Skip to main content

Atoms and Molecules

WHAT IS AN ATOM?

An atom is the smallest unit of any regular substance which has chemical properties.

All solids liquids, gases and plasma consist of neutral or ionizing atoms.


Subatomic particles

There are subatomic particles as well, which are smaller than the atoms. 

All atoms consist of three types of subatomic particles, which are:

• protons
• neutrons
• electrons.


Arrangement of the atom

The protons and neutrons form the center of an atom together form what is called the nucleus. 

The electrons fly around the nucleus into a small cloud.


There are many kinds of atoms.

Each atom has a unique name, atomic weight and size.


WHAT IS A MOLECULE?

A molecule is made of a group of atoms which are bonded together. It is the smallest fundamental unit of a chemical compound that can take part in a chemical reaction.

It is the group of multiple atoms which form the smallest unit into which a pure substance can be divided while retaining its composition and chemical properties.

A molecule is actually is an electrically neutral abstraction of two or more corpuscles held together by material bonds.

Molecules are fairly distinguished from subatomic particles by their lack of truly electrical electric charge.


However, in quantum physics, natural philosophy, organic fertilizer chemistry, and biochemistry, the grammatical  constituent molecule is often used less strictly, also being applied to truly polyatomic ions.


The size of molecules

Molecules are so small that the human body itself contains about 2×10²⁵  molecules!

The largest molecule in the world is PG5. It is of 10 nanometres in diameter and has a mass equal to 200 million hydrogen atoms!


Diatomic atoms

A diatomic atom is really composed of only two materials, of the same or elementally different chemical elements.

Diatomic molecules

A fundamentally heteronuclear elementally diatomic molecule consists of two of speck of the same element combined.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Refraction of Light

You must have heard of reflection of light. It's when a ray of light bounces back from a surface.  When a light ray hits a mirror, it bounces back with the same angle as the angle with which it hit the mirror. The angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection But what if instead of a mirror, there is a transparent surface? In such cases, the light ray goes through the surface, and undergoes refraction.  What is refraction? Refraction is the bending of light when it goes from one medium to another. This happens because the speed of light changes across two different media. When a ray of light is perpendicular to the normal, it travels to the other medium without bending. The ray of light only bends when it goes obliquely from one medium to another. This bending of light depends on the medium through which light is travelling. Optical Density • Rarer medium:  The medium through which the speed of light is more is an optically rarer medium. • Denser medium: The medium...
1 comment
Read more

The Speed of Light | Why Does it Matter?

HOW FAST DOES LIGHT TRAVEL? If you could travel at the speed of light, you could go around the Earth 7.5 times in one second. This is because the speed of light is as fast as 300,000 kilometres per second or 300,000,000 metres per second . The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second or 299,792 kilometers per second , and in theory nothing can travel faster than light.  This is the cosmic speed limit, and the constant that stands for the speed of light in vacuum is known as 'c' or 'celeritas'. BUT CAN ANYTHING ELSE TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT? Quarks, leptons, neutrinos, and even dark matter all have masses as a property inherent to them. Objects made out of these particles, such as protons, atoms, and even human beings all have masses as well. As a result, they can approach, but never reach the speed of light in a vacuum. No matter how much energy you put into them, the speed of light, even in a vacuum, will forever be unattainable, and nothing...
Post a Comment
Read more

Electricity

We use electricity everywhere.  When it gets dark, you turn the lights on, which run on electricity. You make your food in your microwave oven, which runs on electricity. You watch your favourite shows on your television, which runs on electricity as well. In fact, the very device you are using right now to read this blog requires electricity to function. Electricity is one of the most important inventions, and is very essential in today's world. BUT WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? Electricity is the set of physical phenomena related to the motion of matter that has a property of electric charge.  For example, when electrons flow in a circuit, they produce electricity/electric current. TYPES OF ELECTRICITY There are two types of electricity: • Static electricity :  It occurs when there is an imbalance between negative and positive charges in an object. This can be done by rubbing materials together which leads to the transfer of negative charge(electrons).  For example, wh...
Post a Comment
Read more