CHM 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Dynamite Entertainment, Antibonding Molecular Orbital, Electron Shell

• School: University of Rochester
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHM 131
• Professor: Benjamin Hafensteiner

Document Summary

The field of study we call electricity is the investigation of the forces created by charged particles, especially electrons, and the motion and interactions of those particles. The electron is a fundamental component of matter and is considered to have the smallest possible unit of negative charge. All matter is composed of atoms, each of which has a central nucleus and one or more electrons that travel in orbits around the nucleus, like satellites around the earth. The nucleus contains one or more positively charged particles called protons. The positive charge of a proton is opposite" to the negative charge of an electron, in the sense that the total, or net, charge of the combination is zero. Thus, an atom that has the same number of electrons in orbit as it has protons in its nucleus is electrically neutral. The nucleus of every atom except that of hydrogen also contains one or more neutrons, which carry no electrical charge.