In chemistry and physics, an atom (Greek ἄτομος or átomos meaning "indivisible") is the

smallest particle still characterizing a chemical element.[2] (átomos is usually translated as

"indivisible" or "uncuttable." Until the advent of quantum mechanics, dividing a material
object was invariably equated with cutting it.) Whereas the word atom originally denoted
a particle that cannot be cut into smaller particles, the atoms of modern parlance are
composed of subatomic particles:

• electrons, which have a negative charge, a size which is so small as to be

currently unmeasurable, and which are the least heavy (i.e., massive) of the three;
• protons, which have a positive charge, and are about 1836 times more massive
than electrons; and
• neutrons, which have no charge, and are the same size as protons.

Protons and neutrons make up a dense, massive atomic nucleus, and are collectively
called nucleons. The electrons form the much larger electron cloud surrounding the
nucleus.

Atoms can differ in the number of each of the subatomic particles they contain. Atoms of
the same element have the same number of protons (called the atomic number). Within a
single element, the number of neutrons may vary, determining the isotope of that
element. The number of electrons associated with an atom is most easily changed, due to
the lower energy of binding of electrons. The number of protons (and neutrons) in the
atomic nucleus may also change, via nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, bombardment by
high energy subatomic particles or photons, or certain (but not all) types of radioactive
decay. In such processes which change the number of protons in a nucleus, the atom
becomes an atom of a different chemical element.

Atoms are electrically neutral if they have an equal number of protons and electrons.
Atoms which have either a deficit or a surplus of electrons are called ions. Electrons that
are furthest from the nucleus may be transferred to other nearby atoms or shared between
atoms. By this mechanism atoms are able to bond into molecules and other types of
chemical compounds like ionic and covalent network crystals.

Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of chemistry, and are conserved in chemical
reactions.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Atoms and molecules

• 2 Properties of the atom in present theory
o 2.1 Subatomic particles
 2.1.1 Electron configuration
o 2.2 Atom size and speed
o 2.3 Elements, isotopes and ions
 o 2.4 Valence and bonding
o 2.5 Atomic spectrum
• 3 Exotic atoms
• 4 Atoms and the Big Bang Theory
• 5 Atom size comparisons
• 6 See also
• 7 References

• 8 External links

[edit] Atoms and molecules

This scanning tunneling microscope image clearly shows the individual atoms that make
up this sheet of Au(100) surface. Reconstruction causes the surface atoms to deviate from
the bulk crystal structure and arrange in columns several atoms wide with pits between
them.
Main article: History of the molecule

For gases and certain molecular liquids and solids (such as water and sugar), molecules
are the smallest division of matter which retains chemical properties; however, there are
also many solids and liquids which are made of atoms, but do not contain discrete
molecules (such as salts, rocks, and liquid and solid metals). Thus, while molecules are
common on Venus (making up all of the atmosphere and most of the oceans), most of the
mass of the Earth (much of the crust, and all of the mantle and core) is not made of
identifiable molecules, but rather represents atomic matter in other networked
arrangements, all of which lack the particular type of small-scale interrupted order (i.e.,
small, strongly-bound collections of atoms held to other collections of atoms by much
weaker forces) that is associated with molecular matter.

Most molecules are made up of multiple atoms; for example, a molecule of water is a
combination of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The term "molecule" in gases
has been used as a synonym for the fundamental particles of the gas, whatever their
structure. This definition results in a few types of gases (for example inert elements that
do not form compounds, such as neon), which has "molecules" consisting of only a single
atom.

History of atom

Main articles: atomic theory and Atomism

Philosophical atomic ruminations date back to the ancient Greeks and Indians in the fifth
and sixth centuries BCE. It was the Greeks (Democritus; see below) who coined the term
atomos, which meant "uncuttable".

The first philosophical statements relating to an idea similar to atoms was developed by
Democritus in Greece in the fifth century BCE around 450 BCE. The idea was lost for
centuries until scientific interest was rekindled during the Renaissance Period.

Various atoms and molecules as depicted in John Dalton's A New System of Chemical
Philosophy (1808).

In 1803, John Dalton used the concept of atoms to explain why elements always reacted
in simple proportions, and why certain gases dissolved better in water than others. He
proposed that each element consists of atoms of a single, unique type, and that these
atoms could join to each other, to form compound chemicals.

