ATOMS: GET THE FACTS!

ISSUE 10 • 2011 www.nanooze.org

Q&A WITH
HARRY KROTO
ALL ABOUT
ATOMS AND BONDS
THE PERIODIC
TABLE
NAMING
NEW ATOMS
 ALL ABOUT THE THINGS TOO SMALL TO SEE

Welcome to Nanooze! nanotechnology. Things like computer Web at www.nanooze.org, or just

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© 2011 Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility. Design by Emily Maletz Graphic Design.
A project of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) with support from the National Science Foundation.

and
All Things are Made of Atoms the International Year of Chemistry
All things are made of atoms. Yup. Well, almost One important event is the 100th anniversary of the
everything. The paper that Nanooze is printed on, Nobel Prize awarded to Madame Marie Curie, a very
the ink, the staples. You, your dog. Well, not sunlight, famous scientist, one of the few people to win that
but the little pieces of dust in sunlight that you can prestigious award twice and the only one to win it in
see swirl around the air, those dust particles are less two different fields of science: in 1903 for physics and
than 100,000 nanometers in size and made mostly of 1911 for chemistry.
atoms. For the next few issues, we’re going to cover Madame Curie discovered
the four important concepts that are the elements polonium and
described below. First up: All things are radium, and is credited with
made of atoms. the phrase “radioactive.” She
These issues are also devoted to the used radioactive isotopes
International Year of Chemistry, which to treat neoplasms,
is being celebrated around the world this which sometimes form
year by declaration of the United Nations! cancerous tumors.
It is being organized by IUPAC, the A remarkable set of
International Union of Pure and Applied accomplishments!
Chemistry, with celebrations to be
held throughout the year.
Marie Curie discovered
the element polonium

Learning about nano stuff is fun but it can be can’t see them move? It’s hard to imagine that one thousand atoms! Scientists can map out the
NANO KNOW-HOW

complex, so it helps to keep these four important each atom vibrates, but they are so tiny that it’s shapes of different molecules and can even build
facts in mind: impossible to see them move with our eyes. most types of molecules in the lab.

1. All things are made of atoms. 3. Molecules have size and shape. 4. Molecules in their
It’s true! Most stuff, like you, your dog, your tooth- Atoms bond together to form molecules that have nanometer-scale environment
brush, your computer, is made entirely of atoms. different sizes and shapes. For instance, water have unexpected properties.
Things like light, sound and electricity aren’t made is a small molecule made up of two hydrogen The rules at the nanometer scale are different
of atoms, but the sun, the earth and the moon atoms and one oxygen atom, so it is called H2O. than what we usually encounter in our human-
are all made of atoms. That’s a lot of atoms! And All water molecules have the same shape because sized environment. For instance, gravity doesn’t
they’re incredibly small. In fact, you could lay one the bonds between the hydrogen atoms and the count because other forces are more powerful at
million atoms across the head of a pin. oxygen atom are more or less the same angle. the molecular level. Static and surface tension
become really important. What is cool about
2. At the nanometer scale, atoms Single molecules can be made up of thousands nanotechnology is that we can make things that
are in constant motion. and thousands of atoms. Insulin is a molecule in don’t behave like we expect. Things are really
Even when water is frozen into ice, the water our bodies that helps to control the amount of different down there!!
molecules are still moving. So how come we sugar in our blood. It is made up of more than

2 n a n o o z e • I S S U E 1 0 • 2 0 11
Q& A with Harry Kroto Chemist, professor and
discoverer of the buckyball

