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Standard VII

Chemistry

Shells of an Atom

Why neutron i...

Question

Why neutron is present in a nucleus of an atom even though an atom is electrically neutral because of same number of positive and negative charges ?

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Solution

Dear User,
A neutron is a sub atomic particle that have no net electric charge. The protons and neutron together constitutes the nucleus of an atom. The neutrons are attracted towards the protons and act as filters for the protons. The protons are accumulated inside the nucleus and are positively charged. As similar charged repel each other, the protons inside the nucleus also repel each other. The neutrons reduces this repulsion as they shield the protons to come in contact with each other. Therefore the neutrons are present inside the nucleus.

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Similar questions

Q. Assertion :Atom is electrically neutral Reason: A neutral particle, neutron is present in the nucleus of the atom

The neutron cancels out the negative charge of electrons and makes the atom electrically neutral.

Multiple Choice Questions

(a) The outermost shell of an atom is known as

(i) valency

(ii) valence electrons

(iii) nucleus

(iv) valence shell

(b) The number of valence electrons present in magnesium is

(i) two

(ii) three

(iii) four

(iv) five

(i) proton

(ii) neutron

(iii) electron

(iv) nucleon

(d) If the atomic number of an atom is 17 and mass number is 35 then number of neutrons will be

(i) 35

(ii) 17

(iii) 18

(iv) 52

(e) The number of electrons in an atom is equal to the number of

(i) protons in a neutral atom

(ii) neutrons in a neutral atom

(iii) nucleons in a neutral atom

(iv) none of the above

(f) The sum of number of protons and number of neutrons present in the nucleus of an atom is called its

(i) mass number

(ii) atomic number

(iii) number of electrons

(iv) all of the above

Q. An early model for an atom considered it to have a positively charged point nucleus of charge

Z e

, surrounded by a uniform density of negative charge upto a radius

R

. The atom as a whole is neutral. The electric field at a distance

r

from the nucleus is

(r < R)

During Rutherford's α-particle scattering experiment, he concluded that:

(i) electrons have a negative charge.
(ii) the mass and positive charge of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus.
(iii) neutron exists in the nucleus.
(iv) most of the space in an atom is empty.

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