~~~~~ Basics Of Atomic Structure ~~~~~

The Way the Laws Of Atomic Structure Work, ELECTRONS WHIRL (for lack of a better word) IN ORBITS (loosley put) AROUND a NUCLEUS of Protons and Neutrons.

(Delving deeper into modern Subatomic Physics, that description would change, but it works, and has proved true enough to base such things as All of Electrical Theory up to the Space Age, the Development of Plastics and Polymers, and the Electron Scanning Microscope, which allowed man to Physically see atoms! - - - - - - Modern Physics Has Learned That it is Better to View Electrons As "Probabilities of a Negative Energy Quantum", Than as Planets Orbiting a Sun, but That is MUCH Too Deep For Our Purposes Here )

To Keep From Confusing, When We want to Enlighten, Let's Put it This Way:

Atoms DO Consist Of A Nucleus (a Center), containing Protons (somtimes also Neutrons), and Electron SHELLS, containing Electrons.

And it is acceptable to think of the Nucleus as being like the SUN, and the Electrons Whirling Around it Like PLANETS.

Unlike Planets, However, Which Take Basically the Same Path Around the Sun Each Time, Like a Circle, The Electrons Orbit in a Greatly Varied Path, While Maintaining the SAME DISTANCE From the Nucleus ( like the Surface of a Hollow Ball).

Think of the Shells like the Orbits (the path they take) of the Electrons Moving around the Nucleus. The reason they are called shells is because the Electrons cover So Much Area, Going So Fast, in their orbit around the Nucleus that it Creates A Cloudy Blur, something like an Egg Shell.
For This Reason, the Electron Shell, or Orbit, is also Called the Electron Cloud.

Ok - Got it ?

NOW - There Are SEVERAL LAYERS OF SHELLS around a given Atom that the Electrons can Orbit in. (Like the Different Orbits of Earth, Mars, and Jupiter, around the Sun) But, By the Mysterious "LAWS" of Atomic Structure, Each Shell has a Certain Number of Electrons "ALLOWED" in it.
And when Each Shell gets Full, the next Electron must "Jump" to the Next Shell, or Jump Out Into Space to find Another Atom.

Ah Hah ! We're getting deeper.

If the Universe was an Accident as some say, and Everything Happens by Chance, then HOW DID THESE RULES GET HERE????
WHO Said That the First Shell can Contain Only Two Electrons? And WHO Said the Second Shell must Contain 8? And the Third Shell (Orbit) 18 ? And What Tells the Electrons They Must Jump from Orbit to Orbit, OBEYING the LAWS of Phyisics?

And THIS is the CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, My Brothers and Sisters. YOU KNOW WHAT THIS FORCE IS THAT MADE THESE RULES THAT HOLD ATOMS TOGETHER, AND THAT TELLS THE ELECTRONS WHEN THEY MUST JUMP AND WHERE. Yes, Gentle Reader, You Know. And This MAKER OF RULES, CREATOR OF ATOMS, You either LOVE, or Hate, or RUN FROM Because You Don't Want To Accept. But, PERSONALLY, I LOVE THIS RULER, THIS CREATOR. For it has been proven to me, that this CREATOR LOVES ME. And I'm the Son of a Doctor, and an Amateur Scientist. I am Not a Gullible, Led-By-The-Nose, Believe-Anything-You-Say - "Sheeple".

The LAWS of Sub-Atomic Physics get Even Much More Complicated ! For Example, When the 3rd Shell gets to 8 Electrons, The Next 2 Must Join the 4th Orbit, leaving 8 in the 3rd. Then The 3rd is Allowed to Take On 3 More. Then the LAW gets even MORE Amazing. When the Next Electron is Added to an Atom, It is Added to the 3rd Shell, BUT THE 4TH ORBIT, SIMULTANEOUSLY THROWS AN ELECTRON INTO THE 3RD SHELL! Why ??? WHO Knows ! ! BUT THE 3RD SHELL IS NEVER ALLOWED TO CONTAIN 12 ELECTRONS. IT JUST ISN'T ! It Will Contain Eleven, and Then Thirteen, But NEVER Twelve! And it Will Contain 16, and 18, But NEVER 17 ! And the 4TH ORBIT, Will Contain 10, and 12, But NEVER 11 ! And ON, and ON, All the Orbits Having Their RULES, and ALL the Electrons, Jumping Back and Forth Between Orbits, TO OBEY THE RULES.

RULES ! HOW COULD SUCH INTRICATE RULES COME FROM NOWHERE? SUCH INTRICATE AMAZING AND PERPLEXING RULES, FROM "RANDOM CHANCE"?? I Don't Think So.
And GUESS WHAT? To Have "Laws" - You Must Have Someone to ENFORCE THE LAW, or else Nothing and No One would OBEY the Laws.

