The Structure of Matter

The Structure of Matter

Neutral vs. Charged Objects
Charge Interactions
Conductors and Insulators
Polarization

There is a large overlap of the world of static electricity and the

everyday world that you experience. Clothes tumble in the dryer
and cling together. You walk across the carpeting to exit a room and
receive a door knob shock. You pull a wool sweater off at the end of
the day and see sparks of electricity. During the dryness of winter,
you step out of your car and receive a car door shock as you try to
close the door. Sparks of electricity are seen as you pull a wool
blanket off the sheets of your bed. You stroke your cat's fur and
observe the fur standing up on its end. Bolts of lightning dash across
the evening sky during a spring thunderstorm. And most tragic of
all, you have a bad hair day. These are all static electricity events events that can only be explained by an understanding of the
physics of electrostatics.
Not only do electrostatic occurrences permeate the events of
everyday life, without the forces associated with static electricity,
life as we know it would be impossible. Electrostatic forces - both
attractive and repulsive in nature - hold the world of atoms and
molecules together in perfect balance. Without this electric force,
material things would not exist. Atoms as the building blocks of
matter depend upon these forces. And material objects, including us
Earthlings, are made of atoms and the acts of standing and walking,
touching and feeling, smelling and tasting, and even thinking is the
result of electrical phenomenon. Electrostatic forces are
foundational to our existence.
One of the primary questions to be asked in this unit of The Physics
Classroom is: How can an object be charged and what affect does
that charge have upon other objects in its vicinity? The answer to
this question begins with an understanding of the structure of
matter. Understanding charge as a fundamental quantity demands
that we have an understanding of the structure of an atom. So we
begin this unit with what might seem to many students to be a short
review of a unit from a Chemistry course.

History of Atomic Structure

The search for the atom began as a philosophical question. It was
the natural philosophers of ancient Greece that began the search for
the atom by asking such questions as: What is stuf composed of?
What is the structure of material objects? Is there a basic unit from
which all objects are made? As early as 400 B.C., some Greek
philosophers proposed that matter is made of indivisible building
blocks known as atomos. (Atomos in Greek means indivisible.) To
these early Greeks, matter could not be continuously broken down
and divided indefinitely. Rather, there was a basic unit or building
block that was indivisible and foundational to its structure. This
indivisible building block of which all matter was composed became
known as the atom.
The early Greeks were simply philosophers. They
did not perform experiments to test their theories.
In fact, science as an experimental discipline did
not emerge as a credible and popular practice until sometime during
the 1600s. So the search for the atom remained a philosophical
inquiry for a couple of millennia. From the 1600s to the present
century, the search for the atom became an experimental pursuit.
Several scientists are notable; among them are Robert Boyle, John
Dalton, J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, and Neils Bohr.
Boyle's studies (middle to late 1600s) of gaseous substances
promoted the idea that there were different types of atoms known
as elements. Dalton (early 1800s) conducted a variety of
experiments to show that different elements can combine in fixed
ratios of masses to form compounds. Dalton subsequently proposed
one of the first theories of atomic behavior that was supported by
actual experimental evidence.
English scientist J.J. Thomson's cathode ray experiments (end of the
19th century) led to the discovery of the negatively charged
electron and the first ideas of the structure of these indivisible
atoms. Thomson proposed the Plum Pudding Model, suggesting that
an atom's structure resembles the favorite English dessert - plum
pudding. The raisins dispersed amidst the plum pudding are

analogous to negatively charged electrons immersed in a sea of

positive charge.
Nearly a decade after Thomson, Ernest Rutherford's famous gold foil
experiments led to the nuclear model of atomic structure.
Rutherford's model suggested that the atom consisted of a densely
packed core of positive charge known as the nucleus surrounded by
negatively charged electrons. While the nucleus was unique to the
Rutherford atom, even more surprising was the proposal that an
atom consisted mostly of empty space. Most the mass was packed
into the nucleus that was abnormally small compared to the actual
size of the atom.
Neils Bohr improved upon Rutherford's nuclear model (1913) by
explaining that the electrons were present in orbits outside the
nucleus. The electrons were confined to specific orbits of fixed
radius, each characterized by their own discrete levels of energy.
While electrons could be forced from one orbit to another orbit, it
could never occupy the space between orbits.

