Structure and charge of the nucleus of the atom

The fact that all the items are made up of elementary particles were supposed by the scientists of Ancient Greece. But neither to prove this fact nor to refute in those days there was no possibility. And the properties of atoms in antiquity could only be guessed based on their own observations of various substances.

To prove that all substances consist of elementary particles, it was possible only in the 19 th century and then indirectly. At the same time, physicists and chemists around the world tried to create a unified theory of elementary particles, describing their structure and explaining various properties, such as, for example, nuclear charge.

The work of many scientists was devoted to the study of molecules, atoms, and their structure. Physics gradually moved into the study of the microworld - elementary particles, their interactions and properties. Scientists began to wonder what the atomic nucleus consists of , put forward hypotheses and try to prove them, at least indirectly.

As a result, the planetary model of the atomic structure proposed by Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr was adopted as the basic theory. According to this theory, the charge of the nucleus of any atom is positive, while its orbits rotate negatively charged electrons, eventually making the atom electrically neutral. Over time, this theory has been repeatedly confirmed by various kinds of experiments, starting with the experiments of one of its co-authors.

Modern nuclear physics considers the theory of Rutherford-Bohr fundamental, all studies of atoms and their elements are based on it. On the other hand, most of the hypotheses that have appeared in the last 150 years have almost never been confirmed. It turns out that nuclear physics in its majority is theoretical in view of the extremely small size of the objects under study.

Of course, in today's world, it is much easier to determine the charge of the aluminum core, for example (or any other element) than in the 19th century and even more so in Ancient Greece. But making new discoveries in this area, scientists sometimes come to surprising conclusions. Trying to find a solution to one problem, the physics of elementary particles faces new problems and paradoxes.

Initially, Rutherford's theory says that the chemical properties of a substance depend on the charge of the nucleus of its atom and, as a consequence, on the number of electrons rotating along its orbits. Modern chemistry and physics fully confirm this version. Despite the fact that the study of the structure of molecules initially repelled from the simplest model - a hydrogen atom whose charge of the nucleus is equal to 1, the theory fully applies to all elements of the periodic table, including rare earth metals and radioactive substances obtained artificially at the end of the last millennium.

It is curious that long before Rutherford's research, an English chemist, a physician by education, William Prout, noticed that the specific gravity of various substances is a multiple of the given index of hydrogen. He then suggested that all other elements simply consist of hydrogen at some simplest level. That, for example, a particle of nitrogen is 14 such minimal particles, oxygen is 16, etc. If we consider this theory globally in modern interpretation, then in general it is correct.