In 1897, JJ Thomson, through his work on cathode rays, discovered the electron and its
subatomic nature (i.e., its lightness compared with the mass of atoms), which destroyed
the concept of atoms as being indivisible units. Later, Thomson also discovered the
existence of isotopes through his work on ionized gases.
Thomson believed that the electrons were distributed evenly throughout the atom,
balanced by the presence of a uniform sea of positive charge. However, in 1909, the gold
foil experiment of Ernest Rutherford suggested that the positive charge of an atom and
most of its mass was concentrated in a nucleus at the center of the atom, with the
electrons orbiting it like planets around a sun. In 1913, Niels Bohr added quantum
mechanics into this model, which now stated that the electrons were locked or confined
into clearly defined orbits, and could jump between these, but could not freely spiral
inward or outward in intermediate states.

In 1926, Erwin Schrodinger, using Louis DeBroglie's 1924 proposal that all particles
behave to an extent like waves, developed a mathematical model of the atom that
described the electrons as three-dimensional waveforms, rather than point particles. A
consequence of using waveforms to describe electrons, pointed out by Werner
Heisenberg a year later, is that it is mathematically impossible to obtain precise values for
both the position and momentum of a particle at any point in time; this became known as
the uncertainty principle. In this concept, for any given value of position one could only
obtain a range of probable values for momentum, and vice versa. Although this model
was difficult to visually conceptualize, it was able to explain many observations of
atomic behavior that previous models could not, such as certain structural and spectral
patterns of atoms bigger than hydrogen. Thus, the planetary model of the atom was
discarded in favor of one that described orbital zones around the nucleus where a given
electron is most likely to exist.

[edit] Properties of the atom in present theory

[edit] Subatomic particles

Main article: subatomic particles

This model of a helium atom shows the electrons (yellow), the neutrons (grey), and the
protons (pink). Also shown are the up quarks (red), and the down quarks (blue) that make
up the nucleons as well as the gluons (black) which hold the quarks together.

Although the name "atom" was applied at a time when atoms were thought to be
indivisible, it is now known that the atom can be broken down into a number of smaller
components. The first of these to be discovered was the negatively charged electron,
which is easily ejected from atoms during ionization. The electrons (or more specifically,
electron clouds) orbit a small, dense body containing all of the positive charge in the
atom, called the atomic nucleus. This nucleus is itself made up of nucleons: positively
charged protons and chargeless neutrons.

Before 1961, the subatomic particle's make up atoms were thought to consist of only
protons, neutrons and electrons. However, protons and neutrons themselves are now
known to consist of still smaller particles called quarks. In addition, the electron is known
to have a nearly massless neutral partner called a neutrino, which appears whenever an
electron is created from a quark reaction. Together, the electron and neutrino are both
termed leptons-- particles with mass which are not subject to the strong nuclear force.

Ordinary atoms are composed only of quarks and leptons of the first so-called generation.
The proton is composed of two "up quarks" and one "down quark", whereas the neutron
is composed of one up quark and two down quarks. Although they do not occur in
ordinary matter and are extremely short-lived, two other heavier generations of quarks
and leptons may be generated in high-energy collisions. These heavier quarks and leptons
decay quickly into the familiar ones which compose atoms.

The subatomic force carrying particles (called gauge bosons) are also important to atoms.
Electrons are bound to the nucleus by photons carrying the electromagnetic force.
Protons and neutrons are bound together in the nucleus by the strong nuclear force.

[edit] Electron configuration

Main article: electron configuration

The nucleus of an atom is surrounded by a cloud of electrons, and it is primarily the

interaction of these clouds with clouds in other atoms that govern the chemical behavior
of atoms. A popular concept is that the electrons orbit the atom in neat circles like planets
around a sun, but this is an obsolete model that is nonetheless still taught to younger
students because it is simpler and sufficient for beginning chemistry. In the true modern
model of the atom, the positions of the electrons around the atom's nucleus are described
through probabilities—that is, an electron can theoretically be found at any arbitrary
position around the nucleus, but is more likely to be found in certain regions than others.
This pattern is referred to as its atomic orbital and the shape of its orbital depends on its
energy level and angular momentum. These are determined by its quantum state.
The five atomic "orbitals" (i.e., spacial zones, represented here by bi-colored bubbles) of
a neon atom. The orbitals have been separated and arranged from left to right in order of
increasing energy (the three on the right have the same shape and the same energy). Each
orbital holds up to two electrons (10 total for neon), each pair existing for most of the
time in a given orbital zone. Each orbital electron is equally in both colored lobes of a
zone; the two arbitrary colors shown merely artificially denote the two differing wave
phases of each orbital.

Each atomic orbital can hold one or two electrons, but no more. The orbitals are
organized into shells and subshells, based on their overall energy and angular momentum.
Generally speaking, higher energy shells (in which the electrons are less tightly bound to
the atom) can hold more electrons and are located farther from the nucleus. A shell can
hold up to 2n2 electrons (where n is the shell number). The electrons in the outermost
shell or shells, called the valence electrons, have the greatest influence on chemical
behavior. Core electrons (those not in the outer shell(s)) play a role, but it is usually in
terms of a secondary effect due to screening of the positive charge in the atomic nucleus.

