Basic Electricity - Atoms and Electrons

Before we can understand electricity we have to know some things about atoms. At the core of all atoms is the nucleus. The nucleus contains one or more protons and may also contain neutrons. Protons have a positive charged and neutrons have no charge at all. Orbiting around the nucleus is one or more electrons. Electrons have a negative charge and are very small compared to protons and neutrons. The nucleus is very heavy compared to its electrons. As an example we'll look at the simplest of all atoms the hydrogen atom. The hydrogen atom has one proton and one electron. A hydrogen proton has a mass of approximately 1850 times the mass its an electron. Elements are classified by the number of protons they have. This is the atomic number. This is what differentiates the basic elements. For example, If an atom has one proton then its a hydrogen atom, if an atom has two protons then its a helium atom and an atom with three protons would be lithium. Copper has twenty nine protons. The atomic weight is the total number of protons and neutrons an atom contains.

Normally an atom has the same number of electrons as it has protons. When the number of electrons equals the number of protons the atom's total electrical charge is balanced or neutralized. If the atom loses an electron it has more protons than electrons and therefore its total charge is positive. If the atom gains an extra electron it contains more electrons than protons and has an overall negative electrical charge. When an atom has an imbalance of electrons and protons it is said to be ionized. An atom with a positive charge is a called a positive ion. An atom with a negative charge is called negative ion. A positive ion will exhibit an electron attraction while a negative ion will try to lose its extra electron.