Question

why is an atom electrically neutral

Answer 1

Atom is said to be electeically neutral beacuse the number of elctrons and protons inside an atom are equal...

Charge on an Electron
====================
= - 1.6 × 10 raised to the power -19 Coloumb ( C )
= - e

Charge on an Proton
====================
= 1.6 × 10 raised to the power -19 Coloumb
= + e
Electron is negatively charged particle whereas proton is positive charged

Lets take an example of an atom say Sodium atom
whose atomic number ( Z ) is 11.
Which means number of electrons and protons in an sodium atom is 11...

No. of electrons = 11 => Charge on 11 electrons = - 11 e
No. of protons = 11 => Charge on 11 protons = + 11 e

Net Charge on Sodium atom
= Charge on 11 electrons + 11 Charge on Protons
= ( - 11 e ) + ( + 11 e ) = 0

Net charge on Sodium atom is 0
This means sodium atom is neither negative nor positive...So it is called neutral atom...

Neutral atom cannot apply force on any other atom as the net charge is 0...

Thus if No. of electrons and protons in an atom are equal which makes an atom neutral...

Answer 2

Answer:

Atom is said to be electeically neutral beacuse the number of elctrons and protons inside an atom are equal...