In the most stable ground state, an atom's electrons will fill up its orbitals in order of
increasing energy. Under some circumstances, an electron may be excited to a higher
energy level (that is, it absorbs energy from an external source and moves to a "higher"
shell (one less tightly bound to the nucleus), leaving a space in a lower, more tightly
bound, shell. An excited atom's electrons will spontaneously fall back to lower levels,
emitting the energy it had gained, as a photon. This behavior is the root of a substance's
absorption spectrum and emission spectrum.

[edit] Atom size and speed

Depiction of a hydrogen atom showing the diameter as about twice the van der Waals
radius. (Image not to scale)

Atoms are much smaller than the wavelengths of light that human vision can detect, so
atoms cannot be seen in any kind of optical microscope. However, there are ways of
detecting the positions of atoms on the surface of a solid or a thin film so as to obtain
images. These include: electron microscopes (such as in scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM)), atomic force microscopy (AFM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and x-ray
microscopy.

Nearly all the mass of an atom is in its nucleus, yet almost all the space in an atom is
occupied by its electron cloud. This cloud, which is composed of orbital space discussed,
is the volume which the electrons occupy and exclude other electrons from. The electron
cloud is far larger than the size of the individual electrons that comprised of. Thus,
particles such as neutrons and neutrinos, which do not interact with the electron cloud, do
not "see" the same effective size for atoms, and often pass through them as though they
were empty space.

Since the electron cloud does not have a sharp cutoff, the size of an atom is not easily
defined. In many conditions it is the electron cloud which gives atoms their effective
"size," by the act of excluding the electron clouds of other atoms. For atoms that can form
solid crystal lattices, the distance between the centers of adjacent atoms can be easily
determined by x-ray diffraction, giving an estimate of the atoms' size on the basis of
interactions with other atoms. For single atoms, a size estimate might use the radius at
which the electrons of the valence shell are most likely to be found, since these are the
electrons which interact with other atoms. As an example, the size of a hydrogen atom is
estimated to be approximately 1.06×10-10 m (twice the Bohr radius, which in turn is half
the van der Waals radius-- these measures are necessarily approximate because of the
diffuse nature of the electron cloud). Compare this to the size of the proton (the only
particle in the nucleus of the hydrogen atom), which is approximately 10-15 m. Thus the
ratio of the size of the hydrogen atom to its nucleus is about 100,000:1. If an atom were
the size of a stadium, the nucleus would be the size of a marble. If an atom were the size
of the Earth, an electron would certainly be less than 10 cm in size, and might have no
size at all (electrons are less than 10-18 m in radius and may be point-particles). [1]

Atoms of different elements do vary in effective size, but the sizes (volumes) do not scale
well with the mass of the atom. Heavier atoms do tend generally to be denser. The
diameters of atoms are roughly the same to within a factor of less than three for the
heavier atoms, and the most noticeable effect on size with atomic mass is a reverse one:
atomic size actually shrinks with increasing mass in each periodic table row [2]. The
reason for these effects is that heavy elements have large positive charge on their nuclei,
which strongly attract the electrons to the center of the atom. This contracts the size of
the electron shells, so that more electrons may fit into a smaller volume. These effects
may be striking: for example, atoms of the densest element iridium (atomic weight about
192) are about the same size as aluminum atoms (atomic weight about 27), and this
weight ratio of about seven for the individual atoms, is the major factor in the density
ratio of more than eight between the two metals.

The temperature of a collection of atoms is a measure of the average energy of motion of

those atoms above the minimum zero-point energy demanded by quantum mechanics; at
0 kelvins (absolute zero) atoms would have no extra energy above the minimum energy.
As the temperature of the system is increased, the kinetic energy of the particles in the
system is increased by the amount of heat, and their speed of motion increases. At room
temperature, atoms making up gases in the air move at an average speed of 500 m/s
(about 1100 mph or 1800 km/h).

[edit] Elements, isotopes and ions

Atoms are classified into chemical elements by their atomic number Z, which
corresponds to the number of protons in the atom. For example, all atoms containing six
protons (Z = 6) are classified as carbon. Atoms with the same atomic number share a
wide variety of physical properties and exhibit almost identical chemical properties (for
the closest instance to an exception to this principle, see deuterium and heavy water). The
elements may be sorted according to the periodic table in order of increasing atomic
number. When this is done, certain repeating cycles of regularities in chemical and
physical properties are evident.

