How to Identify Elements Based on Their Atomic Structure

An atom's structure is composed of three particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons are positively-charged particles that are combined with neutrons (neutrally-charged particles) to form the nucleus of the atom, where the vast majority of the atom's mass is located. Surrounding the nucleus are electrons (negatively-charged particles), which allow the atom to join with other atoms to form compounds. Atoms of the same element may differ in the number of neutrons (known as an isotope) or the number of electrons (known as an ion), but if the number of protons change, it is a different type of element altogether.

Things You'll Need

• Periodic table

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Identify how many protons are in the element. This information will need to be given.

   • 2

     Look up the periodic table of elements. The periodic table has all known elements, and it is organized by atomic number, which is also the number of protons that any atom of that element has.

   • 3

     Find the element with the number of identified protons. Protons are the distinguishing characteristic of atomic structure; no two elements have the same number of protons in their atoms.