Bohr's view of quantized energy levels was the precursor to modern

quantum mechanical views of the atoms. The mathematical nature
of quantum mechanics prohibits a discussion of its details and
restricts us to a brief conceptual description of its features. Quantum
mechanics suggests that an atom is composed of a variety of
subatomic particles. The three main subatomic particles are the
proton, electron and neutron. The proton and neutron are the most
massive of the three subatomic particles; they are located in the
nucleus of the atom, forming the dense core of the atom. The proton
is charged positively. The neutron does not possess a charge and is
said to be neutral. The protons and neutrons are bound tightly
together within the nucleus of the atom. Outside the nucleus are

concentric spherical regions of space known as electron shells.

The shells are the home of the negatively charged electrons. Each
shell is characterized by a distinct energy level. Outer shells have
higher energy levels and are characterized as being lower in
stability. Electrons in higher energy shells can move down to lower
energy shells; this movement is accompanied by the release of
energy. Similarly, electrons in lower energy shells can be induced to
move to the higher energy outer shells by the addition of energy to
the atom. If provided sufficient energy, an electron can be removed
from an atom and be freed from its attraction to the nucleus.

Application of Atomic Structure to Static Electricity

This brief excursion into the history of atomic theory leads to some
important conclusions about the structure of matter that will be of
utmost importance to our study of static electricity. Those
conclusions are summarized here:

All material objects are composed of atoms. There are different

kinds of atoms known as elements; these elements can combine
to form compounds. Different compounds have distinctly different
properties. Material objects are composed of atoms and
molecules of these elements and compounds, thus providing
different materials with different electrical properties.

An atom consists of a nucleus and a vast region of space

outside the nucleus. Electrons are present in the region of space
outside the nucleus. They are negatively charged and weakly
bound to the atom. Electrons are often removed from and added
to an atom by normal everyday occurrences. These occurrences
are the focus of this Static Electricity unit of The Physics
Classroom.

The nucleus of the atom contains positively charged protons

and neutral neutrons. These protons and neutrons are not
removable or perturbable by usual everyday methods. It would
require some form of high-energy nuclear occurrence to disturb
the nucleus and subsequently dislodge its positively charged
protons. These high-energy occurrences are fortunately not an
everyday event and they are certainly not the subject of this unit
of The Physics Classroom. One sure truth of this unit is that the
protons and neutrons will remain within the nucleus of the atom.
Electrostatic phenomenon can never be explained by the
movement of protons.
Summary of Subatomic Particles
Proton
Neutron
Electron
In nucleus

In nucleus

Outside nucleus

Tightly Bound

Tightly Bound

Weakly Bound

Positive Charge No Charge

Negative Charge

Massive

Not very massive

Massive

A variety of phenomena will be pondered, investigated and

explained through the course of this Static Electricity unit. Each
phenomenon will be explained using a model of matter described by
the above three statements. The phenomena will range from a
rubber balloon sticking to a wooden door to the clinging together of
clothes that have tumbled in the dryer to the bolt of lightning seen
in the evening sky. Each of these phenomena will be explained in
terms of electron movement - both within the atoms and molecules
of a material and from the atoms and molecules of one material to
those of another. In the next section of Lesson 1 we will explore how
electron movement can be used to explain how and why objects
acquire an electrostatic charge.

Check Your Understanding

Use your understanding of charge to answer the following questions.

