Which Subatomic Particle Is The Boss Of The Atom

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Scientists now recognize that there are many subatomic particles (this really makes physicists salivate). But in order to be successful in chemistry, you really only need to be concerned with the three major subatomic particles:

The following table summarizes the characteristics of these three subatomic particles.

The Three Major Subatomic Particles

In the table, the masses of the subatomic particles are listed in two ways: grams and

Atomic mass units are based on something called the Carbon 12 scale, a worldwide standard thats been adopted for atomic weights. By international agreement, a carbon atom that contains 6 protons and 6 neutrons has an atomic weight of exactly 12 amu, so 1 amu is 1/12 of this carbon atom.

But what do carbon atoms and the number 12 have to do with anything? Because the mass in grams of protons and neutrons are almost exactly the same, both protons and neutrons are said to have a mass of 1 amu. Notice that the mass of an electron is much smaller than that of either a proton or neutron. It takes almost 2,000 electrons to equal the mass of a single proton.

The table also shows the electrical charge associated with each subatomic particle. Matter can be electrically charged in one of two ways: positive or negative. The proton carries one unit of positive charge, the electron carries one unit of negative charge, and the neutron has no charge — its neutral.

Scientists have discovered through observation that objects with like charges, whether positive or negative, repel each other, and objects with unlike charges attract each other.

The atom itself has no charge. Its neutral. (Well, actually, certain atoms can gain or lose electrons and acquire a charge. Atoms that gain a charge, either positive or negative, are called ions.) So how can an atom be neutral if it contains positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons? Ah, good question. The answer is that there are equal numbers of protons and electrons — equal numbers of positive and negative charges — so they cancel each other out.

The last column in the table lists the location of the three subatomic particles. Protons and neutrons are located in the nucleus, a dense central core in the middle of the atom, while the electrons are located outside the nucleus.

Electrons were discovered by Sir John Joseph Thomson in 1897. After many experiments involving cathode rays, J.J. Thomson demonstrated the ratio of mass to electric charge of cathode rays. He confirmed that cathode rays are fundamental particles that are negatively-charged; these cathode rays became known as electrons. Robert Millikan, through oil drop experiments, found the value of the electronic charge.

Neutrons were discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, when he demonstrated that penetrating radiation incorporated beams of neutral particles. Neutrons are located in the nucleus with the protons. Along with protons, they make up almost all of the mass of the atom. The number of neutrons is called the neutron number and can be found by subtracting the proton number from the atomic mass number. The neutrons in an element determine the isotope of an atom, and often its stability. The number of neutrons is not necessarily equal to the number of protons.

A typical atom consists of three subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons (as seen in the helium atom below). Other particles exist as well, such as alpha and beta particles (which are discussed below). The Bohr model shows the three basic subatomic particles in a simple manner. Most of an atoms mass is in the nucleus—a small, dense area at the center of every atom, composed of nucleons. Nucleons include protons and neutrons. All the positive charge of an atom is contained in the nucleus, and originates from the protons. Neutrons are neutrally-charged. Electrons, which are negatively-charged, are located outside of the nucleus.

Electron emission may result when excess neutrons make the nucleus of an atom unstable. As a result, one of the neutrons decays into a proton, an electron, and an anti-neutrino. The proton remains in the nucleus, and the electron and anti-neutrino are emitted. The electron is called a beta particle. The equation for this process is given below:

Electrons are located in an electron cloud, which is the area surrounding the nucleus of the atom. There is usually a higher probability of finding an electron closer to to the nucleus of an atom. Electrons can abbreviated as e-. Electrons have a negative charge that is equal in magnitude to the positive charge of the protons. However, their mass is considerably less than that of a proton or neutron (and as such is usually considered insignificant). Unequal amounts of protons and electrons create ions: positive cations or negative anions.

Read a brief summary of this topic

subatomic particle, also called elementary particle, any of various self-contained units of matter or energy that are the fundamental constituents of all matter. Subatomic particles include electrons, the negatively charged, almost massless particles that nevertheless account for most of the size of the atom, and they include the heavier building blocks of the small but very dense nucleus of the atom, the positively charged protons and the electrically neutral neutrons. But these basic atomic components are by no means the only known subatomic particles. Protons and neutrons, for instance, are themselves made up of elementary particles called quarks, and the electron is only one member of a class of elementary particles that also includes the muon and the neutrino. More-unusual subatomic particles—such as the positron, the antimatter counterpart of the electron—have been detected and characterized in cosmic ray interactions in Earth’s atmosphere. The field of subatomic particles has expanded dramatically with the construction of powerful particle accelerators to study high-energy collisions of electrons, protons, and other particles with matter. As particles collide at high energy, the collision energy becomes available for the creation of subatomic particles such as mesons and hyperons. Finally, completing the revolution that began in the early 20th century with theories of the equivalence of matter and energy, the study of subatomic particles has been transformed by the discovery that the actions of forces are due to the exchange of “force” particles such as photons and gluons. More than 200 subatomic particles have been detected—most of them highly unstable, existing for less than a millionth of a second—as a result of collisions produced in cosmic ray reactions or particle accelerator experiments. Theoretical and experimental research in particle physics, the study of subatomic particles and their properties, has given scientists a clearer understanding of the nature of matter and energy and of the origin of the universe.

The current understanding of the state of particle physics is integrated within a conceptual framework known as the Standard Model. The Standard Model provides a classification scheme for all the known subatomic particles based on theoretical descriptions of the basic forces of matter.

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