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Hey there! Ready to explore the building blocks of the entire universe? Let's take a friendly look inside the amazing, tiny world of the atom!
Everything around us—from the water you drink to the screen you are looking at—is made of tiny particles called atoms. They are so incredibly small that millions of them could fit on the head of a pin!
At the very center of every atom lies the nucleus. It is a tiny, dense core packed with two types of particles: positively charged protons and neutral neutrons (which have no charge at all).
Whizzing around this nucleus are tiny, negatively charged particles called electrons. They move incredibly fast in the empty space surrounding the nucleus, attracted to the positive protons inside.
An atom has 3 protons, 4 neutrons, and 3 electrons. Identify the overall electric charge of this atom and name the element.
- Find the total positive charge: Since each proton has a +1 charge, 3 protons give us a charge of +3.
- Find the total negative charge: Since each electron has a -1 charge, 3 electrons give us a charge of -3.
- Add the charges together: (+3) + (-3) = 0. The overall charge is neutral.
- Identify the element: The number of protons (atomic number) defines the element. An atomic number of 3 corresponds to Lithium on the Periodic Table.