Atoms and the Periodic Table

Building Blocks of the Universe

In this course, Professor David Berman (Queen Mary University of London) explores what the building blocks of the Universe are, that is, the elementary particles that make up everything in the world around us. In the first mini-lecture, we discuss the periodic table and how it is organised, various models of the atom, and nuclear fission and fusion. In the second mini-lecture, we introduce the antiparticle and clarify the units of charge and mass used in particle physics. In the third mini-lecture we discuss the Standard Model, in particular we look at quarks, leptons, and neutrinos. In the fourth mini-lecture, we turn towards particle physics experiments, including those done in the early days of particle physics as well as the more modern experiments, CERN and SuperK. The fifth mini-lecture delves into the experimental evidence for dark matter and dark energy, concluding with a look into String Theory, which provides a new approach to understanding the fundamental building blocks in nature: one-dimensional strings instead of point-like particles.

Atoms and the Periodic Table

In this mini-lecture, with a look at the periodic table and it’s elements, as well as various models of the atom. As we move through this mini-lecture we discuss: (i) the Plum Pudding Model and the Nuclear Model of the atom, where through the Geiger and Marsden experiment we see that the Nuclear Model is the accurate model; (ii) the nucleus of an atom, which is made up of protons and neutrons; (iii) how the periodic table is organised and labeled; (iv) the importance of nucleons in keeping the nucleus intact through the nuclear force; (v) nuclear binding energy; and (vi) finally, nuclear fission and fusion.