Atoms

LI 4: We are learning to describe Atoms

Read this website and answer the following questions about atoms:

What is an atom?

What is a proton?

proton is a positively charged particle that is located at the center of the atom in the nucleus.

What is a neutron?

The neutron doesn’t have any charge. The number of neutrons affects the mass and the radioactivity of the atom.

What is an electron?

The electron is a negatively charged particle that spins around the outside of the nucleus.

 Each element has a different number of protons. This is how we tell them apart. They also have different number of neutrons and electrons, but these can change. Helium has 2 protons so its atomic number is 2, it also has  1 or 2 neutrons and 2 electrons. This is different to Lithium which has 3 protons and an atomic number of 3. It also has  3 electrons and 3 or 4 neutrons. Each element has its own symbol.

                 

                

 

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