Charge of protons, neutrons and electrons

The new model of the atom

Ernest Rutherford's model of the atom has contributed to the representation

of the way we think of atoms today. He proposed that atoms were in fact mainly empty spaces.

The atom consists of 3 types of particles. The proton, electron and neutron. Protons : Carry a Positive electric charge ( Tip! P is for Positive) Electrons : Carry a negative electric charge Neutrons : No electric charge, they are Neutral. ( Tip! N is for Neutral)

The nucleus
The nucleus is the dense central core of the atom. The mass of the atom is almost entirely due to the mass of the nucleus. The nucleus consists of the Protons and Neutrons. The mass of the proton and

neutron are relatively equal. Therefore the mass of

an atom can be worked out by calculating the total number of protons and neutrons the atom has.

Eg. A carbon atom that contains 6 protons will have

6 neutrons, therefore their mass number will be 12.

The electrons move around the atom in different energy levels.Their negative charge is attracted to the nucleus of the atom by the positive charge. The Positive charge of the proton and the Negative charge of the electron are attracted to each other, therefore overall the atom has no

is equal to

electrical charge. This shows that in any atom there is always the same number of the positive protons as there is of negative electrons. This number can be represented as the atomic number.

When neutrons differ

Isotopes are formed:
What are isotopes? Isotopes are variants of a particular element. Isotopes of a given element share the same number of protons and electrons , but isotope differs from the others in its number of neutrons.

Example : Carbon

There are three isotopes of carbon found in nature carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14. All three have six protons, but their neutron numbers 6, 7, and 8, respectively all differ. This means that all three isotopes have different atomic masses (carbon-14 being the heaviest), but share the same atomic number (Z=6).

How do we use isotopes?

Not all isotopes are stable and thus has the ability to transform and decay.
This unique nature of isotopes, makes them useful for a wide range of applications in fields as diverse as medicine, archaeology, agriculture, power generation and mining. Isotopes can be used in nuclear medicine PET Scans and carbon dating.