What was your childhood like? When and do research. I also figured that if
you were a kid what interested you the science thing didn’t work out I could
about science? I spent my childhood go back to graphic design or maybe go
in England. My parents came over into educational science TV. So I have
from Germany in the late 1930s. My been lucky to do a bunch of different more exciting. On the day that they
recollection is being a kid in the front things and they have all been interesting announced the Nobel Prizes, I went out
room of my house and having an erector and helped shape my life. to lunch with a colleague. He wanted to
set to tinker with. wait to hear the announcement, but I
What do you find exciting about wanted to get something to eat.
My family was pretty poor, but I was nanotechnology? Nanotechnology is
lucky to get into a very good school a pretty new science, kind of what When I got back, there was a message
where I was interested mostly in chemistry was like 150 years ago. In on my answering machine. I didn’t have
geography and art. My father thought fact, nanotechnology is like 21st- Internet access in my office so the news
I should do science but I still pursued century chemistry. The thing that I find reached me by a colleague screaming at
my interests in art and received some most exciting is the prospect for self- the top of his voice. You get nominated
awards for my graphics. So science was assembly. We humans are assembled from for the Nobel Prize, so it wasn’t a
not always the first thing in my life, but the bottom up, everything is coded in complete surprise, but for me it was
I was encouraged to go to college by one our DNA. Making things that can build because I never considered myself to be
of my chemistry teachers. themselves is very cool. the smartest person around.

I remember when I was a kid sending off There is also some concern about how
for a kit to build a motor and then fixing nanotechnology might be used for bad
things around the house that needed to things. To tell you the truth, I am not
be repaired. My father had a business really worried about that. I am more What is a buckyball?
making toy balloons—it was there that worried about all of the nuclear arms A buckyball is a spherical
I learned some valuable problem-solving that a lot of countries have pointed at molecule made of 60 carbon
skills. Most of my studies were in science each other. atoms. The full name of the
up through my Ph.D., but I did still find molecule is buckminsterfullerene.
some time for art, playing the guitar and Before you discovered the buckyball, It is named after Richard
sports like tennis and soccer. did you know what it might look like? Buckminster Fuller, an engineer
The discovery of the buckyball (C60) who designed spherical
You moved around a lot in your career was like a lot of great science…total building structures called
and worked in industry as well as serendipity. There were a lot of people geodesic domes in the 1940s
education. Which did you like better? that contributed to its discovery, a and 1950s.
I worked in science at a number of few of which (myself, Robert Curl and
different places including a research Rick Smalley) got official recognition.
Wikipedia / Cédric THÉV ENET

laboratory in Canada. From there I moved Chemists at the time didn’t believe that
to Bell Labs in New Jersey. At the time, this beautiful molecule could be made
Bell Labs was one of the best places to and made only from carbon atoms.
do research anywhere. There I worked on
lasers and spectroscopy. In 1995 you won the Nobel Prize in
chemistry. I heard that they called you
After that, it was back to England to take up on the phone. Was it a surprise?
A geodesic dome structure
a lectureship at Sussex. My salary dropped I was very excited just to be part of designed by Buckminster Fuller
to about 10% of what I was earning at the scientific discovery and winning Buckyball
Bell Labs, but it was a chance to teach the Nobel Prize didn’t make it any

w w w.nanooze.org 3
 An atom is the smallest particle of an Is a dog woo
f
element that still has the same chemical made of atom
s?
properties as that element.

All Things are Made of Atoms

“All things are made of atoms,” so retain their unique properties. When that dictate why some atoms can bond
said Richard Feynman, credited by you think about the smallest thing, you to each other and some can’t.
many with first imagining the field probably think about atoms, neutrons,
For example, hydrogen and oxygen join
of nanotechnology. Seems simple protons and electrons. All atoms contain
together to form water—two hydrogens
enough: All things are made of atoms. neutrons, protons and electrons—
and one oxygen—H20. Carbon can also
Everything. Well, almost everything. except hydrogen, which has only one
join to oxygen and sometimes you get
proton and one electron.
Sunlight isn’t made up of atoms, but carbon dioxide (CO2) and other times
the streams of light we might see as SMALLER PARTICLES you get carbon monoxide (CO).
the sun peeks through the window in There is even smaller stuff, like quarks, What determines whether you get
the morning are made up of atoms, muons, neutrinos and bosons. Recently carbon monoxide (which is dangerous
tiny dust particles that we can see only in Europe, some scientists think they to inhale) or carbon dioxide (which
because light bounces off of them. The may have found evidence of even can make you burp) depends upon the
“Woof!” from your dog isn’t made up smaller stuff—a new particle called conditions and other things when they
atoms, but we hear it because of the “Higgs,” believed to give all of the are reacting with each other.
molecules in the air between you and fundamental particles their mass.
your dog. But the scientists are uncertain if the
evidence confirms the existence of
The big challenge is these particles or if it was merely a blip
remembering that all on some instruments.

