Atom

Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a nucleus of protons
and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The
chemical elements are distinguished from each other by the number of protons that are in their
atoms. For example, any atom that contains 11 protons is sodium, and any atom that contains 29
protons is copper. Atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons are
called isotopes of the same element.

Atoms are extremely small, typically around 100 picometers across. A human hair is about a million
carbon atoms wide. Atoms are smaller than the shortest wavelength of visible light, which means
humans cannot see atoms with conventional microscopes. They are so small that accurately
predicting their behavior using classical physics is not possible due to quantum effects.

More than 99.9994%[1] of an atom's mass is in the nucleus. Protons have a positive electric charge
and neutrons have no charge, so the nucleus is positively charged. The electrons are negatively
charged, and this opposing charge is what binds them to the nucleus. If the numbers of protons and
electrons are equal, as they normally are, then the atom is electrically neutral as a whole. If an atom
has more electrons than protons, then it has an overall negative charge and is called a negative ion
(or anion). Conversely, if it has more protons than electrons, it has a positive charge and is called a
positive ion (or cation).

The electrons of an atom are attracted to the protons in an atomic nucleus by the electromagnetic
force. The protons and neutrons in the nucleus are attracted to each other by the nuclear force. This
force is usually stronger than the electromagnetic force that repels the positively charged protons
from one another. Under certain circumstances, the repelling electromagnetic force becomes
stronger than the nuclear force. In this case, the nucleus splits and leaves behind different
elements. This is a form of nuclear decay.

Atoms can attach to one or more other atoms by chemical bonds to form chemical compounds
such as molecules or crystals. The ability of atoms to attach and detach from each other is
responsible for most of the physical changes observed in nature. Chemistry is the science that
studies these changes.
History of atomic theory Atom

In philosophy

The basic idea that matter is made up of tiny

indivisible particles is an old idea that appeared in
many ancient cultures. The word atom is derived
from the ancient Greek word atomos,[a] which
means "uncuttable". But this ancient idea was
based in philosophical reasoning rather than
scientific reasoning. Modern atomic theory is not
based on these old concepts.[2][3] In the early 19th
century, the scientist John Dalton found evidence
An illustration of the helium atom, depicting
that matter really is composed of discrete units,
the nucleus (pink) and the electron cloud
and so applied the word atom to those units.[4]
distribution (black). The nucleus (upper right)
in helium-4 is in reality spherically symmetric
and closely resembles the electron cloud,
Dalton's law of multiple proportions
although for more complicated nuclei this is
not always the case. The black bar is one
angstrom (10−10 m or 100 pm).

Classification

Smallest recognized division of a chemical

element

Properties

Various atoms and molecules from A Mass range 1.67 × 10−27 to

New System of Chemical Philosophy 4.52 × 10−25 kg
(John Dalton 1808).
Electric charge zero (neutral), or ion
In the early 1800s, John Dalton compiled
charge
experimental data gathered by him and other
scientists and discovered a pattern now known as Diameter range 62 pm (He) to

the "law of multiple proportions". He noticed that 520 pm (Cs)

(data page)
in any group of chemical compounds which all
contain two particular chemical elements, the Components Electrons and a
amount of Element A per measure of Element B compact nucleus of
will differ across these compounds by ratios of protons and neutrons

small whole numbers. This pattern suggested

that each element combines with other elements in multiples of a basic unit of weight, with each
element having a unit of unique weight. Dalton decided to call these units "atoms".[5]

For example, there are two types of tin oxide: one is a grey powder that is 88.1% tin and 11.9%
oxygen, and the other is a white powder that is 78.7% tin and 21.3% oxygen. Adjusting these figures,
in the grey powder there is about 13.5 g of oxygen for every 100 g of tin, and in the white powder
there is about 27 g of oxygen for every 100 g of tin. 13.5 and 27 form a ratio of 1:2. Dalton
concluded that in the grey oxide there is one atom of oxygen for every atom of tin, and in the white
oxide there are two atoms of oxygen for every atom of tin (SnO and SnO2).[6][7]

Dalton also analyzed iron oxides. There is one type of iron oxide that is a black powder which is
78.1% iron and 21.9% oxygen; and there is another iron oxide that is a red powder which is 70.4%
iron and 29.6% oxygen. Adjusting these figures, in the black powder there is about 28 g of oxygen
for every 100 g of iron, and in the red powder there is about 42 g of oxygen for every 100 g of iron.
28 and 42 form a ratio of 2:3. Dalton concluded that in these oxides, for every two atoms of iron,
there are two or three atoms of oxygen respectively. These substances are known today as iron(II)
oxide and iron(III) oxide, and their formulas are FeO and Fe2O3 respectively. Iron(II) oxide's formula
is normally written as FeO, but since it is a crystalline substance we could alternately write it as
Fe2O2, and when we contrast that with Fe2O3, the 2:3 ratio for the oxygen is plain to see.[8][9]

As a final example: nitrous oxide is 63.3% nitrogen and 36.7% oxygen, nitric oxide is 44.05% nitrogen
and 55.95% oxygen, and nitrogen dioxide is 29.5% nitrogen and 70.5% oxygen. Adjusting these
figures, in nitrous oxide there is 80 g of oxygen for every 140 g of nitrogen, in nitric oxide there is
about 160 g of oxygen for every 140 g of nitrogen, and in nitrogen dioxide there is 320 g of oxygen
for every 140 g of nitrogen. 80, 160, and 320 form a ratio of 1:2:4. The respective formulas for these
oxides are N2O, NO, and NO2.[10][11]

Discovery of the electron

In 1897, J. J. Thomson discovered that cathode rays can be deflected by electric and magnetic
fields, which meant that cathode rays are not a form of light but made of electrically charged
particles, and their charge was negative given the direction the particles were deflected in.[12] He
measured these particles to be 1,700 times lighter than hydrogen (the lightest atom).[13] He called
these new particles corpuscles but they were later renamed electrons since these are the particles
that carry electricity.[14] Thomson also showed that electrons were identical to particles given off by
photoelectric and radioactive materials.[15] Thomson explained that an electric current is the
passing of electrons from one atom to the next, and when there was no current the electrons
embedded themselves in the atoms. This in turn meant that atoms were not indivisible as scientists
thought. The atom was composed of electrons whose negative charge was balanced out by some
source of positive charge to create an electrically neutral atom. Ions, Thomson explained, must be
atoms which have an excess or shortage of electrons.[16]

Discovery of the nucleus

The Rutherford scattering

experiments: The extreme scattering
of some alpha particles suggested
the existence of a nucleus of
concentrated charge.

