Build your first atoms
Add protons, neutrons and electrons one by one and see the atom you make: its name, its mass and how its electrons sit in shells. Then turn carbon into nitrogen with a single proton.
Core concept
In short: Tap protons, neutrons and electrons onto an atom and watch it become hydrogen, helium, carbon and more.
Every atom is made of protons and neutrons in a tiny nucleus with electrons around it; the number of protons decides which element it is
Topic: Atoms
Everything around you is made of tiny atoms. Each atom has a nucleus in the middle, made of protons (with a positive charge) and neutrons (with no charge). Even smaller electrons (with a negative charge) move around the nucleus in layers called shells. The number of protons decides which element the atom is: 1 proton is always hydrogen, 2 is always helium, 6 is always carbon. An atom with as many electrons as protons has no charge overall. The first shell holds 2 electrons; the next ones fill the second shell.
What you will learn
- Name the three particles in an atom: protons, neutrons and electrons.
- Say where each particle is found and what charge it has.
- Explain that the number of protons decides which element an atom is.
Before you start
- Know that everything is made of very small particles.
Materials
- Coloured beads or small balls of clay (for a model at home: one colour each for protons, neutrons and electrons)
Equipment
- None
Procedure
- Look at the hydrogen atom the lab starts with: 1 proton and 1 electron. Record it.
- Build helium: 2 protons, 2 neutrons and 2 electrons. Record it.
- Build lithium: 3 protons, 4 neutrons and 3 electrons. See the third electron start a new shell.
- Build carbon: 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons. Record it.
- Add one proton and one electron to carbon and find out which element you made.
How this simulation is simplified
- Atoms are drawn far bigger than they really are, with electrons as dots on circles: a simple picture of a real atom.
- Electrons fill shells of 2, 8, 8 and then the fourth shell, which is right for the first 20 elements.
- A nucleus is shown as unstable if it has far too few or far too many neutrons for its protons (a rough guide only).