Introduction to Atoms
What is matter?
• Matter is anything you can touch.
• Includes
– Solids
– Liquids
– Gases
Yes, you can touch a gas, you can feel the air
molecules hitting your face when a fan is on.
Matter is made of smaller particles
How was this painted?
Small particles combine to make the
larger object
How was this made?
http://www.chrisjordan.com/
What do these pieces of art have to do
with matter?
• It's also like a picture stored in a computer...
• from a distance, it looks continuous, but if you
blow it up,
• you can see the individual pixels that it is made
from.
Legos
• It's also like building things out of Legos...
• You can take small, individual pieces and put
them together to make something bigger.
Like the art, matter is made of small
particles
These
small
particles
are called
atoms
Atoms are tiny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQP4UJhNn0I
Atom
• Atoms are the building blocks of all materials
• An atom is made of 3 parts:
– Protons and Neutrons are in the nucleus (center)
– Electrons orbit around the nucleus
An atom is the smallest unit of an
element
• There are 118 known elements
• An element is a substance that cannot be
broken down into simpler substances.
Each element has unique physical
characteristics and chemical behaviors
Each element has unique physical
characteristics and chemical behaviors
Hydrogen
- Clear gas
- Less dense
than air
- Flammable
Helium
- Clear gas
- Less dense
than air
- Not
flammable
An atom is the smallest unit of an
element that has all the physical
characteristics and chemical behaviors
of that element.
So how do I know what element I
have?
?
The number of protons in an atom’s
nucleus tells us what element it is.
No two elements have the same
number of protons.
So how do I know how many protons
are in an element?
Reading the Periodic Table
• The atomic number tells us how many protons
are in the nucleus.
•
•
•
•
How many protons are in aluminum? 13
Nitrogen? 7
Sulfur? 16
Carbon? 6
The periodic table is arranged by atomic
number- smallest to largest
The element block will also include a
symbol for the element
• The symbol is a short hand way of writing the
element’s name
• Some elements have a single letter for their
symbol
• The first letter is ALWAYS capitalized
• If there is a second letter, it is ALWAYS lower
case
Element symbols and some unusual names
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p90Ug56GkcE
Review
1. Everything on Earth is
made of ________
(anything you can
touch)
- matter
Review
2. Matter is made of small particles called ____
-Atoms
Review
3. Atoms are made of three smaller particles
called _____
-protons, neutron, and electrons
Review
4. An atom is the smallest unit of an ________
-Element
Review
5. Each element is different, physically and
chemically, because each element has a
different number of ______ in its nucleus
- protons
Review
6. The _______ _________ tells us how many
protons are in the nucleus.
-Atomic number
Review
7. The element can be represented by a symbol.
The first letter is always ______ and the
second letter is always _______ ________
-capitalized
-lower case
Homework-Element Gossip
• Use the atomic number given to find the
element.
• Write the element symbol on the blanks (1st
letter of the symbol is capitalized, 2nd (if
present) is lower case.
• Then write the full name of each element.
• Periodic tables can be found in your agenda
book page 119.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lNF3_30l
UE