PHYSICS IN LIFE SCIENCE

Elements, Atoms, Isotopes

Related textbook chapter: 9.1-9.4,
10.5, 11.6-11.7.

Key concepts

Structure of an atom and subatomic

particles.
Biologically important elements.
Concept of ions and isotopes.
Principle of carbon dating.

Is matter infinitely dividable?

Opposite opinions from ancient times:

Yes: One foot of whip, divide it by half
everyday, there will be no end.
No: The biggest is defined as no outside,
the smallest is defined as no inside.

Atom A-tomon = indivisible

460 BC
Leucippus of
Miletus

599-527 BC
Vardhamana
of India

Greeks naive view of atoms

Sour-tasting substances: contain atoms

with jagged edge.

Oily substances: contain small, round

atoms.

What suggests that matter has units?

John Dalton 1766-1844

Observation: in a chemical reaction, the

reactants always combine in the same
proportions by mass.
8 grams of oxygen always combine with 1 gram
of hydrogen to form water.
Daltons law of definite proportions
There are substances that can no longer be
broken down by chemical means these are
elements.
Each element consists of identical atoms.
In chemical reactions, atoms of one element
combine with atoms of another element in
definite proportions to form molecules.

Chemical Elements
Element: a substance that cannot
be broken down further by chemical
means.
The atoms in an element are
identical (if without isotopes).
118 different elements; 92
naturally occurring.

Sulphur

In terms of mass, 98% of living

organisms are composed of only six
elements:
Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen,
Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulfur.

Aluminium

These elements are not elements

They can be broken down into substances with

different chemical properties.

How do we probe the internal structure

of matter?

Macroscopic object
Cut it open and look

m to nm scale
Use a microscope

The size of an atom: ~0.1 nm.

The way to probe its structure: scattering
experiments with even smaller particles.

Rutherfords scattering experiment on

gold

The probe -particles

(Helium nuclei) are
much smaller than gold
atoms.

The scattering pattern

carries information about
the structure of gold
atoms.

Most particles go through

with little deflection; but
some are scattered
backwards.

Watch

video
Rutherford's
Experiment.

Rutherfords explanation of the

scattering pattern
small
deflection

alpha particles
no deflection

deflected
right back

A small but heavy

part nucleus
gold atom

A big but light part

electrons

more deflection

Rutherfords solar model

The positively charged

nucleus is in the center of
the atom while the
electrons are orbiting
around the nucleus.
The size of an atom is
determined by the size of
electron orbits (~0.1nm).
The size of nucleus is
100,000 times smaller but
it has >99.9% of the
mass!

Whats inside the nucleus?

The nucleus has:
Positively charged particles called protons.
Neutral particles called neutrons.
For a neutral atom, the number of electrons is the
same as the number of protons.
A proton and a neutron
have almost identical
mass 1836 times
heavier than an electron.

Electron energy and orbital radius

Electrons move around the nucleus and occupy

different orbits (modern physics correction: an
orbit is in fact an electron cloud).
A larger orbit (cloud) means a higher energy for
the electron.

Atoms of different elements

Carbon-14

Oxygen-16

Different elements have different numbers of

protons.
Neutron number may or may not be the same.

Convention of describing an element

Z = Atomic number
N = Neutron number
A = Atomic mass
Nuclear Structure A Z + N
Proton

number = Z = Atomic Number

(This number identifies the element.)
Atomic mass number (mass of atom
compared with 1/12 of 12C atom) = A
proton number + neutron number

Description in periodic table

Atomic number:
Z = number of protons
= number of electrons.

Atomic mass number:

A = mass of the atom in
atomic mass unit

Atomic mass number is not an integer because its

an average over all isotopes of the element.

Periodic table Mayan calendar style

This table may

better represent
the shell
structure of
electrons (to be
introduced in
the next talk).

Chemical
elements
in our body

Some biologically important elements

Water (H2O) is a molecule, not an element!

Atom with unequal electrons and

protons: ion

In chemical reactions, some atoms may

lose outer electrons to other atoms. They
are donors.
The atoms gaining electrons are acceptors.
These atoms are no longer neutral. They
become ions.

Isotopes

Same chemical properties

determined by number of
electrons which is
determined by number of
protons.

Isotopes are atoms that have the same number

of protons and differ only in the number of
neutrons.
Isotopes of Helium

Isotopes of Carbon

Number of neutrons
related to stability of
nucleus. C-14 unstable
and its going to
change
overtime(decay)

Carbon-14 decays naturally and this property is

used for dating fossils!

The creation of 14C

C14 is constantly created in the atmosphere by cosmic

rays(invisible particles that come into earth from the universe can
be detected by spectrometer.) have enough energy to trigger
nuclear reaction in the atmosphere. Collide with N14, nitrogen
major gas in atmosphere, when cosmic ray react with N14
converts in C14. cosmic ray can knock out proton and replace with
neutron therefore n14 becomes c14 cause proton change and
becomes new element.

In the atmosphere, 14C is only a small

portion of all C atoms:
14
C/12C = 1.3 x 10-12

C14 react with O to give CO2

Photosynthesis transfers 14C into all living matter

By food chain

All plants absorb

CO2 from the
atmosphere by
photosynthesis.
The plant tissue
contains the same
portion of 14C as
the atmosphere.
C+O2 CO2
photosynthesis sugar

C in animals

14

14C is transferred through

the food chain and so all
living animals have the
same portion of 14C as in
plants.
After death and buried,
the replenishment of 14C
stops.
14C/12C ratio drops with
time because 14C is
unstable and it decays into
14
N.

Electron is also
known as particle

The decay of 14C

14
6

C 14
N

Called decay.

Newly created

Its a slow decay process a 14C atom

has 50% chance to decay into 14N in
5730 years.

Carbon Dating
C/12C ratio in dead bodies is reduced by half
every 5730 years (half-life of 14C). It can serve
as a clock of the age of fossils.
14

Parent nucleus (14C) decays into

daughter nucleus (14N) and half-life

We can tell how much time has passed by

measuring how much of the parent is still left.

Age of fossils by carbon dating

Smiling princess
Mammoth
C level is 30% of the
original: ~10000 years
14

C level is 63% of the

original: ~3800 years
14

Is matter infinitely dividable?

No.

An

atom still has internal structure, so do protons

and neutrons.
There are fundamental particles that has no
internal structure(not dividable):
Quark, electron, neutrino.
Force bosons: photon, gluon, W & Z bosons.
Higgs boson.

Next

Electron orbits in an atom.