Atom Builder Interactive
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| Audience/Grade: | 6 - High School Senior |
| Discipline(s): |
Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular Engineering Chemistry Nuclear Engineering |
| Special Topic(s): | |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Teaching - Demonstration |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Organization:PBS - Public Broadcasting Company |
| Description: | "How small can we go? The stuff you scrape off burnt toast is made primarily of atoms of carbon. But what makes up a carbon atom -- or any other atom? The first subatomic particle to be identified was the electron, in 1898. Ten years later, Ernest Rutherford discovered that atoms have a very dense nucleus, which contains protons. In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, another particle located within the nucleus. And so scientists thought they had found the smallest atomic building blocks. This changed in 1963 when Murray Gell-Mann proposed his quark theory. Gell-Mann believed that each proton and each neutron is made up of three even smaller particles -- particles he named quarks. Physicists have learned a great deal over the past 100 years. For instance, it is now known that in each atom of carbon12, there are a set number of subatomic particles: six electrons, six protons, and six neutrons. The atom's nucleus and electrons are held together by the electromagnetic force -- the positive charges of the protons balances the negative charges of the electrons. Neutrons have no charge. Here's a chance for you to construct a carbon atom. You'll start with a hydrogen atom, which contains one proton and one electron. Just add protons, neutrons, and electrons. By the way, you must also build each proton and neutron from two types of quarks -- up quarks and down quarks. Finally, some advice: try to keep the particles' charges balanced. You'll have a difficult time if you don't. " |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | atomic theory atomic nucleus |
| Referenced By: |
Ernest Rutherford Chadwick discovers the neutron |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: |
Shockwave interactive animation. "The goal of the activity is to build a carbon atom out of elementary particles (up quarks, down quarks, and electrons). On the left side of the activity's window sits the particle dispenser. Dragging two up quarks and one down quark from the dispenser to the Nucleon Assembly area, which sits near the center of the window, forms a proton. Dragging one up quark and two down quarks to the Assembly area forms a neutron. From the Assembly area, a neutron or proton is dragged to the atom's nucleus at the center of the atom building area. Electrons are dragged from the dispenser directly to the building area, to one of two rings that surround the atom's nucleus. As protons, neutrons, and electrons are added to the atom, the atom changes from one element to another. From hydrogen the atom changes into helium, then lithium, and on up through the Periodic table until it finally becomes carbon. If, while being built, the balance between protons, neutrons, and electrons is not sufficiently maintained, the atom will either become radioactive and decay, or become so ionized that it will attach itself to a molecule outside the building area. In either case, the user must start over. The activity is over when the atom changes into carbon." |
| Difficulty: |
Medium |
| Interactivity Level: |
High |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | February 2008 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/atom/# |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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