Ch. 5 Atoms, Introduction

So you heard Mr. Stewart's atom analogy, where you pictured the room as an atom.  Here's another good one:  If a golfball was an atom's nucleus, then the whole atom would be the size of a half-mile wide sphere!  Pretty crazy, huh?

The idea of an atom as a mostly empty sphere with a tiny nucleus was proposed by one of the most famous chemists in history: Ernest Rutherford.  Interesting fact:  he was a research assistant for J.J. Thompson, the man that proposed atoms were like plum pudding (or jello salad).  Nothing like proving your boss wrong...

Here's a good video showing a re-make of Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment

If you aren't much of an artist and would like to see some more information about the different atomic theories and models throughout history this table has a nice break down of the discoveries and changes throughout history, and where we are today.

Any of you stuck on writing chemical symbols with their atomic number (# of protons), atomic mass (protons +neutrons), and charge (difference between protons and electrons)?  Maybe this visual will help:

While this is an example for sodium (Na), the numbers should appear in the same places for all elements.