Elements and Atoms
Atoms and Elements, How Many Elements Are There?
What is an element? Elements are all around us. The element iron is in everything from bridges to safety pins. Electric wire is made from the element copper. Cans are made from the element aluminum. The lead in pencils is not really lead. It is graphite. This is the element carbon. Even the air we breathe is made of elements. It is mostly nitrogen and oxygen.
These wires are made from the element copper. Copper is a metal. It is used for wires because it conducts electricity well.
Ironbridge is built mainly from the element iron. It was the first bridge ever to be built of cast iron. It was built across the River Severn in England, in 1779.
But many things around us are not elements. Plastic is not an element. Wood, glass, and cloth are not elements, either. So how do we tell elements from other substances? To find the answer, let's look at atoms. Everything is made of atoms.
Atoms and Elements
Atoms are the bits, or particles, that make up everything. They are very tiny. You need a special microscope to see an atom. An element is something that is made up of just one kind of atom.
ATOMIC STRUCTURE
Atoms are not solid balls. They are made from smaller parts. The parts are protons, neutrons, and electrons. The middle of the atom is called the nucleus. It is made from protons and neutrons. Around this is a cloud of very, very tiny electrons. The various elements have a different number of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
The main parts of an atom.
How Many Elements Are There?
About ninety-two elements have been found on Earth. Some others have been made artificially. (See page 19.)
ELEMENT SYMBOLS
Every element has a symbol. Often, it is the first one or two letters of the element's name. Carbon, for instance, is C. Oxygen is O, and aluminum is Al. Sometimes, the symbol is not so easy to figure out. Iron, for example, is Fe. This symbol comes from the Latin name for iron, which is ferrum.
| Element | Symbol |
|---|---|
| aluminum | Al |
| arsenic | As |
| carbon | C |
| chlorine | Cl |
| cobalt | Co |
| copper | Cu |
| fluorine | F |
| gold | Au |
| helium | He |
| hydrogen | H |
| iodine | I |
| iron | Fe |
| magnesium | Mg |
| mercury | Hg |
| nickel | Ni |
| nitrogen | N |
| oxygen | O |
| phosphorus | P |
| platinum | Pt |
| potassium | K |
| silicon | Si |
| silver | Ag |
| sodium | Na |
| sulfur | S |
| tin | Sn |
| titanium | Ti |
| uranium | U |
| zinc | Zn |
Additional topics
- Discovering the Elements - More and More Elements, Elements in the Sun, Mendeleev's Table
- Other Free Encyclopedias