things are made of atoms ELEMENTS

and also remembering There are 118 known elements, making
118 different kinds of atoms. Sometimes
what an atom is. atoms are found alone, other times they
form pairs. Oxygen is an atom that most
WHAT ARE ATOMS? of the time is found as pairs. Atoms
So what is an atom? Well, more bond together to form molecules, but
precisely, what are atoms? Atoms are not all atoms bond, and not all atoms
the smallest pieces of matter that still bond to other atoms. There are rules

ules are small,

Atoms and molec
ns and neut rinos
but quarks, muo
!
are even smaller
Kevin Fleming/CORBIS

Carbon
dioxide
CO2

Carbon
monoxide
CO

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) - The American physicist

who pioneered the science of nanotechnology. Carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide molecules are both mad
e
up of carbon and oxygen atoms.

4 n a n o o z e • I S S U E 1 0 • 2 0 11
 Covalent bonds
join atoms together
to form cellulose chains Cellulose, the most
common organic
compound on Earth,
is held together with
covalent and hydrogen
bonds.

The cell walls in

plant cells are made
up of cellulose.

Hydrogen bonds
join chains of
cellulose together

Bonds Hold Atoms Together

TYPES OF BONDS friend and threw them at each other
The bonds that hold atoms together to try to connect them. Every once in
to form molecules are called covalent awhile they might stick together, but it
bonds. They are pretty tough and not could take a million attempts to get it
easily made or broken apart. It takes to work once. If you have billions and
energy to make the bonds and energy is billions of molecules, well, maybe it
released when the bonds are broken. would work.
Trees take light and use it to make So how many atoms are there, let’s
bonds between carbon atoms and say, in a bunch of air? Lots and
molecules of cellulose. If we burn lots, around 2.69 x 1019 molecules
wood, those bonds are broken and we in every cubic centimeter. That’s
get heat and some light. But there is 2,690,000,000,000,000,000,000
more to bonds between atoms than molecules.
just energy—they are also what gives a
THE FUTURE OF
molecule its shape.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Cellulose looks like long strings if you But will we someday be able to make
look at it with an electron microscope. molecules like we build things out of
These long strings of cellulose form Legos? Back about 30 years ago, a guy
bundles because of another kind of by the name of Eric Drexler proposed
bonding called hydrogen bonding. something like that, molecular machines
The shape of cellulose molecules makes that could make molecules. These
it easy for hydrogen bonds to form machines are imagined to be able
between strings. While not as strong to take elements and stick them
as covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds together to make molecules and
are still pretty strong, so it is the shape bigger things the same way we
of cellulose that makes wood a strong make a car or a toaster.
material.
We are still a long way away from
NANOTECHNOLOGY that kind of stuff and there is a
AND MOLECULES lot of controversy—if it is even
Nanotechnology can be used to make possible—only time will tell!
molecules. Atoms floating around in air
or in liquid can sometimes bond to form
molecules, but it isn’t that easy because
of the rules about what can bond and
what can’t.
Imagine taking Lego blocks and instead
of fitting them together with your hands The long cellulose molecules that
you stood across the room from your make up wood give trees strong
trunks and branches.

w w w.nanooze.org 5
 The Periodic Table
Organizing elements
Chemists swear by it, but for the rest of us the a bit of variation due to things called isotopes.
periodic table is like a bunch of stuff organized Isotopes have a different number of neutrons,
more like your closet at home, with things so there is carbon-12 but also carbon-13 and
stuffed into places just because they fit. carbon-14. Carbon-14 is an isotope but pretty
In fact, there is a method: the rows (across) stable—the amount of carbon-14 in a sample
are called “periods,” the columns (up-down) can be used to figure out how old a biological
are called “groups.” sample is.
Right now there are 118 different elements, Groups are considered the most important
most of them are natural and a few are man- way in which we classify elements—group 4A
made. The first element on the periodic table includes things like carbon, silicon, germanium
is hydrogen (H), which has an atomic weight and lead, all of which form stable compounds.
of 1, and the last element is something called They all have five electrons in their outermost
ununoctium, which has an atomic weight of 118. shell, allowing them to form a lot of different
Oxygen is the
compounds because the electrons can form most abundant
Atomic weight is the mass of the element, the
bonds with different kinds of atoms. element on Earth.
weight is a total of the protons, neutrons and
electrons. It is listed as an average since there is