The electrons in the atom logically had to be balanced out by a commensurate amount of positive
charge, but Thomson had no idea where this positive charge came from, so he tentatively proposed
that it was everywhere in the atom, the atom being in the shape of a sphere. This was the
mathematically simplest hypothesis to fit the available evidence, or lack thereof. Following from
this, Thomson imagined that the balance of electrostatic forces would distribute the electrons
throughout the sphere in a more or less even manner.[17] Thomson's model is popularly known as
the plum pudding model, though neither Thomson nor his colleagues used this analogy.[18]
Thomson's model was incomplete, it was unable to predict any other properties of the elements
such as emission spectra and valencies. It was soon rendered obsolete by the discovery of the
atomic nucleus.

Between 1908 and 1913, Ernest Rutherford and his colleagues Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden
performed a series of experiments in which they bombarded thin foils of metal with a beam of alpha
particles. They did this to measure the scattering patterns of the alpha particles. They spotted a
small number of alpha particles being deflected by angles greater than 90°. This shouldn't have
been possible according to the Thomson model of the atom, whose charges were too diffuse to
produce a sufficiently strong electric field. The deflections should have all been negligible.
Rutherford proposed that the positive charge of the atom is concentrated in a tiny volume at the
center of the atom and that the electrons surround this nucleus in a diffuse cloud. This nucleus
carried almost all of the atom's mass. Only such an intense concentration of charge, anchored by its
high mass, could produce an electric field that could deflect the alpha particles so strongly.[19]

Bohr model

The Bohr model of the atom, with an

electron making instantaneous
"quantum leaps" from one orbit to
another with gain or loss of energy.
This model of electrons in orbits is
obsolete.

A problem in classical mechanics is that an accelerating charged particle radiates electromagnetic

radiation, causing the particle to lose kinetic energy. Circular motion counts as acceleration, which
means that an electron orbiting a central charge should spiral down into that nucleus as it loses
speed. In 1913, the physicist Niels Bohr proposed a new model in which the electrons of an atom
were assumed to orbit the nucleus but could only do so in a finite set of orbits, and could jump
between these orbits only in discrete changes of energy corresponding to absorption or radiation of
a photon.[20] This quantization was used to explain why the electrons' orbits are stable and why
elements absorb and emit electromagnetic radiation in discrete spectra.[21] Bohr's model could only
predict the emission spectra of hydrogen, not atoms with more than one electron.

Discovery of protons and neutrons

Back in 1815, William Prout observed that the atomic weights of many elements were multiples of
hydrogen's atomic weight, which is in fact true for all of them if one takes isotopes into account. In
1898, J. J. Thomson found that the positive charge of a hydrogen ion is equal to the negative charge
of an electron, and these were then the smallest known charged particles.[22] Thomson later found
that the positive charge in an atom is a positive multiple of an electron's negative charge.[23] In 1913,
Henry Moseley discovered that the frequencies of X-ray emissions from an excited atom were a
mathematical function of its atomic number and hydrogen's nuclear charge. In 1919, Rutherford
bombarded nitrogen gas with alpha particles and detected hydrogen ions being emitted from the
gas, and concluded that they were produced by alpha particles hitting and splitting the nuclei of the
nitrogen atoms.[24]

These observations led Rutherford to conclude that the hydrogen nucleus is a singular particle with
a positive charge equal to the electron's negative charge.[25] He named this particle "proton" in
1920.[26] The number of protons in an atom (which Rutherford called the "atomic number"[27][28])
was found to be equal to the element's ordinal number on the periodic table and therefore provided
a simple and clear-cut way of distinguishing the elements from each other. The atomic weight of
each element is higher than its proton number, so Rutherford hypothesized that the surplus weight
was carried by unknown particles with no electric charge and a mass equal to that of the proton.

In 1928, Walter Bothe observed that beryllium emitted a highly penetrating, electrically neutral
radiation when bombarded with alpha particles. It was later discovered that this radiation could
knock hydrogen atoms out of paraffin wax. Initially it was thought to be high-energy gamma
radiation, since gamma radiation had a similar effect on electrons in metals, but James Chadwick
found that the ionization effect was too strong for it to be due to electromagnetic radiation, so long
as energy and momentum were conserved in the interaction. In 1932, Chadwick exposed various
elements, such as hydrogen and nitrogen, to the mysterious "beryllium radiation", and by measuring
the energies of the recoiling charged particles, he deduced that the radiation was actually
composed of electrically neutral particles which could not be massless like the gamma ray, but
instead were required to have a mass similar to that of a proton. Chadwick now claimed these
particles as Rutherford's neutrons.[29]

The current consensus model

The modern model of atomic orbitals

draws zones where an electron is
most likely to be found at any
moment.

