Simple Nature - Light and Matter

y moving charges; we have not yet discussed the mathematics andgeometry of magnetic forces, but it is easy to see how random orientationsof the atoms in the nonmagnetic substance would lead tocancellation of the forces.Even if the planetary model does not immediately answer suchquestions as why one element would be a metal and another a nonmetal,these ideas would be difficult or impossible to conceptualizein the raisin cookie model.Discussion QuestionA In reality, charges of the same type repel one another and chargesof different types are attracted. Suppose the rules were the other wayaround, giving repulsion between opposite charges and attraction betweensimilar ones. What would the universe be like?8.2.3 Atomic numberAs alluded to in a discussion question in the previous section,scientists of this period had only a very approximate idea of howmany units of charge resided in the nuclei of the various chemicalelements. Although we now associate the number of units of nuclearcharge with the element’s position on the periodic table, andcall it the atomic number, they had no idea that such a relationshipexisted. Mendeleev’s table just seemed like an organizationaltool, not something with any necessary physical significance. Andeverything Mendeleev had done seemed equally valid if you turnedthe table upside-down or reversed its left and right sides, so even ifyou wanted to number the elements sequentially with integers, therewas an ambiguity as to how to do it. Mendeleev’s original table wasin fact upside-down compared to the modern one.i / The planetary model appliedto a nonmetal, 1, anunmagnetized metal, 2, and amagnetized metal, 3. Note thatthese figures are all simplified inseveral ways. For one thing, theelectrons of an individual atom donot all revolve around the nucleusin the same plane. It is also veryunusual j / A modern for a metal periodic to become table, sostrongly labeled magnetized with atomicthat numbers. 100%of Mendeleev’s its atoms have original theirtable rotations wasaligned upside-down as shown compared in this figure. to thisone.In the period immediately following the discovery of the nucleus,physicists only had rough estimates of the charges of the various nuclei.In the case of the very lightest nuclei, they simply found themaximum number of electrons they could strip off by various methods:chemical reactions, electric sparks, ultraviolet light, and so on.Section 8.2 The Nucleus 481