General Chemistry · Module 2 · Atoms, isotopes and the periodic table

Atoms and Isotopes Walkthrough

Watch atoms rearrange on a balance, bend a beam of electrons, fire alpha particles at gold foil, build nuclei proton by proton, sort isotopes in a mass spectrometer and turn atoms into ions and compounds. Go at your own pace. Nothing here is graded.

Speed

Think of it like this

Quick check

Wrong answers are fine here. Read why, then try again.

Dr. Akash Garg · General Chemistry Study Tools · Particle drawings are simplified and not to scale. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Use the left and right arrow keys to move between steps. Practice next in the Atoms and Isotopes Lab. Atoms, nuclei and particles are drawn far larger and slower than real; electron shells are a simplified picture, and the gold-foil animations show bounce-backs far more often than real experiments did.