atom help

[T man831]

 

can some one please explain to me the structure(s) of an atom?

 

(i know its a very "open ended" question... but i really don't ave any clue were to start.)

 

any input at all is a lot of help

 

thank you

 

[foodchain]

 

can some one please explain to me the structure(s) of an atom?

 

(i know its a very "open ended" question... but i really don't ave any clue were to start.)

 

any input at all is a lot of help

 

thank you

 

 

I am sure someone will be able to offer a better answer then mine but here I go.

 

An atom if you are thinking I guess in a periodic table sense of an atom is made up basically of protons, neutrons and electrons. The proton and neutron and electron are all subatomic particles, I think they are also all fermions though they are different in other regards which puts them into other genera’s. I think this comes from the status if they are either elementary or composite, also spin is a factor in definition, though this is not all of what defines a particle. You have different genera’s of subatomic particles and not all of them are in an atom in an earthly or normal periodic table sense, such as antimatter.

 

An atom has a basic structure in say it has a nucleus and a surrounding electron cloud. The nucleus is made up typically of protons and neutrons. A difference in this count for instance is what gives you isotopes. Outside of the nucleus you have orbitals which are typically denoted in a quantum mechanical framework. They are the bulk of what gives chemical potential or reactivity though they are not the only factor of course.

 

Bonding of atoms into say large molecular structures such as a rock for instance can have a pretty large amount of forms, such as weak or strong bonds for example, in which you also have variance in that, such as you can have a weak bond that is stronger then a type of strong bond. You can also have ionic bonds which reflect naturally from say electronegativity which again relates back to the subatomic configuration of a giving element or atom, or the count of electrons for instance in relation the nucleus of the atom. Example being if it has more electrons then protons or vice versa, more protons then electrons. These states also have there own titles.

[timo]

I am sure someone will be able to offer a better answer then mine but here I go.

I doubt that "there is an electrically positive nucleus consisting of neutrons and protons with a radius of ~10^-15 m surrounded by an electron cloud with a radius of ~10^-10 m" really is a better reply. Some comments on yours, though:

 

An atom if you are thinking I guess in a periodic table sense of an atom is made up basically of protons, neutrons and electrons. The proton and neutron and electron are all subatomic particles, ...

Pretty much by definition if they are the building blocks for an atom .

I think they are also all fermions ...

yes

...though they are different in other regards which puts them into other genera’s. I think this comes from the status if they are either elementary or composite, also spin is a factor in definition, though this is not all of what defines a particle.

Spin is the only property defining whether a particle is a fermion or not (a boson, then). Not sure what you meant by "genera's" and "their status". They are simply three different particles. One of them is elementary (the electron), the other two are not.

 

An atom has a basic structure in say it has a nucleus and a surrounding electron cloud. The nucleus is made up typically of protons and neutrons.

I'd go as far as to skip the word "typically".

 

A difference in this count for instance is what gives you isotopes.

A different count in neutrons. A different count in protons would give a different chemical element, not an isotope of the same element.

 

They are the bulk of what gives chemical potential or reactivity though they are not the only factor of course.

I think they actually are the only factor describing chemical properties (although the state of the electrons is determined by the nucleus, especially its charge, of course).

[foodchain]

Right but I know that a different isotope which you pointed out is a neutron affect is also a part of chemistry. I tried to shy away from what would be more exotic to the question posed also, such as antimatter. Bosons are force carriers right? Yet knowing this is important I think to understanding and atom right? I am sure you could skip the world typically but I am not sure of what all exists in reality for instance;) sry. When I was talking about reactivity I did not want to go into for instance reaction mechanisms or environmental conditions, such as you have to reach a certain enthalpy for say a exothermic type of reaction, or any other step. I tried to keep it basic but of course I could not get as technical as physically possible:D I do hope though that your reply helped clear up any other questions the poster had.

[timo]

Bosons are force carriers right?

Not necessarily. In the Standard Model of elementary particle physics, all "force carriers" happen to be bosons (more specifically, vector-bosons, which simply means spin-1 bosons). But there are bosons which are not force carriers, e.g. [math]^4\text{He}[/math] (and all the other atoms which Bose-Einstein condensation is done with).

[foodchain]

Not necessarily. In the Standard Model of elementary particle physics, all "force carriers" happen to be bosons (more specifically, vector-bosons, which simply means spin-1 bosons). But there are bosons which are not force carriers, e.g. [math]^4\text{He}[/math] (and all the other atoms which Bose-Einstein condensation is done with).

