Atom the nucleus defines to what chemical element the atom belongs: for example, all copper atoms contain 29 protons. The number of neutrons defines the isotope of the element. The number of electrons influences the magnetic properties of an atom. Atoms can attach to one or more other atoms by chemical bonds to form chemical compounds such as molecules. The ability of atoms to associate and dissociate is responsible for most of the physical changes observed in nature and is the subject of the discipline of chemistry. The idea that matter is made up of discrete units is a very old
Vector model of the atom Vector model of the atom In physics, in particular quantum mechanics, the vector model of the atom is a model of the atom in terms of angular momentum. It can be considered as the extension of the Rutherford-Bohr-Sommerfeld atom model to multi-electron atoms. The model is a convenient representation of the angular momenta of the electrons in the atom. Angular momentum is always split into orbital L, spin S and total J: Given that in quantum mechanics, angular momentum is quantized and there is an uncertainty relation for the components of each vector, the representation turns out to be quite