ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Atoms are the building blocks of matter. They are the smallest units of
elements. For example, a piece of iron is made of a large number of iron
(Fe) atoms closely packed together. If we talk about the structure of atom,
it can be divided into two parts, nucleus and extra nuclear portion and it
consists of three fundamental particles, which are electrons, protons and
neutrons. These particles are known as subatomic particles.

Properties of subatomic particles

Name Symbol Mass in kg Relative mass( proton =1) Relative Charge

Proton P+ 1.673 x 10- 1 +1

27

Neutron n0 1.675 x 10- 1 0

27

Electron e- 9.109 x 10- 0.00055 -1

31

The protons and neutrons are present in the nucleus, which is a very small
area present at the centre of the atom. The electrons are present in the
extra nuclear portion in different energy shells or levels, which are also
known as orbits around the nucleus. The electrons keep revolving in these
orbits around the nucleus. The electrons are negatively charged particles,
protons are positively charged particles and neutrons are neutral as they
have no charge. In a neutral atom, the number of electrons is equal to the
number of protons.

The structure of the atom was not discovered in a single day, week or
year. There were various scientists who performed different experiments
to understand the structure of atom over time mainly between 1815 and
1905.
Discovery of sub-Atomic particles:

Discovery of electron
Electro was discovered by J.J Thomson in 1897. He was awarded the
noble prize in 1906 for the discovery of the electron. He performed an
experiment with a transparent discharge tube. He placed a metal plate at
each end of the tube and connected the plates to a high voltage battery.
The negative terminal of the battery was connected to one plate, which
became a negatively charged electrode called the cathode. Whereas, the
positive terminal of the battery was connected to the other plate, which
became a positively charged electrode called the anode.

The discharge tube was filled with air or gas at very low pressure and it
was fitted with a vacuum pump to reduce the pressure of the gas when
required.

In the beginning, the pressure of the gas was kept equal to atmospheric
pressure and the current was passed through the battery. No changes
were observed in the tube. Then the pressure in the tube was reduced to
1mm of Hg through the vacuum pump. This time the tube started glowing
so it was clear that at this pressure the current is passing from one
electron to the other electrode.
The pressure was again reduced to 0.01 mm of Hg. This time tube
stopped glowing and became dark from inside, however, he observed a
greenish-yellow fluorescent light behind the anode. There was a coating of
Zinc sulphide ZnS on the inside of the tube behind the anode that
produced fluorescent light. It is the tendency of ZnS to produce such light
when it was struck or hit by charged particles. From this, Thomson
concluded that when the temperature was at 0.01 mm of Hg and voltage
was 10,000 volts, charged particles are produced in the tube that made
the ZnS to glow. As cathode was placed to the opposite of anode, so J.J
Thomson concluded that charged particles came from the cathode in the
form of rays which he called cathode rays.

Discovery of proton
Proton was discovered by Goldstein. After the discovery of electrons in the atom, he
thought that there must be some positive charge in the nucleus to neutralize the negative
charge of electrons as the atom is neutral. So, he also performed an experiment with a
discharge tube containing two electrodes cathode and anode connected to the battery and a
vacuum pump connected to the discharge tube.

As he was discovering positively charged particles, he placed a zinc sulphide coating behind
the cathode. He kept the same pressure and voltage which were used during the discovery of
electrons and passed the current. But he did not observe anything.

Then he made some perforations (small holes) in the cathode and again performed the
experiment. This time the coating started glowing. It showed the presence of charged
particles in rays that came from the anode and struck the Zink Sulphide (ZnS) coating after
passing through the perforation in the cathode and made the ZnS to glow. These rays of
positively charged particles were called anode rays or canal rays. These positively charged
particles were called protons, hence, protons were discovered by Goldstein.

From the above two experiments, electrons and protons were discovered. Now, after the
discovery of electron and protons, the next step was to find the arrangement of these particles
in the atom. So, J.J Thomason again in 1904 proposed a model for the arrangement of
electrons and protons in an atom, this model was called the plum pudding model.

The mass of an electron was very less as capered to a proton. So, he

assumed that it is the protons that contributed to the mass of an atom.
According to his model, the atom is a sphere of positive charge or
positively charged particles (protons) that are uniformly distributed in the
atom and the electrons are distributed or embedded in this mass
randomly just like seeds of the watermelon are distributed or embedded
in its red coloured pulp. So, according to his model, electrons are
uniformly distributed but the protons are randomly distributed in it.

Discovery of neutron
Neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932. It has no charge,
however, it has a mass that is equal to the mass of a proton. Neutrons are
present inside the nucleus of an atom just like protons. So, an atom's
mass is equal to the sum of masses of protons and neutrons. So, after the
discovery of neutrons, the atomic structure that we know today was
completely discovered.

Neutron