Only the first 94 elements are

believed to occur naturally
on Earth. The rest have been
created synthetically.
Key Other nonmetals Halogens
11 Atomic number Alkali metals Noble gases
Na Element symbol Alkaline earth metals Lanthanides
Sodium Element name Transition metals Actinides
1 22.99 18
Average atomic weight (mass) Post-transition metals Unknown chemical properties
1A 8A
1 Metalloids 2
1 H He
Hydrogen 2 13 14 15 16 17 Helium
1.01 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 4.00
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 Li Be B C N O F Ne
Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
6.94 9.01 10.81 12.01 14.01 16.00 19.00 20.18
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
GROUPS
3 Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar
Sodium Magnesium 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
PERIODS

22.99 24.31 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B 8B 1B 2B 26.98 28.09 30.97 32.07 35.45 39.95

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
4 K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
39.10 40.08 44.96 47.87 50.94 52.00 54.94 55.85 58.93 58.69 63.55 65.39 69.72 72.61 74.92 78.96 79.90 83.80
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
5 Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
85.47 87.62 88.91 91.22 92.91 95.94 (98) 101.07 102.91 106.42 107.87 112.41 114.82 118.71 121.76 127.60 126.90 131.29
55 56 57 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
6 Cs Ba La Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn
Cesium Barium Lanthanum Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
132.91 137.33 138.91 178.49 180.95 183.84 186.21 190.23 192.22 195.08 196.97 200.59 204.38 207.2 208.98 (209) (210) (222)
87 88 89 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
7 Fr Ra Ac Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Uut Uuq Uup Uuh Uus Uuo
Francium Radium Actinium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Ununtrium Ununquadium Ununpentium Ununhexium Ununseptium Ununoctium
(223) (226) (227) (261) (262) (266) (264) (269) (268) (281) (280) (285) (284) (289) (288) (293) (294) (294)

58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium
140.12 140.91 144.24 (145) 150.36 151.96 157.25 158.93 162.50 164.93 167.26 168.93 173.04 174.97
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103
Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr
Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium
Hydrogen and 232.04 231.04 238.03 (237) (244) (243) (247) (247) (251) (252) (257) (258) (259) (262)
helium are the most
abundant elements
in the universe.

6 n a n o o z e • I S S U E 1 0 • 2 0 11
New Atoms
How does one get the chance
to name a new atom?
The periodic table is a list of all of When a new element is discovered
the atoms that we know of. But are it’s a pretty cool thing and whoever Astatine
those all the atoms on Earth or in the discovers it gets to name it. For Astatine, the rarest naturally
occurring element,
was discovered in 1940. It
universe? Back in 1982, meitnerium example, berkelium was discovered at is named after the
Greek word astatos, mea
was not on the periodic table. So who the University of California, Berkeley. ning unst able.
discovered it and how? So if anyone is interested in naming the
next new element nanoozium, please
New elements are still being
let us know!
discovered and most of them are being
made in the lab. The new elements Most new elements result from
are bigger—the biggest one has 114 smashing together different existing
protons and a molecular weight of elements in an instrument that
around 285, about 25 times bigger accelerates particles. Very recently at
than carbon. It is called ununquadium a lab located about 75 miles north of
and it doesn’t last long, decaying Moscow, Russia, a team of American
almost immediately with half of it gone and Russian scientists may have made
in about 3 seconds. a new element by smashing together
calcium and berkelium. However, the
Some “new” elements have applications
discovery of this new element still
while others don’t. For example,
needs to be confirmed by another
californium, which was first made in
laboratory before it becomes official.
1950, is used in moisture gauges to
determine water- and oil-bearing layers
in oil wells. Other elements don’t stay
around long enough to be very useful
at all. You spend a few years trying to
make them and—poof!—they decay in
a few seconds.