In 1925, Werner Heisenberg published the first consistent mathematical formulation of quantum
mechanics (matrix mechanics).[30] One year earlier, Louis de Broglie had proposed that all particles
behave like waves to some extent,[31] and in 1926 Erwin Schrödinger used this idea to develop the
Schrödinger equation, which describes electrons as three-dimensional waveforms rather than
points in space.[32] A consequence of using waveforms to describe particles is that it is
mathematically impossible to obtain precise values for both the position and momentum of a
particle at a given point in time. This became known as the uncertainty principle, formulated by
Werner Heisenberg in 1927.[30] In this concept, for a given accuracy in measuring a position one
could only obtain a range of probable values for momentum, and vice versa.[33] Thus, the planetary
model of the atom was discarded in favor of one that described atomic orbital zones around the
nucleus where a given electron is most likely to be found.[34][35] This model was able to explain
observations of atomic behavior that previous models could not, such as certain structural and
spectral patterns of atoms larger than hydrogen.

Structure

Subatomic particles

Though the word atom originally denoted a particle that cannot be cut into smaller particles, in
modern scientific usage the atom is composed of various subatomic particles. The constituent
particles of an atom are the electron, the proton, and the neutron.

The electron is the least massive of these particles by four orders of magnitude at 9.11 × 10−31 kg,
with a negative electrical charge and a size that is too small to be measured using available
techniques.[36] It was the lightest particle with a positive rest mass measured, until the discovery of
neutrino mass. Under ordinary conditions, electrons are bound to the positively charged nucleus by
the attraction created from opposite electric charges. If an atom has more or fewer electrons than
its atomic number, then it becomes respectively negatively or positively charged as a whole; a
charged atom is called an ion. Electrons have been known since the late 19th century, mostly thanks
to J.J. Thomson; see history of subatomic physics for details.

Protons have a positive charge and a mass of 1.6726 × 10−27 kg. The number of protons in an atom
is called its atomic number. Ernest Rutherford (1919) observed that nitrogen under alpha-particle
bombardment ejects what appeared to be hydrogen nuclei. By 1920 he had accepted that the
hydrogen nucleus is a distinct particle within the atom and named it proton.

Neutrons have no electrical charge and have a mass of 1.6749 × 10−27 kg.[37][38] Neutrons are the
heaviest of the three constituent particles, but their mass can be reduced by the nuclear binding
energy. Neutrons and protons (collectively known as nucleons) have comparable dimensions—on
the order of 2.5 × 10−15 m—although the 'surface' of these particles is not sharply defined.[39] The
neutron was discovered in 1932 by the English physicist James Chadwick.
In the Standard Model of physics, electrons are truly elementary particles with no internal structure,
whereas protons and neutrons are composite particles composed of elementary particles called
quarks. There are two types of quarks in atoms, each having a fractional electric charge. Protons are
2 1
composed of two up quarks (each with charge + 3 ) and one down quark (with a charge of − 3 ).

Neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. This distinction accounts for the difference
in mass and charge between the two particles.[40][41]

The quarks are held together by the strong interaction (or strong force), which is mediated by
gluons. The protons and neutrons, in turn, are held to each other in the nucleus by the nuclear force,
which is a residuum of the strong force that has somewhat different range-properties (see the
article on the nuclear force for more). The gluon is a member of the family of gauge bosons, which
are elementary particles that mediate physical forces.[40][41]

Nucleus

The binding energy needed for a

nucleon to escape the nucleus, for
various isotopes

All the bound protons and neutrons in an atom make up a tiny atomic nucleus, and are collectively

called nucleons. The radius of a nucleus is approximately equal to femtometres, where

is the total number of nucleons.[42] This is much smaller than the radius of the atom, which is on the
order of 105 fm. The nucleons are bound together by a short-ranged attractive potential called the
residual strong force. At distances smaller than 2.5 fm this force is much more powerful than the
electrostatic force that causes positively charged protons to repel each other.[43]

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 total
number of protons and neutrons determine the nuclide. The number of neutrons relative to the
protons determines the stability of the nucleus, with certain isotopes undergoing radioactive
decay.[44]
The proton, the electron, and the neutron are classified as fermions. Fermions obey the Pauli
exclusion principle which prohibits identical fermions, such as multiple protons, from occupying the
same quantum state at the same time. Thus, every proton in the nucleus must occupy a quantum
state different from all other protons, and the same applies to all neutrons of the nucleus and to all
electrons of the electron cloud.[45]

A nucleus that has a different number of protons than neutrons can potentially drop to a lower
energy state through a radioactive decay that causes the number of protons and neutrons to more
closely match. As a result, atoms with matching numbers of protons and neutrons are more stable
against decay, but with increasing atomic number, the mutual repulsion of the protons requires an
increasing proportion of neutrons to maintain the stability of the nucleus.[45]

Illustration of a nuclear
fusion process that forms a
deuterium nucleus,
consisting of a proton and a
neutron, from two protons. A
positron (e+)—an antimatter
electron—is emitted along
with an electron neutrino.

The number of protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus can be modified, although this can
require very high energies because of the strong force. Nuclear fusion occurs when multiple atomic
particles join to form a heavier nucleus, such as through the energetic collision of two nuclei. For
example, at the core of the Sun protons require energies of 3 to 10 keV to overcome their mutual
repulsion—the coulomb barrier—and fuse together into a single nucleus.[46] Nuclear fission is the
opposite process, causing a nucleus to split into two smaller nuclei—usually through radioactive
decay. The nucleus can also be modified through bombardment by high energy subatomic particles
or photons. If this modifies the number of protons in a nucleus, the atom changes to a different
chemical element.[47][48]

If the mass of the nucleus following a fusion reaction is less than the sum of the masses of the
separate particles, then the difference between these two values can be emitted as a type of usable
energy (such as a gamma ray, or the kinetic energy of a beta particle), as described by Albert
Einstein's mass–energy equivalence formula, E = mc2, where m is the mass loss and c is the speed
of light. This deficit is part of the binding energy of the new nucleus, and it is the non-recoverable
loss of the energy that causes the fused particles to remain together in a state that requires this
energy to separate.[49]

The fusion of two nuclei that create larger nuclei with lower atomic numbers than iron and nickel—a
total nucleon number of about 60—is usually an exothermic process that releases more energy than
is required to bring them together.[50] It is this energy-releasing process that makes nuclear fusion in
stars a self-sustaining reaction. For heavier nuclei, the binding energy per nucleon begins to
decrease. That means that a fusion process producing a nucleus that has an atomic number higher
than about 26, and a mass number higher than about 60, is an endothermic process. Thus, more
massive nuclei cannot undergo an energy-producing fusion reaction that can sustain the hydrostatic
equilibrium of a star.[45]

Electron cloud

A potential well, showing, according

to classical mechanics, the minimum
energy V(x) needed to reach each
position x. Classically, a particle with
energy E is constrained to a range of
positions between x1 and x2.

