ATOM

Atom
 is a basic unit of matter that consists of a
dense central nucleus surrounded by
a cloud of negatively charged electrons.
 ATOMIC STRUCTURE
1. NUCLEUS
 contains a mix of positively charged protons and
electrically neutral neutrons.
 is the very dense region consisting
of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom.

 It was discovered in 1911 as a result of Ernest

Rutherford's interpretation of the 1909 Geiger-
Marshden gold foil experiment performed by Hans
Geiger and Ernest Marsden under Rutherford's
direction.
2. ELECTRON
 is a subatomic particle with
negative elementary electric charge.
 It carries a negative charge, which is considered the
basic unit of electric charge.
 An electron is therefore considered nearly massless
in comparison with a proton or a neutron, and the
electron mass is not included in calculating
the mass number of an atom.
 The electron was discovered in 1897 by the English
physicist J.J. Thomson during investigations of
cathode rays.
ATOMIC WEIGHT/ATOMIC MASS
 is the mass of an atomic particle, sub-atomic
particle, or molecule.
 One atomic mass unit is equal to 1/12 the
mass of a carbon-12 atom.
 The electron mass is 0.000549 amu.
 When precision is not necessary, a system of
whole numbers called atomic mass
numbers is used.
 The atomic mass number of an electron is
zero.
AMU atomic mass unit
Electron Shell
 also called a principle energy level may
be thought of as an orbit followed by
electrons around an atom’s nucleus.
ELECTRON ARRANGEMENT

 The maximum number of electrons that can

exist in each shell increases with the
distance of the shell from the nucleus.
 These numbers need not be memorized
because the electron limit per shell can be
calculated from the expression:
MAXIMUM ELECTRON PER SHELL
2n2
where n is the shell number
Question:
What is the maximum number of electrons
that can exist in the Q shell?

Answer:
The Q shell is the seventh shell from the
nucleus, therefore:
n= 7
2n2= 2(7)2
2n2= 2(49)
n= 98
 Physicist called the shell number n the
principal quantum number.
 Every electron in every atom can be precisely
identified by four quantum numbers, the most
important of which is the principal quantum
number.
 The other three quantum numbers represent
the existence of sub shells, which are not
important in radiology.
Electron Arrangement in the Periodic Table

 The number of electrons in the outermost

shell of an atom is equal to its group in the
periodic table.
 The number of electrons in the outermost
shell determines the valence of an atom.
 The number of the outermost electron shell of
an atom is equal to its period in the periodic
table.
Question:
What are the period and group for
aluminum?

Answer:
Period 3 and Group 3
 All atoms having one electron in the outer
shell lie in group 1 of the periodic table;
atoms with 2 electron in the outer shell fall in
group 2, and so on.
 When the eight electrons are in the outer
shell, the shell is filled.
 Atoms with filled outer shells lie in group 8,
the noble gases and are very stable.
Centripetal force/ “center seeking force”
 type of force that prevent the
electrons from “flying away” off from the
nucleus.
 results from a basic law of electricity
that states that opposite charges attracts one
another and like charges repel.
 The force that keeps an electron in
orbit.
 You might therefore expect the electrons
would drop into the nucleus because of the
strong electrostatic attraction.
 In the normal atom the centripetal force just
balances the force created by the electron
velocity, the centrifugal force or flying-out-
from-the-center force, so that the electrons
maintain their distance from the nucleus
traveling a circular or elliptical path.
Electron binding energy
 The strength of attachment of an
electron to the nucleus.
 The closer an electron is to the nucleus, the
more tightly it is bound.
 K-shell electrons have higher binding
energies than L-shell electrons, L-shell
electrons are more tightly bound to the
nucleus than M-shell electrons, and so on.
 Not all K-shell electrons of all atoms are
bound with the same binding energy.
 The greater the total number of electrons in
an atom, the more tightly each is bound.