HMWK Tues! plus Atomic Structure/basis for electricity

HMWK Due Tuesday:  READ p. 579 (top paragraph), 583, and 584.  Work p. 583, #6 (at least to the best of your ability)

On Thursday we had some notes in class regarding the atom's components and layout.  

We discussed things you already knew (I was impressed overall!) and organized knowledge into a data table of sorts:

Name     Symbol    Location     Mass         Charge

Proton      p+          Nucleus      1a.m.u.         +

Neutron   n0           Nucleus       1a.m.u.        N/A

Electron   e-      electron cloud   almost none   -

Some notes:  The size of the negative charge on the electron is equal to the size of the positive charge on the proton; they are equal in size, just opposite.

a.m.u. stands for "atomic mass unit", which is just simpler to use to refer to tiny masses than a unit like grams or kilograms, which would be in units WAY less than billionths.

"positive" and "negative" are just arbitrary names; there's nothing inherently good or additive about protons; nothing bad or subtractive about electrons - they are just handy, universally accepted opposites - the names might as well be "ketchup" and "mustard".  

"electron cloud" refers to the space outside the nucleus, not too specific beyond that, according to most recent atomic theory.

If atoms do exchange any of these particles, it's almost always got to be the electron.  Why? 2 reasons:

1.  the electron is on the outside of the atom - WAAAAAY far away from the protons and neutrons in the center.  They're what actually can get bumped into.

2. The electron's mass (therefore its INERTIA) is WAAAY smaller than that of a proton or neutron.  Much easier to move around, if you recall anything from last semester.

We looked at an example of a neutral atom, a Carbon having 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons.  Since protons and electrons are equal, the atom is said to be electrically equal.  

Now what happens if this Carbon were to lose an electron?  only 5 electrons and 6 protons, so an overall positive charge remains.  That's right, loss of a particle from an atom makes it positive.  Somewhat counter intuitive, but that's what we're left with - blame the founding scholars of electricity who named things + and - inconveniently.  :)  Geez, Ben Franklin!