The electrons in an atom are attracted to the protons in the nucleus by the electromagnetic force.
This force binds the electrons inside an electrostatic potential well surrounding the smaller nucleus,
which means that an external source of energy is needed for the electron to escape. The closer an
electron is to the nucleus, the greater the attractive force. Hence electrons bound near the center of
the potential well require more energy to escape than those at greater separations.

Electrons, like other particles, have properties of both a particle and a wave. The electron cloud is a
region inside the potential well where each electron forms a type of three-dimensional standing
wave—a wave form that does not move relative to the nucleus. This behavior is defined by an atomic
orbital, a mathematical function that characterises the probability that an electron appears to be at
a particular location when its position is measured.[51] Only a discrete (or quantized) set of these
orbitals exist around the nucleus, as other possible wave patterns rapidly decay into a more stable
form.[52] Orbitals can have one or more ring or node structures, and differ from each other in size,
shape and orientation.[53]

3D views of some hydrogen-like atomic orbitals showing

probability density and phase (g orbitals and higher are
not shown)

Each atomic orbital corresponds to a particular energy level of the electron. The electron can
change its state to a higher energy level by absorbing a photon with sufficient energy to boost it into
the new quantum state. Likewise, through spontaneous emission, an electron in a higher energy
state can drop to a lower energy state while radiating the excess energy as a photon. These
characteristic energy values, defined by the differences in the energies of the quantum states, are
responsible for atomic spectral lines.[52]

The amount of energy needed to remove or add an electron—the electron binding energy—is far less
than the binding energy of nucleons. For example, it requires only 13.6 eV to strip a ground-state
electron from a hydrogen atom,[54] compared to 2.23 million eV for splitting a deuterium nucleus.[55]
Atoms are electrically neutral if they have an equal number of protons and electrons. Atoms that
have either a deficit or a surplus of electrons are called ions. Electrons that are farthest 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.[56]
Properties

Nuclear properties

By definition, any two atoms with an identical number of protons in their nuclei belong to the same
chemical element. Atoms with equal numbers of protons but a different number of neutrons are
different isotopes of the same element. For example, all hydrogen atoms admit exactly one proton,
but isotopes exist with no neutrons (hydrogen-1, by far the most common form,[57] also called
protium), one neutron (deuterium), two neutrons (tritium) and more than two neutrons. The known
elements form a set of atomic numbers, from the single-proton element hydrogen up to the 118-
proton element oganesson.[58] All known isotopes of elements with atomic numbers greater than 82
are radioactive, although the radioactivity of element 83 (bismuth) is so slight as to be practically
negligible.[59][60]

About 339 nuclides occur naturally on Earth,[61] of which 251 (about 74%) have not been observed to
decay, and are referred to as "stable isotopes". Only 90 nuclides are stable theoretically, while
another 161 (bringing the total to 251) have not been observed to decay, even though in theory it is
energetically possible. These are also formally classified as "stable". An additional 35 radioactive
nuclides have half-lives longer than 100 million years, and are long-lived enough to have been
present since the birth of the Solar System. This collection of 286 nuclides are known as primordial
nuclides. Finally, an additional 53 short-lived nuclides are known to occur naturally, as daughter
products of primordial nuclide decay (such as radium from uranium), or as products of natural
energetic processes on Earth, such as cosmic ray bombardment (for example, carbon-14).[62][note 1]

For 80 of the chemical elements, at least one stable isotope exists. As a rule, there is only a handful
of stable isotopes for each of these elements, the average being 3.1 stable isotopes per element.
Twenty-six "monoisotopic elements" have only a single stable isotope, while the largest number of
stable isotopes observed for any element is ten, for the element tin. Elements 43, 61, and all
elements numbered 83 or higher have no stable isotopes.[63]: 1–12

Stability of isotopes is affected by the ratio of protons to neutrons, and also by the presence of
certain "magic numbers" of neutrons or protons that represent closed and filled quantum shells.
These quantum shells correspond to a set of energy levels within the shell model of the nucleus;
filled shells, such as the filled shell of 50 protons for tin, confers unusual stability on the nuclide. Of
the 251 known stable nuclides, only four have both an odd number of protons and odd number of
neutrons: hydrogen-2 (deuterium), lithium-6, boron-10, and nitrogen-14. (Tantalum-180m is odd-odd
and observationally stable, but is predicted to decay with a very long half-life.) Also, only four
naturally occurring, radioactive odd-odd nuclides have a half-life over a billion years: potassium-40,
vanadium-50, lanthanum-138, and lutetium-176. Most odd-odd nuclei are highly unstable with
respect to beta decay, because the decay products are even-even, and are therefore more strongly
bound, due to nuclear pairing effects.[64]

Mass

The large majority of an atom's mass comes from the protons and neutrons that make it up. The
total number of these particles (called "nucleons") in a given atom is called the mass number. It is a
positive integer and dimensionless (instead of having dimension of mass), because it expresses a
count. An example of use of a mass number is "carbon-12," which has 12 nucleons (six protons and
six neutrons).

