Science - Atomic Science - Atoms

This week for Science we have started learning about Atomic Science, this week we learnt about atoms. Atoms are the smallest particle that a chemical can have, the world is made out of trillions of atoms, including ourselves.

Equipment
-1 Piece of card
-30cm of string
-Blue tac
-Two different coloured beads for Protons+ Neutrons

Method
- Pick an atom from 3-10 on the periodic table
- Find out how many Protons, Neutrons + Electrons it has
- Grab Equipment
- Roll the blue tac into a ball
- Stick P+N beads to blue tac
- Cut out rings from paper
- Draw Electrons onto rings
- Create a label
- Tape string to back of the paper so it can hang

Today we were tasked to create a model of an atom using blue tac, beads, paper, string and tape. It was hard at first because I didn’t really understand what it would look like but after a while, I figured it out. I first chose my element, which was carbon. Next, I figured out how many protons and neutrons were in the element. I found out that there 6 protons, 6 electrons, and 6 neutrons. You can find this out by looking at the numbers on the periodic table.

The number on top of the symbol is the atomic number, while the number at the bottom is the mass number. The protons and electrons are both the atomic number while the neutron is what is added with the protons to create the mass number. For example carbons atomic number is 6, this means that both the protons and electrons are 6, so something plus 6 must equal the mass number which is 12. 6 plus 6 equals twelve so the neutron must be 6.



After I figured this out I stuck 12 beads, 6 one colour, 6 another colour to the blue tac. I then cut out two rings from the pieces of paper to act as the “shells” of the atom. Net I drew in the electrons on the shells. In the first shell, there can only be two electrons so I drew two electrons on. In the next shell, you are able to have eight electrons, so I added in the rest of the electrons I needed to add in, which was four. I then created a label so then anyone looking could tell what it was. I then stuck string to the back of the rings, and the ball of blue-tac so then it could hang all together without falling off.




After making the atom we were asked what we would have to do to create an ion. An ion is a charged atom which either has a positive or negative charge. Protons have a Positive charge while electrons have a Negative charge. To figure out the charge you must check how many electrons are in the last outer shell. For carbon there are four electrons, you must then decide whether to take off the four or add six more electrons. You choose which one would be easier to do, in this case, it is easier to take away the four electrons. If you take out four electrons there are now more protons, which means it is now has a positive charge. You then add the number of electrons you have taken out to the positive charge. This means that a carbon atom has a positive charge of 4, it is normally written as a +4 charge.