eHow - Atomic Structure How To's

(image) A chemical element is generally defined as a substance that cannot be broken down into smaller parts, and which combines with other elements to form matter. As of the date of publication, there are an estimated 92 naturally occurring elements in the...

(image) An atom of any element consists of a nucleus and electrons orbiting around that nucleus. The nucleus of an atom is composed of protons and neutrons. Each element contains a unique number of protons, which is known as the element's atomic number. The...

Polar and non-polar are chemistry terms used to describe a molecule's electronegativity state. All molecules are composed of atoms, and every atom has its own unique level of electronegativity. For instance, a Carbon atom has an electronegativity of...

(image) Every chemical element's atom found in nature or developed in laboratories is composed of the same subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. However, the number of these particles and the way they are structured within the atom differ bet...

(image) The nucleus of an atom lies at its center and consists of protons and neutrons. Protons have a positive charge while neutrons have no charge. Each proton or neutron is approximately 1,800 times heavier than an electron. An electron is a negatively c...

(image) In 1911, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Ernest Rutherford became aware that atoms contained elements called protons and neutrons. Rutherford then discovered that electrons orbited the protons and neutrons, but the geometry of atoms was still open to...

(image) Matter is the substance of the universe. It has mass and is mostly comprised of atoms, the building blocks of all matter. Ancient Greeks studied atomic structure and deemed that this particle was indivisible, thus naming the particle "atom." Yet, mod...

(image) A chemical change is the transformation of one substance into another. Chemical changes occur when one substance - the reactant - reacts either on its own or with another compound to form a new compound - the product - with a different chemical compo...

(image) Platinum is a chemical element, included in the periodic table under the chemical symbol Pt. Its atom consists of a nucleus of 78 protons and 117 neutrons, and six energy levels of 78 electrons overall. As the platinum atom's structure is quite compl...

(image) Atoms gain and lose electrons, but this will not change the atom itself. When electrons move it means the bond is changing. An atom with a missing electron or an atom that has gained an electron is called an ion. Determining the charge of an atom or...

(image) Living organisms are made up of cells. Two types of cells exist: prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. The major difference between the two cells is that prokaryotic cells possess no nucleus, while eukaryotic cells do. The nucleus is the center of...

(image) In the field of mathematical statistics, the word "setting" implies a list of conditions or boundaries within which probabilities can be determined. Among the many methodologies of executing statistical probability analysis is through the use of Bern...

(image) Deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known as DNA, has two strands entwined in a double helix structure. Within this double helix is the blue print for an entire organism, be it a single cell or a human being. In DNA, each strand's sequence of bases...

(image) You can teach your sixth graders how protein generates hair growth daily or how an embryonic cell divides again and again and makes copies of themselves to produce humans. The process of both of these examples are produced through protein synthesis a...

(image) All living and nonliving things come from basic elements in the universe. You can break down anything into various molecules and compounds. Going a step further, these molecules and compounds occur as the result of tiny electrical and chemical reacti...

(image) Atoms are the fundamental units of all elements. Their structure comprises three principal sub-atomic particles: electrons, protons and neutrons. According to modern quantum physics, sub-atomic particles also behave as waves. They have a mass and a...

(image) A decoding DNA chart is a chart that shows a DNA strand and asks you to complete the complementary DNA strand and the RNA strand. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, and RNA stands for ribonucleic acid. The DNA is contained in the nucleus of eukary...

(image) Everything is made of atoms, which are relatively stable structures that consist mostly of empty space. Atoms are so small that they do not reflect any light, but you can take photos of the electric field around an atom. You can split an atom, which...

(image) MRNA stands for messenger ribonucleic acid; it is a type of RNA you transcribe from a template of DNA. Nature encodes an organism's genetic information into the mRNA. A strand of mRNA consists of four types of bases -- adenine, guanine, cytosine and...

(image) The Mandelbrot sequence, also called the Mandelbrot set, is a fractal that has gained popularity outside mathematical circles, and is widely recognized by its distinctive shape. Its boundaries are complex structures regardless of the scale at which...

Electron dot structures, also called Lewis structures, are a graphical representation of the way electrons are distributed throughout a compound. Each element's chemical symbol is surrounded by lines, representing bonds, and dots, representing non-bo...

(image) Gold has been used by mankind in different forms for over 5,500 years. In modern times, gold is typically used for electronics and other high-technology applications. The basic structure of a gold atom consist of protons, electrons and neutrons. The...

(image) An atom is the smallest particle of a given element that retains the element's proprieties. It comprises a nucleus, which has protons and neutrons, as well as a cloud of electrons that orbit the nucleus in different energy levels, or orbitals. A...

(image) A Zener diode is a special kind of diode that not only permits current in the forward direction (like a typical diode), but in the reverse direction as well. If the voltage across a Zener diode is larger than the breakdown voltage (known as the Zener...

