The Periodic Table and Its Elements

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Wright, Crystal Chemistry - Period 1 Ms. Kapur June 4th, 2012 The Periodc Table and its Elements What is an Element? Elements are the basic building materials of the universe. They are unique substances made of only one type of particle called an atom. All things that you can touch, feel, and have mass are made of atoms. The simplest and most common element is Hydrogen, which can be in the form of a single proton, an extremely tiny particle with a positive charge. Sometimes electrons, even tinier particles, surround the proton, forming negatively charged shells. When two Hydrogen atoms link together, they form a Hydrogen molecule. Our sun, and all the other stars in the universe, are mostly made of the element Hydrogen. Trillions and Trillions of Hydrogen atoms are being smashed together in the sun and releasing energy which we feel as light and radiation. Inside the sun, protons and electrons of the Hydrogen atoms get smashed together and combine to make bigger atoms with two protons, which are called Helium. As more and more protons get added to the atom, it gets bigger and bigger. Each new proton creates a new element such as Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Iron. It is the number of protons, and only the number of protons which determines the element. The Periodic Table of Elements contains a list of all the known elements. Scientists have predicted the existance of elements for thousands of years. Early greek philosophers used the term atomos to describe the uncuttable pieces that make up everything around us. Their idea was that you could keep cutting something up until you got down to such a tiny piece that it couldn't be cut any more and that was the atomos building block. At that time, the elements were thought to be fire, water, earth, air, electricity and things like that. So they had the idea but it would be a long time before atoms would be

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