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Atom, The Basic Building Block of All Matter and Chemistry

Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of matter, composed of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The arrangement of electrons in shells determines an atom's chemical behavior, with atoms seeking stability by gaining, losing, or sharing electrons. Each type of atom corresponds to a unique chemical element, identified by its atomic number, which reflects the number of protons in its nucleus.

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25 views4 pages

Atom, The Basic Building Block of All Matter and Chemistry

Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of matter, composed of a nucleus containing protons and neutrons, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The arrangement of electrons in shells determines an atom's chemical behavior, with atoms seeking stability by gaining, losing, or sharing electrons. Each type of atom corresponds to a unique chemical element, identified by its atomic number, which reflects the number of protons in its nucleus.

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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atom, the basic building block of all matter and chemistry.

Atoms can
combine with other atoms to form molecules but cannot be divided into
smaller parts by ordinary chemical processes.

A simplified look into the structure of an atomExplore an atom's interior to discover the layout of
its nucleus, protons, and electrons.
(more)
See all videos for this article
Most of the atom is empty space. The rest consists of three basic types of
subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The protons and
neutrons form the atom’s central nucleus. (The ordinary hydrogen atom
is an exception; it contains one proton but no neutrons.) As their names
suggest, protons have a positive electrical charge, while neutrons are
electrically neutral—they carry no charge; overall, then, the nucleus has
a positive charge. Circling the nucleus is a cloud of electrons, which are
negatively charged. Like opposite ends of a magnet that attract one
another, the negative electrons are attracted to a positive force, which
binds them to the nucleus. The nucleus is small and dense compared with
the electrons, which are the lightest charged particles in nature. The
electrons circle the nucleus in orbital paths called shells, each of which
holds only a certain number of electrons.
Investigate varying electron configurations in electron shells around an atom's nucleusAtomic
model of electron configurations.
(more)
See all videos for this article
An ordinary, neutral atom has an equal number of protons (in the
nucleus) and electrons (surrounding the nucleus). Thus the positive and
negative charges are balanced. Some atoms, however, lose or gain
electrons in chemical reactions or in collisions with other particles.
Ordinary atoms that either gain or lose electrons are called ions. If a
neutral atom loses an electron, it becomes a positive ion. If it gains an
electron, it becomes a negative ion. These basic subatomic particles—
protons, neutrons, and electrons—are themselves made up of smaller
substances, such as quarks and leptons.
More than 90 types of atoms exist in nature, and each kind of atom forms
a different chemical element. Chemical elements are made up of only one
type of atom—gold contains only gold atoms, and neon contains only
neon atoms--and they are ranked in order of their atomic number (the
total number of protons in its nucleus) in a chart called the periodic
table. Accordingly, because an atom of iron has 26 protons in its nucleus,
its atomic number is 26 and its ranking on the periodic table of chemical
elements is 26. Because an ordinary atom has the same number of
electrons as protons, an element’s atomic number also tells how many
electrons its atoms have, and it is the number and arrangement of the
electrons in their orbiting shells that determines how one atom interacts
with another. The key shell is the outermost one, called the valence shell.
If this outermost shell is complete, or filled with the maximum number of
electrons for that shell, the atom is stable, with little or no tendency to
interact with other atoms. But atoms with incomplete outer shells seek to
fill or to empty such shells by gaining or losing electrons or by sharing
electrons with other atoms. This is the basis of an atom’s chemical
activity. Atoms that have the same number of electrons in the outer shell
have similar chemical properties.
shell atomic modelIn the shell atomic model, electrons occupy different energy levels, or shells.
The K and L shells are shown for a neon atom.
(more)
This article opens with a broad overview of the fundamental properties of
the atom and its constituent particles and forces. Following this overview
is a historical survey of the most influential concepts about the atom that
have been formulated through the centuries.

Britannica Quiz

Facts You Should Know: The Periodic Table Quiz


Atomic model
Most matter consists of an agglomeration of molecules, which can be
separated relatively easily. Molecules, in turn, are composed of atoms
joined by chemical bonds that are more difficult to break. Each individual
atom consists of smaller particles—namely, electrons and nuclei. These
particles are electrically charged, and the electric forces on the charge
are responsible for holding the atom together. Attempts to separate these
smaller constituent particles require ever-increasing amounts of energy
and result in the creation of new subatomic particles, many of which are
charged.
As noted in the introduction to this article, an atom consists largely of
empty space. The nucleus is the positively charged centre of an atom and
contains most of its mass. It is composed of protons, which have a
positive charge, and neutrons, which have no charge. Protons, neutrons,
and the electrons surrounding them are long-lived particles present in all
ordinary, naturally occurring atoms. Other subatomic particles may be
found in association with these three types of particles. They can be
created only with the addition of enormous amounts of energy, however,
and are very short-lived.

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