through, some bounced back.
What did Niels Bohr do to the nuclear model?
- He adopted the nuclear model by suggesting that electrons orbit, the nucleus at specific distances
- The theoretical calculations of Bohr agreed with the experimental observations