The actual mass of an atom at rest is often expressed in daltons (Da), also called the unified atomic
mass unit (u). This unit is defined as a twelfth of the mass of a free neutral atom of carbon-12,
which is approximately 1.66 × 10−27 kg.[65] Hydrogen-1 (the lightest isotope of hydrogen which is
also the nuclide with the lowest mass) has an atomic weight of 1.007825 Da.[66] The value of this
number is called the atomic mass. A given atom has an atomic mass approximately equal (within
1%) to its mass number times the atomic mass unit (for example the mass of a nitrogen-14 is
roughly 14 Da), but this number will not be exactly an integer except (by definition) in the case of
carbon-12.[67] The heaviest stable atom is lead-208,[59] with a mass of 207.976 6521 Da.[68]

As even the most massive atoms are far too light to work with directly, chemists instead use the unit
of moles. One mole of atoms of any element always has the same number of atoms (about
6.022 × 1023). This number was chosen so that if an element has an atomic mass of 1 u, a mole of
atoms of that element has a mass close to one gram. Because of the definition of the unified
atomic mass unit, each carbon-12 atom has an atomic mass of exactly 12 Da, and so a mole of
carbon-12 atoms weighs exactly 0.012 kg.[65]

Shape and size

Atoms lack a well-defined outer boundary, so their dimensions are usually described in terms of an
atomic radius. This is a measure of the distance out to which the electron cloud extends from the
nucleus.[69] This assumes the atom to exhibit a spherical shape, which is only obeyed for atoms in
vacuum or free space. Atomic radii may be derived from the distances between two nuclei when the
two atoms are joined in a chemical bond. The radius varies with the location of an atom on the
atomic chart, the type of chemical bond, the number of neighboring atoms (coordination number)
and a quantum mechanical property known as spin.[70] On the periodic table of the elements, atom
size tends to increase when moving down columns, but decrease when moving across rows (left to
right).[71] Consequently, the smallest atom is helium with a radius of 32 pm, while one of the largest
is caesium at 225 pm.[72]

When subjected to external forces, like electrical fields, the shape of an atom may deviate from
spherical symmetry. The deformation depends on the field magnitude and the orbital type of outer
shell electrons, as shown by group-theoretical considerations. Aspherical deviations might be
elicited for instance in crystals, where large crystal-electrical fields may occur at low-symmetry
lattice sites.[73][74] Significant ellipsoidal deformations have been shown to occur for sulfur ions[75]
and chalcogen ions[76] in pyrite-type compounds.

Atomic dimensions are thousands of times smaller than the wavelengths of light (400–700 nm) so
they cannot be viewed using an optical microscope, although individual atoms can be observed
using a scanning tunneling microscope. To visualize the minuteness of the atom, consider that a
typical human hair is about 1 million carbon atoms in width.[77] A single drop of water contains
about 2 sextillion (2 × 1021) atoms of oxygen, and twice the number of hydrogen atoms.[78] A single
carat diamond with a mass of 2 × 10−4 kg contains about 10 sextillion (1022) atoms of carbon.[note 2]
If an apple were magnified to the size of the Earth, then the atoms in the apple would be
approximately the size of the original apple.[79]

Radioactive decay

This diagram shows the half-life (T1⁄ )

2
of various isotopes with Z protons
and N neutrons.
Every element has one or more isotopes that have unstable nuclei that are subject to radioactive
decay, causing the nucleus to emit particles or electromagnetic radiation. Radioactivity can occur
when the radius of a nucleus is large compared with the radius of the strong force, which only acts
over distances on the order of 1 fm.[80]

The most common forms of radioactive decay are:[81][82]

Alpha decay: this process is caused when the nucleus emits an alpha particle, which is a helium
nucleus consisting of two protons and two neutrons. The result of the emission is a new element
with a lower atomic number.

Beta decay (and electron capture): these processes are regulated by the weak force, and result
from a transformation of a neutron into a proton, or a proton into a neutron. The neutron to proton
transition is accompanied by the emission of an electron and an antineutrino, while proton to
neutron transition (except in electron capture) causes the emission of a positron and a neutrino.
The electron or positron emissions are called beta particles. Beta decay either increases or
decreases the atomic number of the nucleus by one. Electron capture is more common than
positron emission, because it requires less energy. In this type of decay, an electron is absorbed
by the nucleus, rather than a positron emitted from the nucleus. A neutrino is still emitted in this
process, and a proton changes to a neutron.

Gamma decay: this process results from a change in the energy level of the nucleus to a lower
state, resulting in the emission of electromagnetic radiation. The excited state of a nucleus which
results in gamma emission usually occurs following the emission of an alpha or a beta particle.
Thus, gamma decay usually follows alpha or beta decay.

Other more rare types of radioactive decay include ejection of neutrons or protons or clusters of
nucleons from a nucleus, or more than one beta particle. An analog of gamma emission which
allows excited nuclei to lose energy in a different way, is internal conversion—a process that
produces high-speed electrons that are not beta rays, followed by production of high-energy
photons that are not gamma rays. A few large nuclei explode into two or more charged fragments of
varying masses plus several neutrons, in a decay called spontaneous nuclear fission.