Einsteinium
This element,
named after Al
was discovere bert Einstein,
d in 1952 in th
the fir st hydrog e debris of
en bomb ex plo
sion.

Californiuem
lab in 1950, th
is
in th
Fir st produced d after the
e ele ment was name
tiv rnia where
Wikipedia / Alchemist-hp

ra dio ac Ca lifo
Unive rsi ty of
state and the
red.
it was discove
Yttrium
Discovered in 1828 and named after the
Swedish village Ytterby, where the mineral
form was first found, yttrium is used in LED
displays and electrodes.

w w w.nanooze.org 7
 It’s Elemental
Actually, Sherlock Holmes said, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” but it’s close.
A collection of 118 existing elements are detailed on the periodic table and
range from the most versatile, carbon, to the funny-sounding ytterbium. But
what makes each element unique? The answer is actually fairly simple: the
number of protons, neutrons and electrons.

When an element has the same number of protons and electrons but a
different number of neutrons, it’s called an isotope. Some isotopes are
Computer chips in stable and others last only a few nanoseconds.
many electronics
are made from the Elements behave in many different ways. Some have different melting
element silicon, temperatures and some, like hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen and
a semiconductor. others, are gases. For instance, to turn helium (He) into a liquid you need
to cool it down to -272ºC. (The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth
is -89.2ºC in Antarctica.) Some elements, like mercury, are liquids at room
temperature. Many are solids and some, like molybdenum (Mo), have a
melting temperature of 2617ºC. By comparison, French fries cook at 400ºF,
or about 204ºC.
The number of electrons and where they are located is important and
determines the properties of the elements. Some elements, like copper
(Cu), are good conductors, meaning that their properties permit the easy
movement of electrons, which creates energy in the form of heat. Others,
though, like sulfur (S), are better insulators because their properties prohibit
Diamond and or hinder the movement of electrons so they don’t tend to heat up.
graphite are both
made from the Some really neat elements are called semiconductors because sometimes
element carbon. they conduct electrons and other times they don’t. One famous
semiconductor is silicon (Si), which, depending on what other molecules are
around, can sometimes act as an insulator and other times as a conductor.
But perhaps the most versatile of all the elements is carbon (C), which can do
all sorts of things like be made into diamonds, the kind of graphite we find in
pencils, and even some of the coolest nanoelectronics circuits.

Atom Fun Facts • Every year your body replaces about 98% of
its atoms.
• The word “atom” comes from the ancient Greek
• The mass of a proton is essentially the same as
word meaning ”undivided.” They thought that an
that of a neutron, but 1,840 times greater than the
atom couldn’t be cut into anything smaller, which
mass of an electron.
we now know is not exactly right.
• Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the
• Atoms are mostly empty space and scientists
universe and there are about 10 million known
think that there might be 200 or more subatomic
compounds that can be made with carbon.
particles. Some of them we already know about—
neutrons, electrons, protons, quarks—but others • There are a total of 15 elements whose atomic
are still waiting to be discovered. symbol is the same as a postal code for a U.S.
state: AL-aluminum and Alabama, MN-manganese
• There are about 2 sextillion (1021) atoms of oxygen
and Minnesota, MO-molybdenum and Missouri,
in a drop of water.
IN-indium and Indiana, LA-lanthanum and
• There are 92 different elements (atoms) in Louisiana, ND-neodymium and North Dakota,
nature. Scientists have made the rest of them PA-protactinium and Pennsylvania, MD-
in the laboratory. The first one to be made was mendelevium and Maryland, MT-meitnerium and
technetium, which has an atomic weight of 43. Montana, NE-neon and Nebraska, AR-argon and
Arkansas, CA-calcium and California, SC-scandium
• A human hair is about 100 nanometers across and
and South Carolina, CO-cobalt and Colorado, and
that is about 1,000,000 carbon atoms.
GA-gallium and Georgia.

8 n a n o o z e • I S S U E 1 0 • 2 0 11