DOES ATOM EXISTS IN SINGLE FORM R IN COMBINED FORM?
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more atoms aggregate and exist in combined form
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The simple, fundamental unit of an element is its atom. Whenever an atom has unshared electrons in its outer shell, it tries to combine with other elements, including itself, to bring about paired electron structures or molecules. Often, these molecules follow the “octet rule” wherein the total number of electrons add up to 8 which is considered the most stable situation for outer shell electrons.
An element like helium, neon, argon etc. already have this octet of electrons, so they are stable as they are. So, they don’t combine with other atoms; so these elements (inert gases) exist as atoms.
Other elements like chlorine or hydrogen are deficient in electrons in its outer shell, so they get to a more stable structure by combining with another atom of the same element to form Cl2 and H2 molecules. These diatomic molecules have the octet structure and are stable.
Other elements like sulfur can form larger discrete clusters (S8 molecules) that are also stable. Yet other elements like carbon can form much larger clusters (diamond or graphite) that has variable number of atoms in its collection. These aggregates of atoms are not thought of as molecules, because they do not have the same number of atoms in each aggregate collection.
Many other elements like sodium, copper and lanthanum form large aggregates of atoms and all the unshared electrons in each atom is pooled together to form a band of electrons. These elements do not form discrete molecules, but rather the whole aggregate of atoms form a “metal”. Metals may be solid (chromium) or liquid (mercury); but metals become discrete atoms in gas phase, they will try to be mono-atomic.
Chemistry of elements is a marvelous thing…
An element like helium, neon, argon etc. already have this octet of electrons, so they are stable as they are. So, they don’t combine with other atoms; so these elements (inert gases) exist as atoms.
Other elements like chlorine or hydrogen are deficient in electrons in its outer shell, so they get to a more stable structure by combining with another atom of the same element to form Cl2 and H2 molecules. These diatomic molecules have the octet structure and are stable.
Other elements like sulfur can form larger discrete clusters (S8 molecules) that are also stable. Yet other elements like carbon can form much larger clusters (diamond or graphite) that has variable number of atoms in its collection. These aggregates of atoms are not thought of as molecules, because they do not have the same number of atoms in each aggregate collection.
Many other elements like sodium, copper and lanthanum form large aggregates of atoms and all the unshared electrons in each atom is pooled together to form a band of electrons. These elements do not form discrete molecules, but rather the whole aggregate of atoms form a “metal”. Metals may be solid (chromium) or liquid (mercury); but metals become discrete atoms in gas phase, they will try to be mono-atomic.
Chemistry of elements is a marvelous thing…
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