Each radioactive isotope has a characteristic decay time period—the half-life—that is determined by
the amount of time needed for half of a sample to decay. This is an exponential decay process that
steadily decreases the proportion of the remaining isotope by 50% every half-life. Hence after two
half-lives have passed only 25% of the isotope is present, and so forth.[80]
Magnetic moment

Elementary particles possess an intrinsic quantum mechanical property known as spin. This is
analogous to the angular momentum of an object that is spinning around its center of mass,
although strictly speaking these particles are believed to be point-like and cannot be said to be
rotating. Spin is measured in units of the reduced Planck constant (ħ), with electrons, protons and
neutrons all having spin 1⁄2 ħ, or "spin-1⁄2". In an atom, electrons in motion around the nucleus
possess orbital angular momentum in addition to their spin, while the nucleus itself possesses
angular momentum due to its nuclear spin.[83]

The magnetic field produced by an atom—its magnetic moment—is determined by these various
forms of angular momentum, just as a rotating charged object classically produces a magnetic
field, but the most dominant contribution comes from electron spin. Due to the nature of electrons
to obey the Pauli exclusion principle, in which no two electrons may be found in the same quantum
state, bound electrons pair up with each other, with one member of each pair in a spin up state and
the other in the opposite, spin down state. Thus these spins cancel each other out, reducing the
total magnetic dipole moment to zero in some atoms with even number of electrons.[84]

In ferromagnetic elements such as iron, cobalt and nickel, an odd number of electrons leads to an
unpaired electron and a net overall magnetic moment. The orbitals of neighboring atoms overlap
and a lower energy state is achieved when the spins of unpaired electrons are aligned with each
other, a spontaneous process known as an exchange interaction. When the magnetic moments of
ferromagnetic atoms are lined up, the material can produce a measurable macroscopic field.
Paramagnetic materials have atoms with magnetic moments that line up in random directions when
no magnetic field is present, but the magnetic moments of the individual atoms line up in the
presence of a field.[84][85]

The nucleus of an atom will have no spin when it has even numbers of both neutrons and protons,
but for other cases of odd numbers, the nucleus may have a spin. Normally nuclei with spin are
aligned in random directions because of thermal equilibrium, but for certain elements (such as
xenon-129) it is possible to polarize a significant proportion of the nuclear spin states so that they
are aligned in the same direction—a condition called hyperpolarization. This has important
applications in magnetic resonance imaging.[86][87]
Energy levels

These electron's energy levels (not to

scale) are sufficient for ground states
of atoms up to cadmium (5s2 4d10)
inclusively. The top of the diagram is
lower than an unbound electron state.

The potential energy of an electron in an atom is negative relative to when the distance from the
nucleus goes to infinity; its dependence on the electron's position reaches the minimum inside the
nucleus, roughly in inverse proportion to the distance. In the quantum-mechanical model, a bound
electron can occupy only a set of states centered on the nucleus, and each state corresponds to a
specific energy level; see time-independent Schrödinger equation for a theoretical explanation. An
energy level can be measured by the amount of energy needed to unbind the electron from the
atom, and is usually given in units of electronvolts (eV). The lowest energy state of a bound electron
is called the ground state, i.e., stationary state, while an electron transition to a higher level results in
an excited state.[88] The electron's energy increases along with n because the (average) distance to
the nucleus increases. Dependence of the energy on ℓ is caused not by the electrostatic potential of
the nucleus, but by interaction between electrons.

For an electron to transition between two different states, e.g. ground state to first excited state, it
must absorb or emit a photon at an energy matching the difference in the potential energy of those
levels, according to the Niels Bohr model, what can be precisely calculated by the Schrödinger
equation. Electrons jump between orbitals in a particle-like fashion. For example, if a single photon
strikes the electrons, only a single electron changes states in response to the photon; see Electron
properties.

The energy of an emitted photon is proportional to its frequency, so these specific energy levels
appear as distinct bands in the electromagnetic spectrum.[89] Each element has a characteristic
spectrum that can depend on the nuclear charge, subshells filled by electrons, the electromagnetic
interactions between the electrons and other factors.[90]
 An example of absorption lines in a spectrum

When a continuous spectrum of energy is passed through a gas or plasma, some of the photons are
absorbed by atoms, causing electrons to change their energy level. Those excited electrons that
remain bound to their atom spontaneously emit this energy as a photon, traveling in a random
direction, and so drop back to lower energy levels. Thus the atoms behave like a filter that forms a
series of dark absorption bands in the energy output. (An observer viewing the atoms from a view
that does not include the continuous spectrum in the background, instead sees a series of emission
lines from the photons emitted by the atoms.) Spectroscopic measurements of the strength and
width of atomic spectral lines allow the composition and physical properties of a substance to be
determined.[91]

Close examination of the spectral lines reveals that some display a fine structure splitting. This
occurs because of spin–orbit coupling, which is an interaction between the spin and motion of the
outermost electron.[92] When an atom is in an external magnetic field, spectral lines become split
into three or more components; a phenomenon called the Zeeman effect. This is caused by the
interaction of the magnetic field with the magnetic moment of the atom and its electrons. Some
atoms can have multiple electron configurations with the same energy level, which thus appear as a
single spectral line. The interaction of the magnetic field with the atom shifts these electron
configurations to slightly different energy levels, resulting in multiple spectral lines.[93] The presence
of an external electric field can cause a comparable splitting and shifting of spectral lines by
modifying the electron energy levels, a phenomenon called the Stark effect.[94]

If a bound electron is in an excited state, an interacting photon with the proper energy can cause
stimulated emission of a photon with a matching energy level. For this to occur, the electron must
drop to a lower energy state that has an energy difference matching the energy of the interacting
photon. The emitted photon and the interacting photon then move off in parallel and with matching
phases. That is, the wave patterns of the two photons are synchronized. This physical property is
used to make lasers, which can emit a coherent beam of light energy in a narrow frequency band.[95]

Valence and bonding behavior

Valency is the combining power of an element. It is determined by the number of bonds it can form
to other atoms or groups.[96] The outermost electron shell of an atom in its uncombined state is
known as the valence shell, and the electrons in that shell are called valence electrons. The number
of valence electrons determines the bonding behavior with other atoms. Atoms tend to chemically
react with each other in a manner that fills (or empties) their outer valence shells.[97] For example, a
transfer of a single electron between atoms is a useful approximation for bonds that form between
atoms with one-electron more than a filled shell, and others that are one-electron short of a full
shell, such as occurs in the compound sodium chloride and other chemical ionic salts. Many
elements display multiple valences, or tendencies to share differing numbers of electrons in
different compounds. Thus, chemical bonding between these elements takes many forms of
electron-sharing that are more than simple electron transfers. Examples include the element carbon
and the organic compounds.[98]