 

Is vector the same as gauge in this situation, and is vector being used as it would be used to denote either a vector or scalar type measurement? I could see now why BEC is boson because of having to occupy a the quantum state right?

[timo]

Is vector the same as gauge in this situation, ...

The gauge bosons of the Standard Model are vector bosons, so yes.

and is vector being used as it would be used to denote either a vector or scalar type measurement?

I refers to the transformation under Lorentz-transformations (as does "scalar"). So the answer is probably yes.

I could see now why BEC is boson because of having to occupy a the quantum state right?

I assume you meant to write "the same quantum state". Yes.

 

@T_man: Don't be afraid that we went a bit off-topic in the last posts (last posts have been more about physics at subatomic scale than atomic physics) - it was just too tempting. You can probably ignore the last few posts and just stick to post #2 (the 1st reply by foodchain) if you have further questions.

[T man831]

Right but I know that a different isotope which you pointed out is a neutron affect is also a part of chemistry. I tried to shy away from what would be more exotic to the question posed

 

please don't shy away from anything, i want to know everything there is to know about this subject. starting at the very basics, and proceeding to the most in-depth answers posible

[foodchain]

please don't shy away from anything, i want to know everything there is to know about this subject. starting at the very basics, and proceeding to the most in-depth answers posible

 

Well that’s about at the bottom for anything I would consider accepted overall as an opinion. I mean I know little trinkets of stuff such as what a sidechain is or an amide to an amine, but nothing in particular more really about an atom per say. I think though when you are doing counts of say protons to neutrons, which is the atomic number on say a periodic table the count might not come out correct in respect to neutrons, at that point you would always round up I think. Besides that I think it pretty much goes into bonding and things like defects, or what an acid or a base is. Your best bet I think would simply be to start at wiki, and type in say the atom, or matter, or chemistry. It will give you more of the vocab for say further reading or studies, for instance if you were looking to buy a book by say linus pauling who will tell you to take vitamin c. That and look up nucleosynthesis, I think its rather neat and surely pertains to an atom.

[thedarkshade]

I guess after all what's said there is very little say, but I'll try to add more. (sorry if I post anything that's been said earlier, I just have no time to look them)

 

OK! Electrons, like said above, orbit the nucleus in orbit which can contain a certain number of electrons. The first shell contains 2 electrons, second contains 8 electrons and so on. You can find the number of electrons in different shells by using the formula:

[math]e=2n^2[/math] e-nr of electrons ; n-shell number

Shells are marked with capital letters M N O P etc, and orbitals are marked with s p d f g h (g and h are theoretical).

Electrons are 1836 smaller than protons in mass. The mass of and electron is [math]9.1 \times 10^{-31}kg[/math] and the amount of electricity that an electron contains is called "elementary amount of electricity" (because it cannot go smaller) and that amount is [math]1.602 \times 10^{-19}C[/math]

Electrons are bonded in different ways with nucleus, and what's interesting is that metal's electrons are bonded very weakly with nucleus, so they can very easily leave the orbit. And this is how conductivity works.

Another interesting thing about electrons (also called as miracle) is the fact that electrons are 1836 smaller than protons, but they both have the same about of electricity.

Of course, electrons are charged negatively and protons positively, while neutrons have no charge and the serve as a "glue". The forces that keep the particles inside the nucleus of an atom together are called strong nuclear forces, while weak nuclear forces control radiation.

 

Sorry for not being able to post more, but I'm running out of time!

[swansont]

[T]he amount of electricity that an electron contains is called "elementary amount of electricity" (because it cannot go smaller) and that amount is [math]1.602 \times 10^{-19}C[/math]

Electrons are bonded in different ways with nucleus, and what's interesting is that metal's electrons are bonded very weakly with nucleus, so they can very easily leave the orbit. And this is how conductivity works.

Another interesting thing about electrons (also called as miracle) is the fact that electrons are 1836 smaller than protons, but they both have the same about of electricity.

 

What you call the "amount of electricity" is actually called charge. "Electricity" is, conceptually, charge flow that carries energy.

 

Of course, electrons are charged negatively and protons positively, while neutrons have no charge and the serve as a "glue". The forces that keep the particles inside the nucleus of an atom together are called strong nuclear forces, while weak nuclear forces control radiation.

 

That's an oft-cited explanation but it's misleading. The weak force is involved in beta decays, i.e. those involving an electron interacting with the nucleus and a neutrino being emitted, since that involves the weak interaction. But alpha decay and gamma emissions do not.