Name: Alexandra Negrete Date 9/11/23

Lab 17-2: Building an Atom (PhET simulation)

PART I: ATOM SCREEN

1. Go to the website: phet.colorado.edu. Click on HTML5 simulations on top right of screen and choose the Build an Atom
simulation (http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/build-an-atom)
2. Explore the Build an Atom simulation with your group. As you explore, talk about what you find. List two things your
group observed in the simulation.
a. If there are more protons, it has a positive charge, if there are more electrons, it has a negative charge.

b. The protons and neutrons exist in the nucleus.

2. Click on the + sign for each of the boxes (element name, net charge and mass number) to view changes as you change the
number of particles in the atom.
3. What particle(s) are found in the center of the atom? Protons and neutrons.
4. Play until you discover which particle(s) determine(s) the name of the element you build. Protons.
5. What is the name of the following atoms?
a. An atom with 3 protons and 4 neutrons: Lithium
b. An atom with 2 protons and 4 neutrons: Helium
c. An atom with 4 protons and 4 neutrons: Beryllium
6. Play with the simulation to discover which particles affect the charge of an atom or ion. Protons and electrons
7. Fill in the blanks below to show your results:
a. Neutral atoms have the same number of protons and electrons.
b. Positive ions have ________________more________________ protons than electrons.
c. Negative ions have ____________less___________________ protons than electrons.
8. Develop a relationship (in the form of a single sentence or equation) that can predict the charge based on the number and
types of particle.
More protons = positive charge More electrons = negative charge Same # of protons and electrons = no charge

9. Play with the simulation to discover what affects the mass number of your atom or ion. The number of protons and neutrons
there are determines the mass.
a. What is a rule for determining the mass number of an atom or ion?
Mass number = protons + neutrons.

10. Practice applying your understanding by playing 1st and 2nd levels on the game screen.

PART II: SYMBOL SCREEN

1. Using the Symbol readout box, figure out which particles affect each component of the atomic symbol and how the value of
the numbers is determined.

Term to describe this Particle used to determine How the value is

Position in symbol box
information this determined
# of p will identify the
a Element symbol protons
element
b Net charge protons, electrons p+ + e-

c Atomic number protons # of p is the atomic number

+¿¿
d Atomic mass Protons, neutrons p + n0
2. Create a definition (using a complete sentence) for each of these items based on your labels from the atomic symbol above.

a. Element Symbol - The element symbol is the name of the element which is determined by the number of protons there
is.

b. Charge - If an atom doesn’t have an equal number of electrons and protons then it has a net charge and it becomes an
ion. If there are more protons, it has a positive charge, if there are more electrons, it has a negative charge.

c. Atomic Number - The atomic number is the number of protons there are in the nucleus of an atom.

d. Mass Number - The mass number is the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom.

3. Practice applying your understanding by playing the 3rd and 4th game levels. Play until you can get all the questions correct
on the 4th level. Fill in the information here for your last screen of the 4th game level:
protons ____________
neutrons ___________
electrons ___________

4. In addition to atomic symbol, we can represent atoms by name and mass number. Complete the table below:

Symbol Name

Carbon-12

Fluorine-18

Boron-11

a) Each representation (Symbol and Name) in the table above provides information about the atom. Describe the
similarities and differences between the Symbol and Name representations.
 The symbol and name both have the element name and the mass number however, the symbol also has the net charge
and the atomic number, while the name doesn’t.
PART III: ISOTOPES
1. Play with the simulation to determine:
a. Which particles affect the stability of the atom? Protons and neutrons.
b. Which particles do not affect the stability of the atom? Electrons
c. What are the names of the stable forms of oxygen?
d. Oxygen-16
e. Oxygen-17
f. Oxygen-18
2. List all of the things that are the same about these atoms (ignore the electrons).
They all have 8 protons.

3. List all of the things that are different about these atoms (ignore the electrons).
They have different numbers of neutrons.

4. The atoms in the previous question are isotopes of each other. Based on this information, list the requirements for two atoms
to be isotopes of each other.
For two atoms to be isotopes of each other, they need to have the same amount of protons and different amount of
neutrons.

5. Test your understanding of isotopes by examining the relationships between the pairs of atoms listed below:

Atom 1 Atom 2 Relationship between atom 1 and atom 2

Isotopes
Same Atom, Not Isotopes of Each Other
Different Element
Isotopes
Carbon-12 Same Atom, Not Isotopes of Each Other
Different Element
Isotopes
Argon-40 Argon-41 Same Atom, Not Isotopes of Each Other
Different Element
Isotopes
Boron-10 Same Atom, Not Isotopes of Each Other
Different Element
An atom with 13 Isotopes
An atom with 14 protons and
protons and 13 Same Atom, Not Isotopes of Each Other
13 neutrons
neutrons Different Element

PART IV: REVIEW EXERCISES

1. The periodic table has a great deal of information about every atom. Using your periodic table, answer the following
questions:
a. What is the atomic number of chlorine (Cl)? _17____ c. How many protons are there in any Cl atom?___17__
 b. What is the atomic number of tungsten (W)? __74___ d. How many protons are there in any Te atom? __52___
2. Can you tell from your own periodic table exactly how many neutrons are in an atom? Explain your answer.

Yes, you can tell exactly how many neutrons there are from the periodic table. On the periodic table, it doesn’t tell you how
many neutrons there but you can figure it out by subtracting the atomic number from the mass number. The atomic number
and mass number can be found on the periodic table.

3. How will you use your periodic table to find the number of neutrons?

I can use my periodic table to find the number of neutrons by subtracting the atomic number from the mass number.

4. What do an atom, ion and isotope of an element have in common? How are they different?

What they have in common is they have the same number of protons. However, ions have a different number of electrons,
and isotopes have a different number of neutrons.

5. Complete the following table:

Atomic Mass Number of Number of
Name Symbol Charge
number Number neutrons Electrons
hydrogen-2 2
H 1 2 1 1 0
hydrogen-3 3
H 1 3 2 1
sodium-22 22
Na+ 10
12 24 12
12 25 13
46
Ti -2

107
Ag
19 -1
F
carbon-12 6
carbon-13 6
carbon-14 6
carbon-12 7
carbon-12 5
4
He
8 8 10
argon-40 18 18
70
Ga
70
Ga+3
4 9 2
7 8 8

6. To test your knowledge of isotopes, draw arrows between all pairs of atoms in the table above that are isotopes of each other.