Where is electrons found

The answer is electrons. Electrons are one of three main types of particles that make up atoms. The other two types are protons and neutrons. Unlike protons and neutrons, which consist of smaller, simpler particles, electrons are fundamental particles that do not consist of smaller particles. They are a type of fundamental particles called leptons. All leptons have an electric charge of -1 or 0.

For an excellent video about electrons and other fundamental particles in atoms, go to this URL:. Electrons are extremely small. Unlike protons and neutrons , which are located inside the nucleus at the center of the atom, electrons are found outside the nucleus. Because opposite electric charges attract each other, negative electrons are attracted to the positive nucleus.

This force of attraction keeps electrons constantly moving through the otherwise empty space around the nucleus.

The Figure below is a common way to represent the structure of an atom. It shows the electron as a particle orbiting the nucleus, similar to the way that planets orbit the sun. The region where an electron is most likely to be is called an orbital. Each orbital can have at most two electrons. Some orbitals , called S orbitals, are shaped like spheres, with the nucleus in the center. An S orbital is pictured in Figure below. Where the dots are denser, the chance of finding an electron is greater.

Also pictured in Figure below is a P orbital. P orbitals are shaped like dumbbells, with the nucleus in the pinched part of the dumbbell. You can see animated, three-dimensional models of orbitals at the following URL. Q: How many electrons can there be in each type of orbital shown in the Figure above? A: There can be a maximum of two electrons in any orbital, regardless of its shape. A: The nucleus is at the center of each orbital.

It is in the middle of the sphere in the S orbital and in the pinched part of the P orbital. Electrons are located at fixed distances from the nucleus, called energy levels.

You can see the first three energy levels in the Figure below. The diagram also shows the maximum possible number of electrons at each energy level. At the lowest energy level , which has the least energy, there is just one orbital, so this energy level has a maximum of two electrons.

Electrons at higher energy levels, which are farther from the nucleus, have more energy. They also have more orbitals and greater possible numbers of electrons. They determine many of the properties of an element.

Atoms may share or transfer valence electrons. Shared electrons bind atoms together to form chemical compounds.

You can see all of these ideas in action at the following URL scroll down to the animation at the bottom of the Web page. Q: If an atom has 12 electrons, how will they be distributed in energy levels? A: The atom will have two electrons at the first energy level, eight at the second energy level, and the remaining two at the third energy level. Q: Sometimes, an electron jumps from one energy level to another.

How do you think this happens? A: To change energy levels, an electron must either gain or lose energy. Protons are about The number of protons in an atom is unique to each element. For example, carbon atoms have six protons, hydrogen atoms have one and oxygen atoms have eight. The number of protons in an atom is referred to as the atomic number of that element. The number of protons also determines the chemical behavior of the element.

Elements are arranged in the Periodic Table of the Elements in order of increasing atomic number. Three quarks make up each proton — two "up" quarks each with a two-thirds positive charge and one "down" quark with a one-third negative charge — and they are held together by other subatomic particles called gluons, which are massless. Electrons are tiny compared to protons and neutrons, over 1, times smaller than either a proton or a neutron.

Electrons are about 0. Joseph John J. Thomson, a British physicist, discovered the electron in , according to the Science History Institute. Originally known as "corpuscles," electrons have a negative charge and are electrically attracted to the positively charged protons. Today, this model is known as the quantum model or the electron cloud model.

The inner orbitals surrounding the atom are spherical but the outer orbitals are much more complicated. An atom's electron configuration refers to the locations of the electrons in a typical atom.

Using the electron configuration and principles of physics, chemists can predict an atom's properties, such as stability, boiling point and conductivity, according to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The neutron's existence was theorized by Rutherford in and discovered by Chadwick in , according to the American Physical Society. Neutrons were found during experiments when atoms were shot at a thin sheet of beryllium.

Electrons, however, occupy well defined volumes of space around the atomic center. Electrons exist in a universe we would find it hard to imagine. For example, at one and the same time, electrons behave as if they were waves and particles like bullets. This is called particle-wave duality , also you can never know exactly where they are technically, this is know as the "uncertainity principle". You can only speak of the probability of finding an electron within a certain region.

Because the true nature of electrons is hard to understand without a lot of math! The most famous of these models was a refinement of the Rutherford model, and is now known as the In the Danish theoretical physicist Niels Bohr published an new model to explain how electrons can have stable orbits around the atomic center.

The problem with the Rutherford model was the unstable orbits proposed for the electrons. According to classical theory, any electron moving on a curved path emits energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The orbiting electrons would therefore lose energy, move inwards and eventually spiral into the collection of protons and neutrons in the atomic center. Bohr thought about this problem during his visit to Manchester. Soon he modified the Rutherford model by insisting that the electrons move around the center in orbitals that were fixed in size and energy.

Isotopes are various forms of an element that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Some elements, such as carbon, potassium, and uranium, have multiple naturally-occurring isotopes.

Isotopes are defined first by their element and then by the sum of the protons and neutrons present. While the mass of individual isotopes is different, their physical and chemical properties remain mostly unchanged. Isotopes do differ in their stability. Carbon 12 C is the most abundant of the carbon isotopes, accounting for Carbon 14 C is unstable and only occurs in trace amounts.

Neutrons, protons, and positrons can also be emitted and electrons can be captured to attain a more stable atomic configuration lower level of potential energy through a process called radioactive decay. The new atoms created may be in a high energy state and emit gamma rays which lowers the energy but alone does not change the atom into another isotope.

These atoms are called radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes. Carbon is normally present in the atmosphere in the form of gaseous compounds like carbon dioxide and methane. Carbon 14 C is a naturally-occurring radioisotope that is created from atmospheric 14 N nitrogen by the addition of a neutron and the loss of a proton, which is caused by cosmic rays.

This is a continuous process so more 14 C is always being created in the atmosphere. Once produced, the 14 C often combines with the oxygen in the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide produced in this way diffuses in the atmosphere, is dissolved in the ocean, and is incorporated by plants via photosynthesis. Animals eat the plants and, ultimately, the radiocarbon is distributed throughout the biosphere. In living organisms, the relative amount of 14 C in their body is approximately equal to the concentration of 14 C in the atmosphere.

When an organism dies, it is no longer ingesting 14 C, so the ratio between 14 C and 12 C will decline as 14 C gradually decays back to 14 N. This slow process, which is called beta decay, releases energy through the emission of electrons from the nucleus or positrons. After approximately 5, years, half of the starting concentration of 14 C will have been converted back to 14 N. This is referred to as its half-life, or the time it takes for half of the original concentration of an isotope to decay back to its more stable form.

Because the half-life of 14 C is long, it is used to date formerly-living objects such as old bones or wood. Comparing the ratio of the 14 C concentration found in an object to the amount of 14 C in the atmosphere, the amount of the isotope that has not yet decayed can be determined. On the basis of this amount, the age of the material can be accurately calculated, as long as the material is believed to be less than 50, years old.

This technique is called radiocarbon dating, or carbon dating for short.