Life’s Hierarchy

atom:

An atom is the smallest part of a chemical

element that has all the properties of that
element.

Examples of different atoms:

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen

Picture: Oxygen Atom

Atoms that are missing or have extra

neutrons are called isotopes.

If you had very, very good eyes and could

look at the atoms in a sample of hydrogen,
you would notice that most of the
hydrogen atoms would have no neutrons,
some of them would have one neutron and
a few of them would have two neutrons.
These different versions of hydrogen are
called isotopes. All isotopes of a particular
element have the same number of protons,
but have a different number of neutrons. If
you change the number of neutrons an
atom has, you make an isotope of that
element.
History:

1808 John Dalton proposed his theory that all Ions are atoms with either extra electrons
elements are made of atoms that cannot be or missing electrons.
divided or destroyed.

John Dalton: is credited with proposing

atomic theory which is a theory of the
nature of matter, which states that matter is
In electrically neutral atoms, the number of
composed of discrete units called atoms, as
protons equals the number of electrons.
opposed to obsolete beliefs that matter could
Atoms remain intact in chemical reactions
be divided into any arbitrarily small quantity.
except for the removal, transfer, or
Dalton's Atomic Theory exchange of certain electrons.

1) All matter is made of atoms. Atoms are

indivisible and indestructible.
2) All atoms of a given element are identical in
mass and properties
3) Compounds are formed by a combination of two
or more different kinds of atoms.
4) A chemical reaction is a rearrangement of
atoms.