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4 views2 pages

atom

Uploaded by

Shubham Singh
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© © All Rights Reserved
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STRUCTURE

It was known by 1900 that the atom was indivisible particle but contained at least one sub-atomic
particle – the electron identified by J.J. Thomson. Even before the electron was identified, E. Goldstein in
1886 discovered the presence of new radiations in a gas discharge and called them canal rays. These
rays were positively charged radiations which ultimately led to the discovery of another sub-atomic
particle. This sub-atomic particle had a charge, equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that of the
electron. Its mass was approximately 2000 times as that of the electron. It was given the name of
proton. In general, an electron is represented as ‘e–’ and a proton as ‘p+’. The mass of a proton is taken
as one unit and its charge as plus one. The mass of an electron is considered to be negligible and its
charge is minus one.

 J.J. Thomson was the first one to propose a model for the structure of an atom.
 Ernest Rutherford was interested in knowing how the electrons are arranged within an atom.
Rutherford designed an experiment for this. In this experiment, fast moving alpha (α)-particles
were made to fall on a thin gold foil.
 Neils Bohr put forward the following postulates about the model of an atom: (i) Only certain
special orbits known as discrete orbits of electrons, are allowed inside the atom. (ii) While
revolving in discrete orbits the electrons do not radiate energy.

NEUTRONS

In 1932, J. Chadwick discovered another sub atomic particle which had no charge and a mass nearly
equal to that of a proton. It was eventually named as neutron. Neutrons are present in the nucleus of all
atoms, except hydrogen.

Valency

The electrons present in the outermost shell of an atom are known as the valence electrons.It was
observed that the atoms of elements, completely filled with 8 electrons in the outermost shell show
little chemical activity. In other words, their combining capacity or valency is zero.

Atomic Number and Mass Number

protons are present in the nucleus of an atom. It is the number of protons of an atom, which determines
its atomic number. It is denoted by ‘Z’. All atoms of an element have the same atomic number, Z. In fact,
elements are defined by the number of protons they possess.

mass of an atom is practically due to protons and neutrons alone. These are present in the nucleus of an
atom. Hence protons and neutrons are also called nucleons. Therefore, the mass of an atom resides in
its nucleus.

Isotopes
a number of atoms of some elements have been identified, which have the same atomic number but
different mass numbers. The chemical properties of isotopes are similar but their physical properties are
different.

ISOBARS

Atoms of different elements with different atomic numbers, which have the same mass number, are
known as isobars.

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