When finished, click the button to view the answers.
1. ____ are the charged parts of an atom.
a. Only electrons
b. Only protons
c. Neutrons only
d. Electrons and neutrons
e. Electrons and protons
f. Protons and neutrons
The Structure of Matter

Introduction
The Structure of Matter
The Greeks were the first to speculate that matter was discrete, in the form of
particles. The word atom derives from the Greek () for indivisible.
Democretus, argued that matter on the large scale is composed of atoms and
that different substances were composed of different atoms or combinations of
atoms. Furthermore, one could substance could be converted into another
simply be re-arranging the atoms. The atomic theory was roundly rejected by
Aristotle, and, thus, by almost everybody else for the next two millennia.
The modern definition of an element was made in 1661 by Robert Boyle. An
element is a substance that can not be broken down into simpler substances but
can form compounds with other elements. There are 88 naturally occurring
elements (not the much reported 92 natural elements - The elements Tc, Pm, At
and Fr have no stable isotopes, and none of long half-life, so they are not
naturally present.) Including man-made elements, at the time of writting (Dec,
2006) there are 117 elements. The existance of these more massive elements is
fleeting with elements lasting from a few microseconds to about 30 seconds.

For the Greeks, atoms were as far as the indivisibility of matter went. However,
in 1906 J. J. Thompson discovered a negatively charged particle which
eventually became known as an electron. Early models the atom considered
'atom as a nice hard fellows, red or gray in color, according to taste', in which
the charged particles were distributed much like the plums in a Plum pudding.
However, this model of the atoms was shown to be wrong by Rutherford's
experiment, in which a high energy beam of alpha particles was fired at a very
thin gold foil.

Ruferford's alpha particle experiment.

If the plum pudding model of the atom was correct then the alpha particles
would pass through the foil with little deflection. As shown in the figure.

Expected results and actual results of experiment.

Most of the alpha particle passed through the foil with very little deflection.
However, about 1 in every 8000 was scattered through an angle of more than
90 degrees. To Rutherford this was incredible. It was quite the most incredible
event that has ever happened to me in my life. It was almost as incredible as if
you had fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue-paper and it came back and hit
you. For the alpha particles to be scattered through such large angles and even
coming back on themselves, they had to encounter a massive concentration of
charged particles of very small size. The back scattering of alpha particles
showed that most of the mass of the atom was concentrated at the nucleus.

The Ruferford Model of the atom.

Atomic and Nuclei Radii

The size of an atomic radius is difficult to guage since the orbits of the electrons
are not in general, circular and the electron cannot be said to orbit but exists as
a cloud of probability. However, taking the average distance from the nucleus as
a measure of 'radius'. With the exception of the lightest elements, most atoms
have radii of the order of 10-11 m. As for the nucleus, it is some 10,000 times
smaller at 10-15 m. If an atom had the same diameter as the length of a football
pitch (120m) then the nucleus would be about the size of a marble (1.2cm).
The structure of matter is mostly empty space.

The Bohr Model of the Atom

One problem with the classical theory of the atom was that with the electrons
travelling around a positively charged nucleus, the electrons would be
accelerating. Accelerating charges produce radiation. This radiation takes
energy from the electron orbiting the nucleus and therefore the electron would
spiral into the nucleus bringing about the end of atoms and the end of the
universe.

The Bohr model of the atom.

Neils Bohr considered the Hydrogen atom, as it is the simplest atom, having one
electron oribiting the nucleus. The Bohr model atom propossed that the electron
has certain orbits, called stationary states, which are allowed without losing
energy. If the electron were to lose energy by emission or gain energy by
absorption it would move to another stationary state.
To overcome this problem, Niels Bohr proposed that using Planck's quantum
theory, the electron could only lose energy in fixed quantities, or quanta. The
electron could only lose energy if it was one of the fixed quantities allowed by
the quantum mechanics.
Bohr used his theory to explain emission spectra of Hydrogen. When heated,
object emit light which when diffracted into a prism the light would be separated
into discrette lines which were characteristic to each type of element. He
realised that the frequency of the lines was the result of the discrette changes in
energy as electron changed from one stationary state to another, in the process
radiating a small quantity of energy.