The chemical elements are often displayed in a periodic table that is laid out to display recurring
chemical properties, and elements with the same number of valence electrons form a group that is
aligned in the same column of the table. (The horizontal rows correspond to the filling of a quantum
shell of electrons.) The elements at the far right of the table have their outer shell completely filled
with electrons, which results in chemically inert elements known as the noble gases.[99][100]

States

Graphic illustrating the formation of a

Bose–Einstein condensate

Quantities of atoms are found in different states of matter that depend on the physical conditions,
such as temperature and pressure. By varying the conditions, materials can transition between
solids, liquids, gases, and plasmas.[101] Within a state, a material can also exist in different
allotropes. An example of this is solid carbon, which can exist as graphite or diamond.[102] Gaseous
allotropes exist as well, such as dioxygen and ozone.

At temperatures close to absolute zero, atoms can form a Bose–Einstein condensate, at which
point quantum mechanical effects, which are normally only observed at the atomic scale, become
apparent on a macroscopic scale.[103][104] This super-cooled collection of atoms then behaves as a
single super atom, which may allow fundamental checks of quantum mechanical behavior.[105]
Identification

Scanning tunneling microscope

surface reconstruction image
showing the individual atoms making
up this gold (100) surface. The
surface atoms deviate from the bulk
crystal structure and arrange in
columns several atoms wide with pits
between them.

While atoms are too small to be seen, devices such as the scanning tunneling microscope (STM)
enable their visualization at the surfaces of solids. The microscope uses the quantum tunneling
phenomenon, which allows particles to pass through a barrier that would be insurmountable in the
classical perspective. Electrons tunnel through the vacuum between two biased electrodes,
providing a tunneling current that is exponentially dependent on their separation. One electrode is a
sharp tip ideally ending with a single atom. At each point of the scan of the surface the tip's height is
adjusted so as to keep the tunneling current at a set value. How much the tip moves to and away
from the surface is interpreted as the height profile. For low bias, the microscope images the
averaged electron orbitals across closely packed energy levels—the local density of the electronic
states near the Fermi level.[106][107] Because of the distances involved, both electrodes need to be
extremely stable; only then periodicities can be observed that correspond to individual atoms. The
method alone is not chemically specific, and cannot identify the atomic species present at the
surface.

Atoms can be easily identified by their mass. If an atom is ionized by removing one of its electrons,
its trajectory when it passes through a magnetic field will bend. The radius by which the trajectory of
a moving ion is turned by the magnetic field is determined by the mass of the atom. The mass
spectrometer uses this principle to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. If a sample contains
multiple isotopes, the mass spectrometer can determine the proportion of each isotope in the
sample by measuring the intensity of the different beams of ions. Techniques to vaporize atoms
include inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry, both of which use a plasma to vaporize samples for analysis.[108]

The atom-probe tomograph has sub-nanometer resolution in 3-D and can chemically identify
individual atoms using time-of-flight mass spectrometry.[109]

Electron emission techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron
spectroscopy (AES), which measure the binding energies of the core electrons, are used to identify
the atomic species present in a sample in a non-destructive way. With proper focusing both can be
made area-specific. Another such method is electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), which
measures the energy loss of an electron beam within a transmission electron microscope when it
interacts with a portion of a sample.

Spectra of excited states can be used to analyze the atomic composition of distant stars. Specific
light wavelengths contained in the observed light from stars can be separated out and related to the
quantized transitions in free gas atoms. These colors can be replicated using a gas-discharge lamp
containing the same element.[110] Helium was discovered in this way in the spectrum of the Sun
23 years before it was found on Earth.[111]

Origin and current state

Baryonic matter forms about 4% of the total energy density of the observable universe, with an
average density of about 0.25 particles/m3 (mostly protons and electrons).[112] Within a galaxy such
as the Milky Way, particles have a much higher concentration, with the density of matter in the
interstellar medium (ISM) ranging from 105 to 109 atoms/m3.[113] The Sun is believed to be inside
the Local Bubble, so the density in the solar neighborhood is only about 103 atoms/m3.[114] Stars
form from dense clouds in the ISM, and the evolutionary processes of stars result in the steady
enrichment of the ISM with elements more massive than hydrogen and helium.

Up to 95% of the Milky Way's baryonic matter are concentrated inside stars, where conditions are
unfavorable for atomic matter. The total baryonic mass is about 10% of the mass of the galaxy;[115]
the remainder of the mass is an unknown dark matter.[116] High temperature inside stars makes
most "atoms" fully ionized, that is, separates all electrons from the nuclei. In stellar remnants—with
exception of their surface layers—an immense pressure make electron shells impossible.
Formation

Periodic table showing the origin of each element. Elements from carbon up to sulfur may be made in
small stars by the alpha process. Elements beyond iron are made in large stars with slow neutron
capture (s-process). Elements heavier than iron may be made in neutron star mergers or supernovae
after the r-process.

