Of the 118 known elements, only the first 94 are believed to occur naturally on Earth. Familiar examples of elements include gold, iron, copper, carbon, silicon, mercury, sodium, calcium, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, and neon.Īs of May 2011, 118 elements have been identified, the latest being ununoctium in 2002. Elements are substances, forms of matter and gasses that are made up of only one type of atom.Ī chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. There are 94 naturally occurring atoms in the universe, so that means there are 94 naturally occurring elements. Here you see copper with the atomic number of 29, because copper atom's have 29 protons in their nucleus. The atomic number of gold is 79 because gold atoms have 79 protons. The atomic number of oxygen is 8 because oxygen atoms have 8 protons in their nucleus. The atomic number of carbon is 6 because carbon atoms have 6 protons. The number of protons an atom has is called its Atomic Number. The Atomic Number = the Number of Protons Only pure elements, are in the Periodic chart, not mixtures of several elements. Stainless steele is made up of several elements so it is not represented in the periodic table. The letters you see in the periodic table represent the elements. Since there are 94 types of atoms there are 94 types of elements. An element is a pure substance made of only one type of atom. More on this later…Ītoms are also called elements. These atoms are represented in the Periodic Table. There are 94 naturally occurring atoms in the universe that science knows of. (An atom changing its number of protons does happen in nature and it is called nuclear decay). If an atom could change its number of protons then it would become a different type of atom. A better way of saying it is for an atom to be a gold atom it must have 79 protons, no more and no less. All atoms that have 6 protons are carbon atoms. For example, all atoms that have 8 protons in the nucleus are oxygen atoms. The primary sub-atomic particle is the proton, because the number of protons inside an atom determines which type of atom it is. The Number of Protons Determines the Type of Atom You can see that this true scale model shows that there is a tremendous amount of space that comprises atoms and therefore atoms are mainly made of space. If we could make a true-to-scale model of an atom we would see that the nucleus is very small, let’s say the size of a baseball, and the electrons are like the size of raisins spinning around the baseball from a very far distance of around 5 football fields away, or 1,500 ft. We are familiar with electrons in the sense that electrons flow through wires as electricity.Įlectrons orbit the nucleus at different distances from the nucleus, with the more energetic electrons orbiting further away. The electron holds a negative electric charge. The electrons orbit the atom in a large region of space surrounding the nucleus. The 3rd type of sub-atomic particle is called the electron and it is much smaller than the proton or the neutron. Neutrons are also arranged in the nucleus and these particles have no electrical charge and hence are neutral. The second type of particle in the nucleus is called the neutron. The center of the atom is called the nucleus. The proton is a particle that carries a positive electric charge and is arranged in the center of the atom. Part 1 - Atomic Struction - Protons, Neutrons and Electrons Inside an atom are three types of sub-atomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. If an atom is divided then it can no longer be recognized as Students the entire universe is made up of extremely small particles of matter called atoms. Panico’s Geoscience Course - Odyssey Charter School - Sept.

Lead atomic structure