Atoms! Trivia Quiz

Answer: alpha and beta

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was a New Zealand chemist and physicist. He named alpha radiation after the name for the letter A in the Greek language, and used the same idea to name beta radiation after the name for the letter B in the Greek language. In 1908 he was awarded with a Nobel Prize in chemistry and is considered the father of nuclear physics.

Answer: cation

A subatomic particle is a particle found within atoms. Quarks, neutrons, and electrons are all found within an atom. Cations, on the other hand, are positive charged ions. Ions are atoms that have gained or lost one or more electrons. A positive ion has lost an electron or more and that's what makes it positively charged. Negatively charged ions, which are called anions, have gained an electron or more.

Answer: 7

Because of this feature, halogens are highly reactive, because they only need one electron to fill their shell. They mostly react with alkali metals such as sodium and lithium because alkali metals have one electron in their outer shell. For example, the halogen chlorine bonds with the alkali metal sodium to form salt. Sodium gives its electron to chlorine which now has a full shell.

They are both ions now, sodium is positive because it lost an electron and chlorine is negative because it gained an electron.

They now have opposite charges and are attracted to each other. This makes them bond and form the compound salt.

Answer: electromagnetic attraction

Out of the three main particles in an atom, electrons are the only ones that are not found in the nucleus of the atom. The nucleus is made from protons and neutrons. The force that keeps electrons in orbit is called electromagnetic attraction. According to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, one can't tell where an electron will move, yet alone where it is in the first place.

Answer: two protons and two neutrons

When an atom is radioactive and the nucleus is unstable, it ejects particles in the form of radiation to make itself more stable. An atom can be unstable if it has more neutrons in its nucleus than an atom of its element usually would. Atoms like this are called isotopes. An atom can also be unstable if its protons and neutrons aren't sticking very well to each other. Atoms can release alpha, beta, or gamma radiation. Alpha radiation is composed of two protons and two neutrons.

Therefore, the atoms would have released two protons and neutrons. If the atom tries to become stable using beta radiation, then it will transform one of the neutrons in its nucleus into a proton and will then release an electron. If the atom tries to become stable using gamma radiation, then it will release one or more photons.

Answer: baryons

Quarks can never be found separately. Hadrons are a combination of two or three quarks. More specifically, combinations of three quarks are called baryons. Combinations of two quarks are called mesons, but they are quite rare. Quarks are one of the main three elementary particles along with leptons and bosons.

Answer: electron

Electrons barely weigh anything. They are 1836 times smaller than protons. The word 'electron'' is from the Greek word for amber.

Answer: 3

Ammonia also contains one atom of nitrogen. It is a colourless gas and can poison you if inhaled. When dissolved in water it becomes liquid ammonia.

Answer: hydrogen

Hydrogen is the lightest element and the simplest. It's the very first on the periodic table. It only has one proton and electron and no neutrons. It's highly flammable and was discovered by Henry Cavendish in 1766.

Answer: neutron

If an atom is to be split, then the nucleus needs to be broken into halves. In order to perform this task, a subatomic particle needs to be fired at the atom so that the nucleus can be broken by it. Electrons are about 1800 times smaller than a proton alone so they're way too small to break the nucleus.

This problem also applies to quarks. Protons and neutrons are actually composed of quarks, so they're obviously too small to break the nucleus. Protons can't be used to split an atom because they have a positive charge, and so does the nucleus of the atoms. Since the proton and the nucleus have the same charge, they would repel and the proton would not be able to break the nucleus.

The neutron is used because it's big enough and has zero charge so it would therefore be able to successfully break the nucleus.