Electrons are thought to exist in the Universe since early stages of the Big Bang. Atomic nuclei
forms in nucleosynthesis reactions. In about three minutes Big Bang nucleosynthesis produced
most of the helium, lithium, and deuterium in the Universe, and perhaps some of the beryllium and
boron.[117][118][119]

Ubiquitousness and stability of atoms relies on their binding energy, which means that an atom has
a lower energy than an unbound system of the nucleus and electrons. Where the temperature is
much higher than ionization potential, the matter exists in the form of plasma—a gas of positively
charged ions (possibly, bare nuclei) and electrons. When the temperature drops below the ionization
potential, atoms become statistically favorable. Atoms (complete with bound electrons) became to
dominate over charged particles 380,000 years after the Big Bang—an epoch called recombination,
when the expanding Universe cooled enough to allow electrons to become attached to nuclei.[120]

Since the Big Bang, which produced no carbon or heavier elements, atomic nuclei have been
combined in stars through the process of nuclear fusion to produce more of the element helium,
and (via the triple-alpha process) the sequence of elements from carbon up to iron;[121] see stellar
nucleosynthesis for details.

Isotopes such as lithium-6, as well as some beryllium and boron are generated in space through
cosmic ray spallation.[122] This occurs when a high-energy proton strikes an atomic nucleus, causing
large numbers of nucleons to be ejected.
Elements heavier than iron were produced in supernovae and colliding neutron stars through the r-
process, and in AGB stars through the s-process, both of which involve the capture of neutrons by
atomic nuclei.[123] Elements such as lead formed largely through the radioactive decay of heavier
elements.[124]

Earth

Most of the atoms that make up the Earth and its inhabitants were present in their current form in
the nebula that collapsed out of a molecular cloud to form the Solar System. The rest are the result
of radioactive decay, and their relative proportion can be used to determine the age of the Earth
through radiometric dating.[125][126] Most of the helium in the crust of the Earth (about 99% of the
helium from gas wells, as shown by its lower abundance of helium-3) is a product of alpha
decay.[127]

There are a few trace atoms on Earth that were not present at the beginning (i.e., not "primordial"),
nor are results of radioactive decay. Carbon-14 is continuously generated by cosmic rays in the
atmosphere.[128] Some atoms on Earth have been artificially generated either deliberately or as by-
products of nuclear reactors or explosions.[129][130] Of the transuranic elements—those with atomic
numbers greater than 92—only plutonium and neptunium occur naturally on Earth.[131][132]
Transuranic elements have radioactive lifetimes shorter than the current age of the Earth[133] and
thus identifiable quantities of these elements have long since decayed, with the exception of traces
of plutonium-244 possibly deposited by cosmic dust.[125] Natural deposits of plutonium and
neptunium are produced by neutron capture in uranium ore.[134]

The Earth contains approximately 1.33 × 1050 atoms.[135] Although small numbers of independent
atoms of noble gases exist, such as argon, neon, and helium, 99% of the atmosphere is bound in the
form of molecules, including carbon dioxide and diatomic oxygen and nitrogen. At the surface of the
Earth, an overwhelming majority of atoms combine to form various compounds, including water,
salt, silicates, and oxides. Atoms can also combine to create materials that do not consist of
discrete molecules, including crystals and liquid or solid metals.[136][137] This atomic matter forms
networked arrangements that lack the particular type of small-scale interrupted order associated
with molecular matter.[138]
Rare and theoretical forms

Superheavy elements

All nuclides with atomic numbers higher than 82 (lead) are known to be radioactive. No nuclide with
an atomic number exceeding 92 (uranium) exists on Earth as a primordial nuclide, and heavier
elements generally have shorter half-lives. Nevertheless, an "island of stability" encompassing
relatively long-lived isotopes of superheavy elements[139] with atomic numbers 110 to 114 might
exist.[140] Predictions for the half-life of the most stable nuclide on the island range from a few
minutes to millions of years.[141] In any case, superheavy elements (with Z > 104) would not exist
due to increasing Coulomb repulsion (which results in spontaneous fission with increasingly short
half-lives) in the absence of any stabilizing effects.[142]

Exotic matter

Each particle of matter has a corresponding antimatter particle with the opposite electrical charge.
Thus, the positron is a positively charged antielectron and the antiproton is a negatively charged
equivalent of a proton. When a matter and corresponding antimatter particle meet, they annihilate
each other. Because of this, along with an imbalance between the number of matter and antimatter
particles, the latter are rare in the universe. The first causes of this imbalance are not yet fully
understood, although theories of baryogenesis may offer an explanation. As a result, no antimatter
atoms have been discovered in nature.[143][144] In 1996, the antimatter counterpart of the hydrogen
atom (antihydrogen) was synthesized at the CERN laboratory in Geneva.[145][146]

Other exotic atoms have been created by replacing one of the protons, neutrons or electrons with
other particles that have the same charge. For example, an electron can be replaced by a more
massive muon, forming a muonic atom. These types of atoms can be used to test fundamental
predictions of physics.[147][148][149]

See also

History of quantum mechanics

Physics portal
Infinite divisibility
Chemistry portal

Outline of chemistry

Motion

Timeline of atomic and subatomic physics

Nuclear model
 Radionuclide

Notes

1. For more recent updates see Brookhaven National Laboratory's Interactive Chart of Nuclides (h
ttp://[Link]/chart) ] Archived ([Link]
ps://[Link]/nudat2/) 25 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine.

2. A carat is 200 milligrams. By definition, carbon-12 has 0.012 kg per mole. The Avogadro
constant defines 6 × 1023 atoms per mole.

a. a combination of the negative term "a-" and "τομή," the term for "cut"

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Further reading

Gangopadhyaya, Mrinalkanti (1981). Indian Atomism: History and Sources. Atlantic Highlands,
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[Link]/oclc/10916778) .

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McEvilley, Thomas (2002). The shape of ancient thought: comparative studies in Greek and Indian
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Siegfried, Robert (2002). From Elements to Atoms: A History of Chemical Composition. Diane.
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Teresi, Dick (2003). Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science ([Link]
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External links

Atoms in Motion – The Feynman Lectures on Physics ([Link]

I_01.html)

Sharp, Tim (8 August 2017). "What is an Atom?" ([Link]

[Link]) . Live Science.