The mass number A, or nucleon number of an element is the total number of protons and
neutrons in an atom of that element, so-called because each proton and neutron has a
mass of about 1 unified atomic mass unit (u). A particular collection of a certain number
of protons Z, and neutrons A-Z, is called a nuclide.

Each element can have numerous different nuclides with the same Z (number of protons
or number of electrons) but varying numbers of neutrons. Such a family of nuclides are
called the isotopes of the element (isotope = "same place", because these nuclides share
the same chemical symbol and place on the periodic table). When writing the name of a
particular nuclide, the element name (which specifies the Z) is preceded by the mass
number if written as a superscript, or else followed by the mass number if not a
superscript. For example, the nuclide carbon-14, which may also be written 14C, is one of
the isotopes of carbon, and it contains 6 protons and 8 neutrons in each atom, for a total
mass number of 14. For a complete table of known nuclides, including radioactive and
stable nuclides, see isotope table (divided).

The atomic mass listed for each element in the periodic table is an average of the isotope
masses found in nature, weighted by their abundance.

The simplest atom is the hydrogen isotope protium, which has atomic number 1 and
atomic mass number 1; it consists of one proton and one electron. The hydrogen isotope
which also contains one neutron so is called deuterium or hydrogen-2; the hydrogen
isotope with two neutrons is called tritium or hydrogen-3. Tritium is an unstable isotope
which decays through a process called radioactivity. Many isotopes of each element are
radioactive; the number which are stable varies greatly with the element (tin has 10 stable
isotopes; see list of stable isotopes). Lead (Z = 82) is the last element which has stable
isotopes. The elements with atomic number 83 (bismuth) and greater have no stable
isotopes and are all radioactive.

Virtually all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created through stellar
nucleosynthesis and supernova nucleosynthesis. The solar system is thought to be formed
of clouds of elements from many such supernovae, which date from more than 4.6 billion
years ago. Most of the elements lighter than uranium (Z = 92) have either stable isotopes,
or else radioisotopes long-lived enough to occur naturally on Earth. Two notable
exceptions of light but short-lived radioactive elements are technetium Z = 43 (although
some technetium has been found on Earth, this occurred only after the element was first
synthesized artificially), and promethium Z = 61, which is found naturally only in stars
where it was recently made. Several other short-lived heavy elements that do not occur
on Earth have been found to be present in stars. Elements not normally found in nature
have been artificially created by nuclear bombardment; as of April 2007, elements have
been created through atomic number 118 (given the temporary name Ununoctium). These
ultra-heavy elements are generally highly unstable and decay quickly.

Atoms that have lost or gained electrons to become electrically non-neutral, are called
atomic ions. Ions are divided into cations with positive (+) electric charge; or anions with
negative (-) charge.

[edit] Valence and bonding

Main articles: valence electron and chemical bond

The number of electrons in an atom's outermost energy level (the valence shell) governs
its bonding behavior. Therefore, elements with the same number of valence electrons are
grouped together in the columns of the periodic table of the elements. Alkali metals
contain one electron on their outer shell; alkaline earth metals, two electrons; halogens,
seven electrons; and various others.

Every atom is most stable with a full valence shell. This means that atoms with full
valence shells (the noble gases) are quite inert. Conversely, atoms with few electrons in
their valence shell are more reactive. Alkali metals are therefore very reactive, with
caesium, rubidium, and francium being the most reactive of all metals. Also, atoms that
need only few electrons (such as the halogens) to fill their valence shells are reactive.
Fluorine is the most reactive of all elements.

Atoms may fill their valence shells by chemical bonding. This can be achieved one of
two ways: an atom can either share electrons with other atoms (a covalent bond), or it can
remove electrons from (or donate electrons to) other atoms (an ionic bond). The
formation of a bond causes a strong attraction between two atoms, creating molecules or
ionic compounds. Many other types of bonds exist, including:
 • polar covalent bonds;
• coordinate covalent bonds;
• metallic bonds;
• hydrogen bonds; and
• van der Waals bonds.

[edit] Atomic spectrum

Main article: Atomic spectroscopy

Since each element in the periodic table consists of an atom in a unique configuration
with different numbers of protons and electrons, each element can also be uniquely
described by the energies of its atomic orbitals and the number of electrons within them.
Normally, an atom is found in its lowest-energy ground state; states with higher energy
are called excited states. An electron may move from a lower-energy orbital to a higher-
energy orbital by absorbing a photon with energy equal to the difference between the
energies of the two levels. An electron in a higher-energy orbital may drop to a lower-
energy orbital by emitting a photon. Since each element has a unique set of energy levels,
each creates its own light pattern unique to itself: its own spectral signature.

