... the story continues...
________
Spruce picked two of the small electrons from the shelf and lobbed the one and then the other. Both of them swirled together in a sphere around the four particles in the nucleus.
"Why aren't you using the remote?" Stef's chemistry teacher said.
"What remote, Dr. Martin?" Spruce immediately asked... no one seemed to wonder how Spruce knew the name of her teacher.
"Let me show you," and he held up a remote. "If you click the button with the arrow pointing down, the atomic number goes down one. So it's helium now, but if I click it down..." and he clicked it... "it loses a proton, electron, and the two neutrons and becomes..."
"Hydrogen!" Stef exclaimed. And sure enough, the sphere around the nucleus dimmed in half and only one proton was left in the nucleus.
"If I click the up button," Dr. Martin continued, "then it goes up one atomic number." And with another click, the second electron and proton returned, along with the neutrons.
"Helium again!" Spruce quickly said before Stefanie could say anything.
"So what comes after helium?" Stef asked.
"It's something called lithium," he answered.
"Oh, yeah," she said. "I remember that because they use compounds of it to treat people who are bipolar. So what's it look like? Show me! Show me!"
"OK, here it comes," and he clicked the up button. Suddenly, a second sphere with one electron in it appeared around the first, quite a bit bigger. Meanwhile, another proton and two more neutrons popped into the nucleus."
"Do it again," Stef asked, jumping up and down with excitement.
And with another push, a second electron filled up the outer sphere; another proton and neutron popped into the nucleus.
"That's weird," Spruce said. "It added two neutrons when you went to lithium, but only one more when you went to this element. Why's that?"
"Don't know," Dr. Martin said, "at least not in this dream. I don't think it's predictable or that it matters."
"What's this element called?" Stef asked. "I know it's atomic number 4 now."
"I can't tell you," Dr. Martin said, "because this is a dream and your subconscious only remembers that it has the letters 'Be.' You never looked at the actual name.
"One more? One more?" she asked urgently.
"OK," he answered. "One more," and when he pushed the button this time a big big electron loop appeared above the two spheres. Another proton popped in the nucleus, along with another neutron.
"That's weird," Spruce said. "What's the loop?"
"Yeah," Stef added. "I saw that in the book too."
"It's just the way the electrons get added. You don't have to understand why. The first two are added in a sphere--hydrogen, helium. Then the next two are also added in a bigger sphere--lithium and the one with the letters 'Be.'
"You don't even remember the next one," he continued, "but you saw that it adds a funny loop instead of another sphere."
"But what does it mean?" Stef asked Dr. Martin.
"I don't know," he answered. "This is your dream, not mine."
"But you have to know. You have to. What are these spheres and loops called? I know they have a name," she insisted.
"You'll have to wake up and look it up," he said calmly.
"Spruce, make him tell me now," she said, turning to Spruce.
"It's not my dream," he answered. "I'm going back to my own dream," he said, and evaporated in a wisp of smoke.
"Spruce Alexander," you come back here right now, "she said."
"Would you like me to wake you up?" Dr. Martin said. "It's very easy. All I need to do is throw some of these electrons at you until it shocks you away. You do realize that electrons are what make up electricity, right?"
And he began to take the small electrons off the shelf and throw them at her. As they left his hand, they became waves of electricity flying at the speed of light toward her. The first two missed, but the evil smile on his face made it clear that he had just been playing with her.
"Time to wake up," he said and began to laugh a wicked laugh. He wound his hand back and the lighting shot directly toward her."
"Ahhh!" she said with a start, lifting her head off the desk where she had been sleeping...
Showing posts with label proton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label proton. Show all posts
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
3.4 Mass Number
That was pretty much it for chemistry at supper. After supper, Spruce dropped Stef off at her house and headed back to Indy.
Back in the room, it occurred to her that she already pretty much knew everything Spruce talked about at supper. But they hadn't talked about what she didn't understand, like atomic mass. She didn't have anything else to do, so she decided to give it one more shot.
The textbook confused her, "The way scientists calculate the mass of atoms is in terms of the atomic mass unit, which is defined as one twelfth the mass of a Carbon 12 atom."
"What the heck is a Carbon 12 atom?" she asked herself. She decided it to google it instead. The blog of some 45 year old janitor at a community college came up. "Basically, a proton weighs one atomic mass unit or 'amu.'"
"So a proton is one atomic mass unit," she said to herself and kept reading.
"It's not exact," the blog continued. "A proton weighs just a little more than 1 amu, and a neutron weighs just a tad more."
"Oh, great." She decided she didn't care. She was going to think of a proton or neutron weighing one atomic mass unit.
She went back to the textbook. "The mass number of an atom is the total number of protons and neutrons it has." Mass sounded familiar. "Isn't that the same as weight?" she asked herself.
She googled it again: "Is mass and weight the same?" This time the blog of someone who worked at a Starbucks came up. "Mass and weight are not the same. Weight has to do with gravity and depends on how high or low you are on the earth. In space you have no weight."
"That's confusing," Stef said to herself again, but she kept reading.
"Mass is, like, how much stuff is there, which is the same anywhere, even in outer space."