Food For Thought? - I Would Think So.

Anyway, This Next Part should be Easy to See.

Since the Electrons are "Orbiting" because they are Attracted to the Nucleus, they get as Close as they can, up to the first Orbit "Shell" (which only "Allows" 2 Electrons). And When a Shell is Full (there are 7 shells, or orbit zones), and an Electron is Forced to Jump to the Next shell, it is Still Attracted to Get Closer to the Nucleus.

If it Can't Get Closer In, sometimes it will be Attracted by Another Atom passing close by, and Will Jump into THAT Atom's Orbit.

And, Sometimes it will STILL BE Attracted to the Pull of It's ORIGINAL Nucleus, and will orbit That one Also, Whirling around Both Atoms, and Keeping Them Close together by It's Own Force of Attraction.

This is Known as the Chemical Bond, or Electron Bond. When the SAME Electrons Are Shared By Two Different Atoms. The COVALENT Bond, and the Ionic Bond, are 2 examples of Chemical, Electron Bonds.

This is What Holds Most of the World Together, in the Form of Molecules. It is What Holds Sodium and Chlorine Together to Make Salt. Sodium is a Volatile, Explosive Metal, and Chlorine is a Poisonous Gas, but Held Together By Sharing Electrons, it Becomes Something our Bodies Need to Live.

A Molecule is Two or More Atoms, Held Together by Electrons in a "Chemical Bond".

Or in the Case of Water, by the HYDROGEN BOND, Which Makes Water a VERY SPECIAL CASE.
In a COVALENT Bond, The Electrons from nearby Atoms Jump into the Neighboring Atom's Shell, While Still Orbiting Their Own, In a Number That FILLS BOTH ATOM'S OUTER SHELLS TO CAPACITY. Which Makes the Resulting Molecule VERY STRONG AND STABLE.
In the case of an IONIC Bond, an atom has lost one of it's Electrons in the outer shell, which flew off somewhere attracted to another atom and never came back. The Electron of a Neighboring Atom then begins to Orbit that "Ion", while still orbiting it's own Atom and the Electron is "Shared".
In the case of a HYDROGEN BOND, a very special case, made especially by THE CREATOR of Atoms, to facilitate WATER, and LIFE, the Atoms not only Share the Electrons by having them Orbit in both Atom's SHELLS, but when the Single Lonely Electron in each Hydrogen atom jumps to share the orbit of the Larger Oxygen atom, the POSITIVE CHARGE of the SINGLE PROTON in the Hydrogen atom is now ENHANCED, because much of the balancing NEGATIVE charge of the Electron has been DRAWN TOWARD THE OXYGEN ATOM, and THIS ENHANCED POSITIVE CHARGE OF THE HYDROGEN PROTON is ATTRACTED to EVERYTHING near it that has EITHER A NEGATIVE CHARGE OR NEUTRAL CHARGE, which is about EVERYTHING in the World. AND THIS POSITIVELY CHARGED "HYDROGEN BOND" is what CAUSES THE 2 GASSES OF WATER TO "CLING" TOGETHER, YET very TENUOUSLY, SO THAT THEY SLIP AND SLIDE. - - - MAKING IT LIQUID. HEY ! - - - "SLIPPERY AND SLIDING, and CLINGY" ???? YOU MEAN THAT'S WHAT MAKES WATER BEHAVE THAT WAY ? ? ? ?
Yes, That's EXACTLY What I mean.

Notice that MERCURY, One of the ONLY OTHER SUBSTANCES TO BE LIQUID AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, IS NOT CLINGY AT ALL, but Actually Repels AWAY FROM ALMOST ALL SUBSTANCES, NOT STICKING TO ANYTHING. If you've ever held Mercury in your hand, you'll remember that it WAS NOT CLINGY at all.

Well, Guess What ? NO HYDROGEN BOND ! !

WATER IS INDEED A MIRACULOUS SUBSTANCE

This Hydrogen Bond is Also what causes ICE TO FLOAT, AND TO EXPAND WHEN IT GETS COLDER INSTEAD OF CONTRACT LIKE EVERY OTHER SUBSTANCE. IT IS ALSO WHAT CAUSES CAPILLARY ACTION - WHICH MAKES OUR BLOOD FLOW THROUGH THE TINY VEINS AND ARTERIES IN OUR BODY THAT IT WOULDN'T WITHOUT IT. It is also the HYDROGEN BOND, that causes plant roots to suck up the water and Nutrients.

Yes Water is a Miraculous Creation, and the HYDROGEN BOND, Caused by the LAWS governing the atoms, is what CAUSES WATER TO BE WHAT IT IS.
Without the LAWS that create the Hydrogen Bond, and Water,
LIFE COULD NOT EXIST ! !

Back To Hydrogen Bond

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