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Scientists eventually discovered that atoms have a positively charged nucleus (with an atomic number of charges) in the center, with a radius of about 1.2 × 10 −15 meters × [atomic mass number] 1 ⁄ 3. Electrons were found to be even smaller.
The prevailing model of atomic structure before Rutherford's experiments was devised by J. J. Thomson. [2]: 123 Thomson had discovered the electron through his work on cathode rays [3] and proposed that they existed within atoms, and an electric current is electrons hopping from one atom to an adjacent one in a series.
Electrons found in the outermost shell are generally known as valence electrons; the number of valence electrons determines the valency of an atom. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] Trend-wise, while moving from left to right across a period , the number of valence electrons of elements increases and varies between one and eight.
Electrostatic potential map of a water molecule, where the oxygen atom has a more negative charge (red) than the positive (blue) hydrogen atoms. Electronegativity, symbolized as χ, is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. [1]
The presence of such bands allows electrons in metals to behave as if they were free or delocalized electrons. These electrons are not associated with specific atoms, so when an electric field is applied, they are free to move like a gas (called Fermi gas) [137] through the material much like free electrons.
The Bohr model of the hydrogen atom (Z = 1) or a hydrogen-like ion (Z > 1), where the negatively charged electron confined to an atomic shell encircles a small, positively charged atomic nucleus and where an electron jumps between orbits, is accompanied by an emitted or absorbed amount of electromagnetic energy (hν). [1]
A schematic of the nucleus of an atom indicating β − radiation, the emission of a fast electron from the nucleus (the accompanying antineutrino is omitted). In the Rutherford model for the nucleus, a red sphere was a proton with positive charge, and a blue sphere was a proton tightly bound to an electron, with no net charge.
By modern convention, the charge carried by electrons is defined as negative, and that by protons is positive. [33] Before these particles were discovered, Benjamin Franklin had defined a positive charge as being the charge acquired by a glass rod when it is rubbed with a silk cloth. [34]