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AT O M I C ST RUCT URE

1Principle subatomic
particles
G An atomi sthe smallest parti cle of an
element. I t i smade up of even smaller
subatomic particles: negati vely
charged electrons, posi ti vely charged
protons, and neutrons, whi ch have no
charge.
2 The atom
G An atom consi stsof a nucleusof
protonsand neutronssurrounded by
a number of electrons.
G Most of the massof an atom i s
contai ned i n i tsnucleus.
G The number of protonsi n the nucleus
i salwaysequal to the number of
electronsaround the nucleus. Atoms
have no overall charge.
3 Representing an element
G Elementscan be represented usi ng
thei r mass number, atomic number,
and atomi c symbol:
m a ss n u m b e r
a to m i c n u m b e r
S y m b o l
G The atomi c number of an atom i sthe
number of protonsi n i tsnucleus.
G The massnumber i sthe total number
of protonsand neutronsi n i tsnucleus.
Thus, an atom of one form of li thi um
( L i ) , whi ch contai nsthree protonsand
four neutrons, can be represented as:
7
3
L i
4 Isotopes
G All atomsof the same element have
the same atomi c number; however,
they may not have the same mass
number because the number of
neutronsmay not alwaysbe the same.
Atomsof an element that have
di fferent massnumbersare called
i sotopes. The di agram at left i llustrates
i sotopesof hydrogen.
Atomic structure
atom
atomic number
electron
isotope
mass number
neutron
nucleus
proton
subatomic
particle
Key words
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1Principle subatomic particles
1
1 8 3 6
Particle Relative atomic mass Relative charge
E le c tro n
N e u tro n
P ro to n
1
1
0
1
1
2 The atom
3 Representing
an element
4 Isotopes
+
H yd ro g e n 1
+
H yd ro g e n 2
+
H yd ro g e n 3
p ro to n
n e u tro n
n u c le u s
e le c tro n

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