Atomic nucleus

The atomic nucleus is one of the most essential topics in physics. While these two things sound very similar, they have very different meanings in physics. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about elements, Atomic nuclei. Let us now begin our discussion with understanding what is the atomic nucleus

Atoms are the smallest unit of matter that retain the chemical properties of elements.

Nucleus is located in the centre of an atom and the whole mass of an atom is concentrated in it. A Nuclei is extremely small and is surrounded by lightweight electrons that spin in and around the atom without disturbing the empty space between the boundaries of the nucleus and atoms. Dive into the reading to know more in detail about an atom’s nuclei.

Atoms:

Atoms are commonly known as the building blocks of matter.

They are the smallest unit of matter that retain the chemical properties of elements. It is important to note here that atoms don’t exist independently, instead they form molecules and ions to form matter. It is a matter that we can see and touch. Atoms are not visible to the naked eye. They are very small and thus experiments are conducted on large quantities of atoms to know their behaviour and structure. The results from these experiments can be used to build a hypothesis that could explain how the true atoms work.

The smallest particle of an element is known as the atom. Atoms cannot be created nor can they be destroyed. All the atoms of an element have similar chemical properties. 

There are 3 fundamental types of particles that atoms consist of, they are :

• Protons 
• Neutron
• Electron

Protons and neutrons have almost similar atomic masses. Compared to the atomic mass of protons and neutrons, electrons have almost negligible mass. The proton is positively charged, an electron is negatively charged and a neutron is neither positively nor negatively charged. Now, atoms have no charge because they contain an equal number of protons and neutrons. Its nucleus is positive because it contains protons and neutrons only. The nucleus is the centre of an atom. Most of the atomic weight is present in the nucleus of the atom. 

Size of the atom:

The size of the atom is very small, smaller than what we can imagine. One layer of millions of atoms will be as thick as a sheet of paper. Thus it becomes almost impossible to calculate the size of one single atom. However, the size of the atom is calculated by assuming that the distance between two atoms is equal to half of the atomic radius. The radius of an atom is measured in nm or nanometers where 1nm = 10-9 m.   

Nucleus

A nucleus is a positively charged entity situated in the centre of the atom and electrons that revolve around the nucleus in an orbit are negatively charged.

A nucleus radius is smaller than that of an atomic radius. The atom’s mass is focused on the nucleus. 

An atom has three main components; a neutron (neutral charge), proton (positively charged), and an electron (negatively charged). The mass of a proton and a neutron is almost the same and both the entities are bonded together with a force called nuclear force. However, it is important to note that this nuclear energy is much larger than any chemical process. 

Composition of a Nuclei

• The nucleus has two main components: protons and neutrons.
• The positively charged entities are protons that are solely available inside the nucleus.

• Atomic number: –
  • The total number of protons present inside a nucleus of an atom is called atomic number. 
  • The atomic number is denoted by the letter ‘Z’.
• Atomic mass:-
  • The total combined number of neutrons and protons present inside a nucleus is called atomic mass.
  • While calculating the mass of an atom, the mass of electrons should not be calculated. 
  • Nucleons: Protons and neutrons are called nucleons. 

Charge on a Nucleus

• Although Nucleus as a whole is a positively charged entity as its constituents, that is protons (positively charged) and neutrons are negatively charged, the overall charge on the nucleus is arranged in such a way that the entire atom eventually as a whole is electrically neutral.

• An Atom consists of electrons, protons, and neutrons.

• The formula for total charge and electrons:
• For this consider an element X whose atomic number is Z
• Therefore, the total charge on all the electrons (e) is = -(Ze) 

Conclusion :

This was all that you needed to know about elements, Atomic nucleus. Elements in physics are pure substances that contain only those atoms which have an equal number of protons in their nuclei. Atoms are commonly known as the building blocks of matter. They are the smallest unit of matter that have chemical elements properties. The nucleus is a centrally located entity of an atom first discovered by the renowned scientist Ernest Rutherford. The nucleus consists of neutrons and protons and the function of a nucleus plays a big role in radioactive reactive reactions like nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.