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A helium atom is an atom of the chemical element helium. Helium is composed of two electrons bound by the electromagnetic force to a nucleus containing two protons along with two neutrons, depending on the isotope , held together by the strong force .
The helium atom. Depicted are the ... helium is the second simplest atom to model, ... Unlike most elements, helium's isotopic abundance varies greatly by origin, due ...
In each term of an electron configuration, n is the positive integer that precedes each orbital letter (helium's electron configuration is 1s 2, therefore n = 1, and the orbital contains two electrons). An atom's nth electron shell can accommodate 2n 2 electrons. For example, the first shell can accommodate two electrons, the second shell eight ...
Though all heavier helium isotopes decay with a half-life of <1 second, particle accelerator collisions have been used, to create unusual nuclei of elements such as helium, lithium and nitrogen. The unusual nuclear structures of such isotopes may offer insights into the isolated properties of neutrons and physics beyond the Standard Model. [28 ...
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 ...
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 helium atom. Depicted are the nucleus (pink) and the electron cloud distribution (black). The nucleus (upper right) in helium-4 is in reality spherically symmetric and closely resembles the electron cloud, although for more complicated nuclei this is not always the case. Helium-4 (4 He) is a stable isotope of the element helium.
Thomson's model marks the moment when the development of atomic theory passed from chemists to physicists. While atomic theory was widely accepted by chemists by the end of the 19th century, physicists remained skeptical because the atomic model lacked any properties which concerned their field, such as electric charge, magnetic moment, volume, or absolute mass.