Physics Research Paper

What is an atom?
The word ‘atom’ comes from Ancient Greek and roughly translates as ‘indivisible’. An
atom is the basic building block. It is the smallest unit into which matter can be
divided without the release of electrically charged particles(Particles that carry a
charge).

A brief history of an atom

Around 450 B.C., the Greek philosopher Democritus introduced the idea of the
atom. However, the idea was essentially forgotten for more than 2000 years. In
1800, John Dalton re-introduced the atom. He provided evidence for atoms and
developed atomic theory.

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 What does an atom contain?
An atom contains mainly three things:

1. proton

2. neutron

3. electrons

Proton
It is a stable subatomic particle occurring in all atomic nuclei, with a positive electric
charge equal in magnitude to that of an electron.

Neutron
It is a subatomic particle of about the same mass as a proton but without an electric
charge, present in all atomic nuclei except those of ordinary hydrogen.

Electrons
It is a stable subatomic particle with a charge of negative electricity, found in all
atoms and acting as the primary carrier of electricity in solids.

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Nucleon
A general term to describe protons and neutrons

Nucleon Number
The total number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus of an atom

Neutron Number
The Number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom

Proton Number
The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom

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 Nuclide
A specific combination of protons and neutrons in a nucleus

Particle Relative Mass Charge

proton(p) 1 +e

neutron(n) 1 0

electron(e) 0.0005 -e

alpha-particle(a) 4 +2e

The periodic Table

Atomic Models

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 Dalton’s atomic model
John Dalton was an English scientist who proposed the first modern atomic
model. He proposed that all matter is made of atoms, which are indivisible.
Here are some of the properties Dalton associated with the atom:

All atoms of the same element have the same mass.

Atoms cannot split into smaller particles.

When any chemical reaction occurs, atoms rearrange.

Molecules are composed of several kinds of atoms of each different

element, and chemical compounds have different ratios of elements.

Thomson’s atomic model

With the discovery of electrons by British scientist J. J. Thomson, it became
clear that the atom consisted of even smaller particles that were responsible
for moving electrical charge.
Scientists during Thomson’s time thought that atoms were essentially neutral.
Thomson proposed that atoms had small negative particles floating above a
fluid of positive charge. This model is also known as the plum pudding model.

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 Rutherford’s atomic model(More Detail on
this later)
A New Zealand scientist named Ernest Rutherford designed some experiments
together with German scientist Hans Geiger. The experiments, carried out by a
student named Ernest Marsden, fired particles against a thin foil made of gold.
If the atom was a solid blob made of positive charge with some electrons on
top, as Thomson’s atomic model proposed, most of the fired particles would
not reach the other side of the foil. However, the experiment proved that
Thomson was wrong. The atom was almost empty inside, as not many
particles fired against the foil impacted the nuclei of the atoms.

Rutherford proposed that the atom contains a nucleus, with all the positive
charges concentrated in the center. In the model, the electrons were orbiting
around the center.

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 Bohr’s atomic model
Rutherford’s model did not gain full acceptance. Knowing that moving charges
release energy as electromagnetic radiation, electrons should lose their
kinetic energy. After losing their kinetic energy, electrons should then fall into
the nucleus attracted by the electrostatic force. Inconsistencies in
Rutherford’s atomic model led a Danish scientist named Niels Bohr to propose
a new one.

Bohr’s atomic model was similar to Rutherford’s. The difference between the

two concerns the question of how electrons move. According to Bohr,
electrons can only travel in certain orbits, depending on their energy level, and
they can move up and down the orbits releasing or absorbing energy. The
rules proposed by Bohr are as follows:

Electrons can occupy certain orbits, depending on their energy level.

Each orbit has a certain energy level.

When jumping between orbits, energy must be absorbed or released by

the electrons.

The energy emitted as a form of radiation can be calculated by the

difference in energy levels between the orbits. This energy is said to be
quantized.

Isotopes
Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic
number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and
hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers
(mass numbers) due to different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. While all
isotopes of a given element have almost the same chemical properties, they have
different atomic masses and physical properties.

