Yee, Ryan Glenn B.

BSEE III-8
ES 19
Assignment #2

1) Electron was discovered by J. J. Thomson in 1897 when he was studying the properties
of cathode ray. Electrons have three fundamental properties: charge, mass, and spin. By definition,
the electric charge on an electron is 1. The mass of an electron has been measured and found to be
9.109389 10 31 kilograms. Electrons also spin on their axes in much the same way that planets do.
2) Dalton based his theory on two laws: the law of conservation of mass and the law of
constant composition.
The law of conservation of mass says that matter is not created or destroyed in a closed
system. That means if we have a chemical reaction, the amount of each element must be the same in
the starting materials and the products. We use the law of conservation of mass every time we
balance equations.
The law of constant composition says that a pure compound will always have the same
proportion of the same elements. For example, table salt, which has the molecular formula NaCl
contains the same proportions of the elements sodium and chlorine no matter how much salt you
have or where the salt came from. If we were to combine some sodium metal and chlorine gas we
could make more table salt which will have the same composition.
3) Towards the end of the 19th century a man by the name of J.J. Thomson discovered that
the atom was made up of smaller particles. Through experiments with the gas neon, Thomson
discovered a negatively charged particle with a mass much smaller than the atom. This particle is
known as the electron and is one of the constituent particles of the atom.
Atoms are typically neutral (they do not have a charge). So when the electron (a
negative particle) was discovered, scientist reasoned that there must be a positive charge
somewhere in the atom to offset the negative charge. Electrons are also very light compared to the
mass of an atom. Therefore, the missing positive particle had to be heavy to account for the missing
mass of the atom.
In 1911 the scientist Ernest Rutherford found the missing particle by shooting positively
charged rays at the element gold. Rutherford noticed that some of the rays were bent or deflected.
The deflection was caused by the positively charged particles within the element (much like two
positive magnets repel one another). The way in which the rays bent helped Rutherford to discover
that the positive particles were very massive and concentrated in a small region. Today the positive
particles are called protons and the region that they are concentrated in is known as the nucleus.
4) Protons and neutrons are very much alike, electrons are different.
Let's start with the simplest: electrons. The electron is one of the several fundamental
particles in the current Standard Model. Thus, it has no structure so in this model is a point-like
particle. It's charge is usually taken as a unit for charge measurement so that it has a charge of -1. On
its mass, well, it's a quite light particle (9,11031Kg9,11031Kg if you are curious).
Now protons and neutrons. These are not elementary particles, they have an internal
structure. We consider them to be made of 3 quarks, 'uud' for the proton and 'udd' for the neutron
Yee, Ryan Glenn B.
BSEE III-8
ES 19
Assignment #2

where 'u' is the up quark and 'd' the down quark. As quark u has a charge of 2/3 and quark d of -1/3 it
is easy to see that the proton has a total charge of +1 and the neutron of 00 (hence its name, beacuse
it is a neutral particle). They both are about 1800 times heavier than the electron, the neutron being
very slightly heavier than the proton.
Now, protons and neutrons are basically found at the atomic nucleus while electrons
form the shell of the atom, moving around the nucleus.
5) In 1909, Rutherford discovered proton in his famous gold foil experiment.
Gold Foil Experiment. In his gold foil experiment, Rutherford bombarded a beam of alpha particles
on an ultrathin gold foil and then detected the scattered alpha particles in zinc sulfide (ZnS) screen.
Results
Most of the particles pass through the foil without any deflection.
Some of the alpha particles deflect at small angle.
Very few even bounce back (1 in 20,000).
Based on his observations, Rutherford proposed the following structural features of an
atom:

Most of the atoms mass and its entire positive charge are confined in a small core, called
nucleus. The positively charged particle is called proton.
Most of the volume of an atom is empty space.
The number of negatively charged electrons dispersed outside the nucleus is same as
number of positively charge in the nucleus. It explains the overall electrical neutrality of an
atom.
6)
(a) the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, which determines the chemical
properties of an element and its place in the periodic table.
(b) the mass of an atom of a chemical element expressed in atomic mass units. It is
approximately equivalent to the number of protons and neutrons in the atom (the
mass number) or to the average number allowing for the relative abundances of
different isotopes.
(c) a unit of mass used to express atomic and molecular weights, equal to one-twelfth
of the mass of an atom of carbon-12. It is equal to approximately 1.66 x 10-27 kg.
(d) the total number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus.
(e) each of two or more forms of the same element that contain equal numbers of
protons but different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, and hence differ in
relative atomic mass but not in chemical properties; in particular, a radioactive form
of an element.
Yee, Ryan Glenn B.
BSEE III-8
ES 19
Assignment #2

(f) the SI unit of amount of substance, equal to the quantity containing as many
elementary units as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon-12.
(g) Relative atomic mass (symbol: Ar), also known as atomic weight, is a dimensionless
(number only) physical quantity. In its modern definition, it is the ratio of the
average mass of atoms of an element (in a given sample) to one unified atomic mass
unit.
(h) The average atomic mass of an element is the sum of the masses of its isotopes,
each multiplied by its natural abundance (the decimal associated with percent of
atoms of that element that are of a given isotope).
(i) 6.022 1023