What is an Atom??

Can you name the first 20 elements

on the periodic table?????????
 An atom is the smallest form of a chemical particle that retains the
properties of the particle.

Most atoms have three different subatomic particles inside

them: protons, neutrons, and electrons.

The protons and neutrons are packed together into the centre of the atom
(which is called the nucleus) and the electrons, which are very much
smaller, whizz around the outside
Subatomic Particles - Charge & Mass

PROtons are?
Neutrons are?
Electrons are?

Protons and neutrons are about the same mass, and are both about 2000
times heavier than electrons
Watch -

http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1478205/
Answer these questions in your books

Are atoms almost completely empty?

What do we call the theory that explains how atoms work?

What do we need to understand and remember about atoms?

 We didnt always know what an atom was or what it was made of

How did we discover the structure of something so tiny?

Because atoms are too small to be seen with even a powerful microscope,
scientists have to build models to understand them
Exploring Atomic Structure

In small groups (2-3), explore the resource below, making note of the
different atom models and how each structure interacts differently to
positively charged alpha particles.
Take your time and complete the online interactive activities.

http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L2562/L2562/index.html#

Your task: refer to handout.

Lesson 2: Exploring Atomic Elements
Atomic Elements

Different atoms have a different number of protons in their nucleus, eg

Hydrogen atoms only have 1, whereas uranium atoms have 92

We call the number of protons in an atom the ATOMIC NUMBER

The number of electrons is usually the same as the number of protons

What does this say about the charge of an atom???

The only thing that makes one atom different from another is the number
of particles it contains
 1. Which subatomic particles are found in the nucleus?
 2.What is the name of a particle that has a charge of +1? How can you use the name
of this subatomic particle to remind you that it has a positive charge?
 3. How do you find the total charge of an atom?
 4.How much is the mass of an atom if there are 5 protons, 6 neutrons, and
5 electrons?
 5. How do we work out how many neutrons there are in an atom?
 6.An atom has 5 protons. How many neutrons and electrons does an atom
have if the mass is 12 and the charge is 0?
 7. What is an isotope??
 8. I have an element that contains 83 protons and has an atomic mass of
around 209 amu (atomic mass unit), what am I?
What is causing the different coloured
flames?

In the flame, electrons get excited and pushed to higher energy levels by
the heat energy. The outer electrons shells maintain a higher energy level.
When they fall back down, they give off photons of light of different
colours, based upon how far they fall.
Different temperatures cause electrons to jump to different levels, but
different types of atoms also have energy levels that are different
distances apart.
Thus for example, putting copper into a flame causes a green glow
because electrons on the copper atoms are falling and jumping exactly
the right distance to emit or absorb photons of the frequency we see as
green.
Ions

Ions form from elements when they gain or lose an electron, causing the
number of protons to be unequal to the number of electrons, resulting in a
net charge.
If there are more electrons than protons (from an element gaining one or
more electrons), the ion is negatively charged and called an anion.
If there are more protons than electrons (via loss of electrons), the ion is
positively charged and is called a cation.
Ionic bonds result from the interaction between a positively charged
cation and a negatively charged anion.
Radioactivity Half Life

Half-life is the time taken for half of the radioactive nuclei to decay.
Half-life is the time taken for the count rate to fall to half of its original
reading.
 An Explanation of Half-life.
A radioactive material will have some nuclei that are stable
and some that are unstable. The stable nuclei don't change,
that is what stable means. In the picture on the right,
the unstable nuclei (shown as brown balls) will change
into stable nuclei (shown as purple balls) and emit radioactivity.

Half-life is a measure of the time taken for

the unstable nuclei to change into stable nuclei.

Different substances do this at different rates

Uraniums half life is about 4.51 billion years
Radiation

Three types of radiation can be released from isotopes; Alpha, Beta and
Gamma
Different isotopes release different amounts of each of radiation type
Some isotopes release no radiation
A Geiger counter can measure radiation levels
Each radiation type has different properties, mainly because of its energy
High radiation is less affected by any barrier between it and a radiation
detector than low energy radiation