Atoms can join together to form molecules, which make up most objects.

Different elements
(e.g. oxygen, carbon, uranium) are made up of different types of atoms. An atom is the
smallest unit of an element that will behave as that element.

Atoms consist of an extremely small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a cloud of

negatively charged electrons. Although typically the nucleus is less than one ten-thousandth
the size of the atom, the nucleus contains more that 99.9% of the mass of the atom. Nuclei
are made of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons held together by a
nuclear force. This force is much stronger than the electrostatic force that binds electrons to
the nucleus, but its range is limited to distances of the order of 1 x 10 -15 meters.

Source: https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/ionising-
radiation/atomic-structure

The atomic structure refers to the structure of an atom comprising a nucleus (centre) in
which the protons (positively charged) and neutrons (neutral) are present. The negatively
charged particles called electrons revolve around the centre of the nucleus.

The history of atomic structure and quantum mechanics dates back to the times of
Democritus, the person who first proposed that matter is composed of atoms. The study of
the structure of an atom gives a great insight into the entire class of chemical reactions,
bonds and their physical properties. The first scientific theory of atomic structure was
proposed by John Dalton in the 1800s.

The advances in atomic structure and quantum mechanics have led to the discovery of
other fundamental particles. The discovery of subatomic particles has been the base for
many other discoveries and inventions.

Atomic Structure:

The atomic structure of an element refers to the constitution of its nucleus and the
arrangement of the electrons around it. Primarily, the atomic structure of matter is made
up of protons, electrons and neutrons.

The protons and neutrons make up the nucleus of the atom, which is surrounded by the
electrons belonging to the atom. The atomic number of an element describes the total
number of protons in its nucleus.
Atomic Models

In the 18th and 19th centuries, many scientists attempted to explain the structure of the
atom with the help of atomic models. Each of these models had its own merits and
demerits and was pivotal to the development of the modern atomic model. The most
notable contributions to the field were by the scientists such as John Dalton, J.J. Thomson,
Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr. Their ideas on the structure of the atom are discussed in
this subsection.

Dalton’s Atomic Theory

The English chemist John Dalton suggested that all matter is made up of atoms, which
were indivisible and indestructible. He also stated that all the atoms of an element were
exactly the same, but the atoms of different elements differ in size and mass.

Chemical reactions, according to Dalton’s atomic theory, involve a rearrangement of

atoms to form products. According to the postulates proposed by Dalton, the atomic
structure comprises atoms, the smallest particle responsible for the chemical reactions to
occur.

Dalton’s atomic theory successfully explained the Laws of chemical reactions, namely, the
Law of conservation of mass, the Law of constant properties, the Law of multiple
proportions and the Law of reciprocal proportions.
Thomson Atomic Model

The English chemist Sir Joseph John Thomson put forth his model describing the atomic
structure in the early 1900s.

He was later awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of “electrons”. His work is based on
an experiment called the cathode ray experiment. The construction of working of the
experiment is as follows:

Cathode Ray Experiment

It has a tube made of glass which has two openings, one for the vacuum pump and the
other for the inlet through which a gas is pumped in.
Limitations of Thomson’s Atomic Structure: Thomson’s atomic model does not clearly
explain the stability of an atom. Also, further discoveries of other subatomic particles
couldn’t be placed inside his atomic model.

Rutherford Atomic Theory

Rutherford, a student of J. J. Thomson, modified the atomic structure with the discovery of
another subatomic particle called “Nucleus”. His atomic model is based on the Alpha ray
scattering experiment.

Rutherford’s Structure of Atom

Based on the above observations and conclusions, Rutherford proposed his own atomic
structure, which is as follows.

• The nucleus is at the centre of an atom, where most of the charge and mass is
concentrated.
• The atomic structure is spherical.
• Electrons revolve around the nucleus in a circular orbit, similar to the way planets
orbit the sun.

Limitations of the Rutherford Atomic Model

• If electrons have to revolve around the nucleus, they will spend energy and that too
against the strong force of attraction from the nucleus, a lot of energy will be spent
 by the electrons, and eventually, they will lose all their energy and will fall into the
nucleus so the stability of atom is not explained.
• If electrons continuously revolve around the ‘nucleus, the type of spectrum
expected is a continuous spectrum. But in reality, what we see is a line spectrum.

Subatomic Particles

Protons

• Protons are positively charged subatomic particles. The charge of a proton is 1e,
which corresponds to approximately 1.602 × 10-19
• The mass of a proton is approximately 1.672 × 10-24
• Protons are over 1800 times heavier than electrons.
• The total number of protons in the atoms of an element is always equal to the
atomic number of the element.

Neutrons
 • The mass of a neutron is almost the same as that of a proton, i.e., 1.674×10-24
• Neutrons are electrically neutral particles and carry no charge.
• Different isotopes of an element have the same number of protons but vary in the
number of neutrons present in their respective nuclei.

Electrons

• The charge of an electron is -1e, which approximates to -1.602 × 10-19

• The mass of an electron is approximately 9.1 × 10-31.
• Due to the relatively negligible mass of electrons, they are ignored when calculating
the mass of an atom.

Atomic Structure of Isotopes

Nucleons are the components of the nucleus of an atom. A nucleon can either be a proton
or a neutron. Each element has a unique number of protons in it, which is described by its
unique atomic number. However, several atomic structures of an element can exist, which
differ in the total number of nucleons.

The atomic structure of an isotope is described with the help of the chemical symbol of the
element, the atomic number of the element and the mass number of the isotope. For
example, there exist three known naturally occurring isotopes of hydrogen, namely,
protium, deuterium and tritium. The atomic structures of these hydrogen isotopes are
illustrated below.

The isotopes of an element vary in stability. The half-lives of isotopes also differ. However,
they generally have similar chemical behaviour owing to the fact that they hold the same
electronic structures.

Bohr’s Atomic Theory

Neils Bohr put forth his model of the atom in the year 1915. This is the most widely used
atomic model to describe the atomic structure of an element which is based on Planck’s
theory of quantization.

Limitations of Bohr’s Atomic Theory:

• Bohr’s atomic structure works only for single electron species such as H, He+, Li2+,
Be3+, ….
• When the emission spectrum of hydrogen was observed under a more accurate
spectrometer, each line spectrum was seen to be a combination of a number of
smaller discrete lines.
• Both Stark and Zeeman’s effects couldn’t be explained using Bohr’s theory.

Source: https://byjus.com/jee/atomic-structure/

Phet simulator: https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/build-an-atom/latest/build-an-

atom_all.html