Particle

Location

Charge

Mass

Neutron

Nucleus

None

1.008665 amu

Proton

Nucleus

+1

1.007277 amu

Electron

Shells around the

nucleus

-1

0.0005486 amu

Nomenclature
Now we move on to a few definitions that are used in Nuclear physics. Nuclide a combination of protons and netrons. Not all nuclides are possible but about
2500 unique combinations have been identified

In this graphic, X is a generic chemical element symbol. A represents the sum

of the protons plus the neutrons making up the nucleus. It is called the nucleon
number or mass number. The lower number, Z is known as the atomic
number and is the number of protons in the nucleus.

Isotopes
The number of protons determines what the element the atom is. However, it is
possible for an element to exist in more than one form by having greater or
fewer neutrons in the nucleus. The different forms of the same element are
known as isotopes of an element. Most elements have a few stable isotopes and
a few unstable isotopes. For example: Carbon exists in 15 isotopes with the
most common forms being the stable C-12,C-13 and the unstable or radioactive
C-14.

Probing Matter
There are many techniques for investigating the structure of materials. The
basic concept is to direct a beam of particles at a sample and the structure can
be determined by the pattern of diffraction. The physical properties of the
particle beam such as charge, mass, determine what properties of the sample
can be investigated.
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
To probe the internal arrangement of the atoms in a matterial we can use
electromagnetic radiation but the wavelength must be of the same order as the
spacing between planes in the material. X-rays have a wavelength that is similar
to the spacing in the crystal planes.
To determine the structure of a crystal, a single crystal or powdered material is
placed as a target for a columated beam of X-rays. The X-rays penetrate the
crystal and some of the energy is reflected back from the different planes. The
spacing of the atoms causes the X-rays to diffract. In some regions the X-rays
will interfere constuctively and the combined amplitude will be must greater. In
other regions, the X-rays will interfere in a destructive way and the sum of their
amplitudes will be zero. Using a suitable means such as a photographic film the
strength of the diffracted and reflected X-rays will shown and it is possible to
calculate the structure of the material.
For amorphous substances, the arrangement of the atoms does not possess a
long range order of symmetry, the X-ray diffraction pattern will be diffuse.
In crystals, the ordered position of individual atoms in a molecule will lead to a
rather mysterious pattern of dark spots from which the structure can be
calculated.

Quasi-crystals - materials which show some symmetry over relatively short

distances, X-ray diffraction shows patterns of spots with impossible rotational
orders of symmetry such as 5, 7, 13, etc.
N E U T R O N S C A TT E R I N G
A similar technique is that of Neutron Scattering. Neutrons carry no charge but
they also have a wavelength. It might seem strange that a particle can also
have a wavelength. However, this is one of the percularities of the quantum
world. This idea was postulated by Prince Louis De-Broglie. Light which was
thought to behave like a wave can act like a particle, maybe particles can act
like waves sometimes and this is indeed the case. When the size of the particle
is small then wave effects begin to become apparent. By small in this case we
mean nanometer scale.
The wavelength of a particle is given by: = h/p where h is Planck's constant
~ 6.6x10-33 and p is the momentum of the particle.
ELECTRON BEAM DIFFRACTION

Calculating nuclear diameter

The nuclear diameter d can be calculated from the electron scattering data.
Electron beam energy = 100 MeV = 100 106=1.6x10-19 J = 1.6 x 10-11 J
Momentum p = E/c = 1.6 x 10-11/3.0 x108 = 5.3 x 10-20kg m s-1
De Broglie relationship = h/p = 6.6 x 10-34/5.3 x 10-20= 1.2 x 10-14 m
The first diffraction minimum occurs at about 22, so using the single slit
diffraction equation sin = /d we have d = /sin = 1.2 x 10-14 m /sin (22) =
3.3 x 10-14 m
Electron beams can provide information about the surface of matterials. RHEED
- Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction is a common tool to study the
surface of growing semiconductor crystals. A high-energy electron beam is
directed toward the semiconductors material. The electrons cannot penetrate
the surface of the sample because of the electromagnetic force. The electrons

are diffracted and form a pattern of bright and dark spots on a phorescent
screen. This information can tell you about the surface quality of the material.