A brief history
The term isotope is formed from the Greek roots isos ("equal") and topos ("place"),
meaning "the same place"; thus, the meaning behind the name is that different
isotopes of a single element occupy the same position on the periodic table.[2] It was
coined by Scottish doctor and writer Margaret Todd in 1913 as a suggestion to the
British chemist Frederick Soddy.

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 Stable isotopes
The first 80 elements on the periodic table have stable isotopes. The properties of
stable isotopes allow them to be used to understand and manage water and land
resources. They are also used in environmental studies, nutrition assessments,
and forensics.

Naturally occurring stable isotopes such as isotopes of hydrogen are used by

measuring their amounts and ratio in samples of water to determine the water’s age
and origin, understand its history and acknowledge its sources. This is known
as isotope hydrology.

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 Radioisotopes

There are more than 3000 known radioisotopes. They are the unstable form of an
element. They emit different levels of radiation, which makes them useful
in medicine, industry, agriculture, radiopharmaceutical sciences, industrial
applications, environmental tracing, and biological studies.

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 Radioisotopes are artificially and safely produced in research
reactors and accelerators. One use of radioisotopes is to manage cancer and
chronic diseases using radioisotope therapy, which treats cancerous cells in a safe
and effective manner. Other uses range from creating better health care products by
removing or neutralizing chemicals, bacteria, and toxins which pose a hazard.

Rutherford Model
Rutherford's model, also called Rutherford's atomic model, nuclear atom,
or planetary model of the atom, description of the structure of atoms proposed
(1911) by the New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford. The model described
the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a nucleus, in which nearly
all the mass is concentrated, around which the light, negative constituents,
called electrons, circulate at some distance, much like planets revolving around
the Sun.

Rutherford gold-foil experiment

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 The nucleus was postulated as small and dense to account for
the scattering of alpha particles from thin gold foil, as observed in a series of
experiments performed by undergraduate Ernest Marsden under the direction of
Rutherford and German physicist Hans Geiger in 1909. A radioactive source
emitting alpha particles (i.e., positively charged particles, identical to the helium atom
nucleus and 7,000 times more massive than electrons) was enclosed within a
protective lead shield. The radiation was focused into a narrow beam after passing
through a slit in a lead screen. A thin section of gold foil was placed in front of the
slit, and a screen coated with zinc sulfide to render it fluorescent served as a counter
to detect alpha particles. As each alpha particle struck the fluorescent screen, it
produced a burst of light called scintillation, which was visible through a viewing
microscope attached to the back of the screen. The screen itself was movable,
allowing Rutherford and his associates to determine whether or not any alpha
particles were being deflected by the gold foil.

Most alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil, which implied that atoms
are mostly composed of open space. Some alpha particles were deflected slightly,
suggesting interactions with other positively charged particles within the atom. Still,

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 other alpha particles were scattered at large angles, while very few even bounced
back toward the source. (Rutherford famously said later, “It was almost as incredible
as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit
you.”) Only a positively charged and relatively heavy target particle, such as the
proposed nucleus, could account for such strong repulsion. The negative electrons
that balanced electrically with the positive nuclear charge were regarded as traveling
in circular orbits about the nucleus. The electrostatic force of attraction between
electrons and the nucleus was likened to the gravitational force of attraction between
the revolving planets and the Sun. Most of this planetary atom was open space and
offered no resistance to the passage of the alpha particles.

The Rutherford model supplanted the “plum-pudding” atomic model of English

physicist Sir J.J. Thomson, in which the electrons were embedded in a positively
charged atom like plums in a pudding. Based wholly on classical physics, the
Rutherford model itself was superseded in a few years by the Bohr atomic model,
which incorporated some early quantum theory.

Alpha Gamma and Beta Particles

Gamma rays are neutral, while alpha particles have a positive charge and beta
particles have a negative charge two protons and two neutrons are bound together
to form an alpha particle. High-energy electrons are known as beta particles.
Gamma rays are photons, which are electromagnetic energy waves.

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