Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Building Blocks of Matter

In quarter one as a class we learned about the building blocks of matter. I learnt that the building blocks of matter are atoms and atoms make up everything. Atoms are compose of three particles, protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons are positively charged and neutrons have no charge. Together they form the atoms nucleus. Electrons are negatively charged and circle around the atoms nucleus. The nucleus ends up being positive because, it contains the protons of the atom. When an atom has an uneven amount of protons and neutrons an isotope is formed, which an element is then considered unstable. 
 
I also learnt about the Periodic Table of Elements. I learned that it was first introduced by Dmitri Mendeleev, but then altered over time to form the modern periodic table. In the periodic table the numbers on top of the column are called group numbers. They represent the number of electrons in the outer valence shell. The number before the row is the period number and it represents the number of orbitals in each row represent. An element is identified by its atomic number which, is the number of protons in an atoms nucleus. 

Overall I have learned a lot about the building blocks of matter because, staring this unit I knew very little information about the building blocks of matter. 

- Kaitlyn Goff 

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