(image) Polyethylene sheets, popularly called plastic sheets, find applications almost everywhere you can imagine, including food processing, medicine, electronics and printing. They also are used as wraps in all types of packaging. Their ubiquity in applica...

(image) The ancient Greeks figured out that everything could be broken down into particles that were too small to be seen. They called these particles "atoms," which means indivisible or unable to be divided. We know now that atoms aren't the smallest partic...

(image) Public speaking is an important skill. Whether delivering a wedding toast, giving a presentation at work or educating a crowd at a seminar, the goal of speaking in front of an audience is to effectively communicate with other people, and possibly eve...

(image) Helium atom disintegration is the stochastic (random), spontaneous breakdown of a radioactive atom's unstable nucleus, or "radioactive decay." It is impossible to predict atom by atom, but decay rate can be predicted using the Law of Large Numbers, a...

(image) Leucippus, an ancient Greek philosopher, promulgated the atomic theory. Democritus, and much later Lucretius, followed in Leucippus' footsteps. However, many years elapsed before advances in the field of chemistry threw light on the structure of atom...

(image) Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is made up of a sequence of nucleotide bases. The four bases are adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. The sequence in which these bases occur on a strand of DNA ultimately codes for the production of certain proteins....

(image) Identifying and knowing the importance of isomers is an important part of chemistry. However, sometimes it can be difficult to notice the differences between two different isomers. In those cases, it is much easier to notice the differences by first...

(image) Uranium is a common metal found in rocks around the globe, with substantial deposits found in Australia, Canada and Russia. However, the fuel used for nuclear power, Uranium-235, is a rare form of the metal that must be extracted and processed from t...

Cells contain genetic information in the form of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The specific sequences on the DNA strand code for the synthesis of particular proteins. Protein biosynthesis is a complex process coordinated through several types of ribon...

(image) A poster of an atom and its components is a good way to help elementary students visualize how protons, neutrons and electrons go together. Drawing a poster of a gold atom requires some planning to ensure you can fit in all the components in their co...

(image) Helium atoms are simple, small light particles that typically are in gaseous form. The basic setup of a helium atom remains stable, making it difficult to combine with other atoms to form molecules. Drawing a helium atom requires basic skills, as the...

(image) The principal factors in determining the properties of elements and their atomic structure is the number of protons in the atom's nucleus. The same element may have a different number of neutrons (known as isotopes) or electrons (known as ions). Howe...

Atoms are so small that it is difficult for the human mind to comprehend their size. Everything in the visible universe is made up of atoms, but the amount of atoms in that matter is incredible. Even more amazing is the fact that atoms themselves are...

(image) As a child enters the sixth grade a new world is opened -- the world of science. It is in this grade that kids get their foundation knowledge on science. This is the time when chemistry, physics and biology explain day-to-day phenomena and the childr...

An atom's structure is composed of three particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons are positively-charged particles that are combined with neutrons (neutrally-charged particles) to form the nucleus of the atom, where the vast majority o...

(image) Atoms are the building blocks of all elements. Their existence was originally postulated by the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus; however, experiments for atomic structure did not begin until the 19th century. Eventually, after the experiments of...

Uranium is an important and fascinating element whose original German nickname can be translated to "bad luck mineral." Even so, you can create a uranium project suited to your own interests, whether they include history, a creative pursuit such as m...

The atom is the smallest unit on Earth. It is the basic component of any type of matter. It cannot be broken down or sectioned. Protons, neutrons and electrons make up the subatomic particles of an atom. The three subatomic particles determine the o...

When two atoms of different elements are bonded together, they form a compound. Compounds are the building block of all nonelementary matter; unless an object is made up of entirely one atom, it is made up of compounds. Compounds are nearly identica...

(image) The study of chemistry would not be complete without studying atomic structure. Lab activities can help students better understand difficult or abstract concepts. Calculations of weighted atomic masses of isotopes is often viewed as difficult by stud...

Any topic should be explained to kids in a very simple and interesting way, especially topics related to science. Kids sometimes have problems understanding concepts they cannot see. At the same time, if it is taught in an exciting manner, they grasp...

(image) Atoms and ions are not very different, as all ions were former atoms. Atoms go through a process of electron swapping between each other, which can give them extra electrons or missing electrons. This difference is what turns an atom into an ion. Thi...

(image) Teaching atomic structure can be a challenge. The quantum mechanical picture of the atom is complicated and very abstract --- so abstract, in fact, that interpretations of quantum mechanics remain a subject of debate among physicists and philosophers...

(image) In his Special Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein said that mass and energy are equivalent and can be converted to one another. This is where the expression E = mc^2 comes from, in which E stands for energy, m stands for mass and c stands for the...

(image) Many concepts studied in high school chemistry involve particles too small to be seen. Such is the case with subatomic particles. Atoms consist of three subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, conc...

(image) Physicists study the fundamental particles in the universe, hoping to shed light on the origin of mass and the hidden energies that exist in space. Current understanding relies heavily on the standard model of particle physics. Atom smashing is an ex...