That made a little sense to her. I need to put this in the notebook, he suddenly thought, before it all evaporated out of her mind. She wrote down everything she'd learned so far that night.
electron: very small particle with negative charge, surrounds the nucleus in fields
proton: particle in nucleus with a positive charge, has a mass of about one atomic mass unit
neutron: particle in nucleus with a neutral charge, just a little bigger than a proton with a mass of about one atomic mass unit
atomic number: the number of protons in an atom's nucleus, tells you what element it is
mass number: the number of protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus
atomic mass unit: the way they calculate how much an atom "weighs" (she couldn't think of a better way to put it), one "amu" is about the mass of a proton
She felt pretty good about the list because she pretty much understood everything on it. There was just one more key term she couldn't figure out, atomic weight...
Back in the room, it occurred to her that she already pretty much knew everything Spruce talked about at supper. But they hadn't talked about what she didn't understand, like atomic mass. She didn't have anything else to do, so she decided to give it one more shot.
The textbook confused her, "The way scientists calculate the mass of atoms is in terms of the atomic mass unit, which is defined as one twelfth the mass of a Carbon 12 atom."
"What the heck is a Carbon 12 atom?" she asked herself. She decided it to google it instead. The blog of some 45 year old janitor at a community college came up. "Basically, a proton weighs one atomic mass unit or 'amu.'"
"So a proton is one atomic mass unit," she said to herself and kept reading.
"It's not exact," the blog continued. "A proton weighs just a little more than 1 amu, and a neutron weighs just a tad more."
"Oh, great." She decided she didn't care. She was going to think of a proton or neutron weighing one atomic mass unit.
She went back to the textbook. "The mass number of an atom is the total number of protons and neutrons it has." Mass sounded familiar. "Isn't that the same as weight?" she asked herself.
She googled it again: "Is mass and weight the same?" This time the blog of someone who worked at a Starbucks came up. "Mass and weight are not the same. Weight has to do with gravity and depends on how high or low you are on the earth. In space you have no weight."
"That's confusing," Stef said to herself again, but she kept reading.
"Mass is, like, how much stuff is there, which is the same anywhere, even in outer space."
That made a little sense to her. I need to put this in the notebook, he suddenly thought, before it all evaporated out of her mind. She wrote down everything she'd learned so far that night.
electron: very small particle with negative charge, surrounds the nucleus in fields
proton: particle in nucleus with a positive charge, has a mass of about one atomic mass unit
neutron: particle in nucleus with a neutral charge, just a little bigger than a proton with a mass of about one atomic mass unit
atomic number: the number of protons in an atom's nucleus, tells you what element it is
mass number: the number of protons and neutrons in an atom's nucleus
atomic mass unit: the way they calculate how much an atom "weighs" (she couldn't think of a better way to put it), one "amu" is about the mass of a proton
She felt pretty good about the list because she pretty much understood everything on it. There was just one more key term she couldn't figure out, atomic weight...
Thursday, February 23, 2012
3.2 Protons, Electrons, Neutrons
"I even remember what's in an atom," Stef continued.
"Protons, electrons, and neutrons, of course," Spruce threw in before she could continue. She curled her lips in a way that said she was contemplating throwing something at him. "Ah, but do you remember which particles are in the nucleus and which ones are swirling around the space above like planets around the sun."
"HA!" She fired back. "The electrons outside the nucleus don't really swirl. They're more like force fields and you never know exactly where they're at. You only can say where they are probably at, so there."
"And which particle is the biggest and which is the smallest?" he asked with a smirky grin she wanted to smack off his face.
"The electron is way smaller than the other two and has a negative charge," she answered confidently.
"Yeah, so which particle in the nucleus is bigger?" he persisted.
"Ah," she hesitated. "The proton has a positive charge and the neutron doesn't have a charge. It's neutral."
"That's not what I asked," he came at her again. After she continued to play with her pasta, he finally answered it himself: "It's the neutron. In fact, it's kind of like a proton and electron put together."
She completely ignored him, not willing to give him the satisfaction of knowing something she didn't.
"So the number of which particle tells you what element it is?" he continued. She was not at all in the mood by now. She began to think about her yoga class and some of the ridiculous stretches she was working on for college credit.
Meanwhile, Spruce continued to talk to himself...
"Protons, electrons, and neutrons, of course," Spruce threw in before she could continue. She curled her lips in a way that said she was contemplating throwing something at him. "Ah, but do you remember which particles are in the nucleus and which ones are swirling around the space above like planets around the sun."
"HA!" She fired back. "The electrons outside the nucleus don't really swirl. They're more like force fields and you never know exactly where they're at. You only can say where they are probably at, so there."
"And which particle is the biggest and which is the smallest?" he asked with a smirky grin she wanted to smack off his face.
"The electron is way smaller than the other two and has a negative charge," she answered confidently.
"Yeah, so which particle in the nucleus is bigger?" he persisted.
"Ah," she hesitated. "The proton has a positive charge and the neutron doesn't have a charge. It's neutral."
"That's not what I asked," he came at her again. After she continued to play with her pasta, he finally answered it himself: "It's the neutron. In fact, it's kind of like a proton and electron put together."
She completely ignored him, not willing to give him the satisfaction of knowing something she didn't.
"So the number of which particle tells you what element it is?" he continued. She was not at all in the mood by now. She began to think about her yoga class and some of the ridiculous stretches she was working on for college credit.
Meanwhile, Spruce continued to talk to himself...
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