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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.
Alternately, the atomic mass of a carbon-12 atom may be expressed in any other mass units: for example, the atomic mass of a carbon-12 atom is 1.992 646 882 70 (62) × 10 −26 kg. As is the case for the related atomic mass when expressed in daltons , the relative isotopic mass numbers of nuclides other than carbon-12 are not whole numbers, but ...
Diagram of a helium atom, showing the electron probability density as shades of gray. The atomic radius of a chemical element is a measure of the size of its atom, usually the mean or typical distance from the center of the nucleus to the outermost isolated electron. Since the boundary is not a well-defined physical entity, there are various ...
In 1913, Niels Bohr proposed a model of the atom, giving the arrangement of electrons in their sequential orbits. At that time, Bohr allowed the capacity of the inner orbit of the atom to increase to eight electrons as the atoms got larger, and "in the scheme given below the number of electrons in this [outer] ring is arbitrary put equal to the normal valency of the corresponding element".
The mass of an atom or other particle can be compared more precisely and more conveniently to that of another atom, and thus scientists developed the dalton (also known as the unified atomic mass unit). By definition, 1 Da (one dalton) is exactly one-twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom, and thus, a carbon-12 atom has a mass of exactly 12 Da.
The atomic nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons (collectively called nucleons). In the Standard model of particle physics, nucleons are in the group called hadrons, the smallest known particles in the universe to have measurable size and shape. [1]
This was in a gold atom known to be 10 −10 metres or so in radius—a very surprising finding, as it implied a strong central charge less than 1/3000th of the diameter of the atom. The Rutherford model served to concentrate a great deal of the atom's charge and mass to a very small core, but did not attribute any structure to the remaining ...
The adoption of the term "nucleus" to atomic theory, however, was not immediate. In 1916, for example, Gilbert N. Lewis stated, in his famous article The Atom and the Molecule, that "the atom is composed of the kernel and an outer atom or shell." [12] Similarly, the term kern meaning kernel is used for nucleus in German and Dutch.