If a set of atoms is heated (such as in an arc lamp), their electrons will move into excited
states. When these atoms fall back toward the ground state, they will produce an emission
spectrum. If a set of atoms is illuminated by a continuous spectrum, it will only absorb
specific wavelengths (energies) of photon that correspond to the differences in its energy
levels. The resulting pattern of gaps is called the absorption spectrum.

In spectroscopic analysis, scientists can use a spectrometer to study the atoms in stars and
other distant objects. Due to the distinctive spectral lines that each element produces, they
are able to tell the chemical composition of distant planets, stars and nebulae.

Not all parts of the atomic spectrum are within the visible light portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum. For example, the hyperfine transitions (including the
important 21 cm line) produce low-energy radio waves. When electrons deep inside
atoms of high atomic number are knocked out (for example by [[beta radiation),
replacement electrons fall deep into the electric potential of the high-Z nucleus,
producing high-energy x-rays.

[edit] Exotic atoms

Main articles: exotic atom and antimatter

An exotic atom is usually made from a normal matter atom with a substitution from
abnormal or rarely encountered matter, such as antimatter, muons, mesons, or other
objects. A few exotic atoms (such as atoms of antimatter) are not made of any normal
atomic constituents at all. All exotic atoms (save antiatoms made from antinucleons and
positrons), are highly unstable, decaying with lifetimes of a few microseconds or less.
The antimatter counterparts of stable particles are also stable, but difficult to store for
more than short periods, since they annihilate if allowed to contact ordinary matter.

The most familiar examples of exotic atoms are the antiatom antihydrogen (composed of
an antiproton and positron) which has been produced in tiny quantities, and positronium,
an analogue to the hydrogen atom in which a positron is substituted for the usual proton
nucleus. Positronium is unstable; it is a common phase in the attraction between an
electron and positron before the annihilation reaction in which the matter particles are
destroyed and two gamma rays are emitted.

[edit] Atoms and the Big Bang Theory

Immediately after the start of the Big Bang, space expanded incredibly quickly for a very
short time. This process, which lasted for the minutest fraction of a second, is called
inflation. After that, expansion began to slow down and different kinds of subatomic
particles including quarks and electrons made their appearance. Just one millionth of a
second after the birth of the universe, the quarks had clumped together to form new
particles called protons and neutrons. After a hundred seconds or so, some of the protons
and nearly all of the neutrons gathered into bunches, consisting of two protons and two
neutrons. Eventually, each bunch, or atomic nucleus, captured two electrons to form a
helium atom, and each remaining proton captured a single electron to form a hydrogen
atom. The first building blocks of matter had been born.

In models of the Big Bang, Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts that within one to three
minutes of the Big Bang almost all atomic material in the universe was created. During
this process, nuclei of hydrogen and helium formed abundantly, but almost no elements
heavier than lithium. Hydrogen makes up approximately 92% of the atoms in the
universe (by number, not mass); helium makes up less than 7%; and all other elements
make up less than 1% (see Abundance of the chemical elements). However, although
nuclei (fully-ionized atoms) were created, neutral atoms themselves could not form in the
intense heat.

Big Bang chronology of the atom continues to approximately 379,000 years after the Big
Bang when the cosmic temperature had dropped to just 3,000 K. It was then cool enough
to allow the nuclei to capture electrons. This process is called recombination, during
which the first neutral atoms took form. Once atoms become neutral, they only absorb
photons of a discrete absorption spectrum. This allows most of the photons in the
universe to travel unimpeded for billions of years. These photons are still detectable
today in the sosmic microwave background radiation.

After Big Bang nucleosynthesis, no heavier elements could be created until the formation
of the first stars. These stars fused heavier elements through stellar nucleosynthesis
during their lives and through supernova nucleosynthesis as they died. The seeding of the
interstellar medium by heavy elements eventually allowed the formation of terrestrial
planets like the Earth.
[edit] Atom size comparisons
Various analogies have been used to demonstrate the minuteness of the atom:

• A human hair is about 1 million carbon atoms wide.

• A single drop of water contains about 2 sextillion atoms of oxygen (2 followed by
21 zeros, 2×1021) and twice as many hydrogen atoms.[3]
• An HIV virion is the width of 800 carbon atoms and contains about 100 million
atoms total. An E. coli bacterium contains perhaps 100 billion atoms, and a
typical human cell roughly 100 trillion atoms.
• A speck of dust might contain 3x1012 (3 trillion) atoms.
• The number of atoms in 12 grams of charcoal (about 6 x 1023) is more than
1,400,000 times the age of the universe in seconds.