Chapter 4

Structure of an Atom

Charged particles in Matter

•    Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter.
•    Different kinds of matter exist because there are different kinds of atom
 present in them.

Postulates of Dalton’s Atomic Theory

•    All matter is made up of tiny, indivisible particles called atoms.
•    All atoms of a specific element are identical in mass, size, and other properties. However, atoms of different element exhibit different properties and vary in mass and size.
•    Atoms can neither be created nor destroyed. Furthermore, atoms cannot be divided into smaller particles.
•    Atoms of different elements can combine with each other in fixed whole-number ratios in order to form compounds.
•    Atoms can be rearranged, combined, or separated in chemical reactions.
•    John Dalton considered atom to be an individual entity, but his concept had to be discarded                  at the end of 19th century, when scientist through experiments able to find existence of charge (electrons & protons) and neutral particles (neutrons) in the atom. These particles were called sub atomic particles.
•    The discovery of electron and proton is credited to J.J. Thomson and E. Goldstein, respectively. 
•    J.J. Thomson proposed that electrons are embedded in a positive sphere
•    Electron was represented as 'e-' and proton as 'p+'. The mass of a proton is taken as one unit and its charge as plus one where the mass of an electron was considered to be negligible and its charge minus one
•    It seemed that atom consisted of electrons and protons which balanced their charges mutually.