Re: If you split a nucleus of a gold atom, would you have 2 small gold atoms?

Sharla,

Your question requires us to discuss what it means to be an element. For this discussion we will need to look at the three basic particles that make up and define all elements: protons, neutrons and electrons. For the basic definitions of protons, neutrons, and electrons, you will find that in the chemistry or physics text you use or in any basic chemistry text in your school's library. For Web information, Google "protons neutrons electrons". The third link I obtained: at cuny has an excellent presentation, and there is a link to an updated version at the top of that page (use after reading the present page). There is a note at the bottom of this answer for a fascinating book I keep on my permanent bookshelf.

Having protons, neutrons, and electrons, we can build the elements of the periodic table. The place of an element in the table, also called its Atomic Number, or Z, is the number of protons in the nucleus of the element. Since protons are positively charged, and "like charges repel each other", neutrons, with no charge, are used to keep the protons far enough apart to allow other forces to overcome the charge repulsion and keep the nucleus together.

Google "protons", and one of the drop-down items will be "protons in gold". Click on this and follow this link: WikiAnswers - How many neutrons and protons are in gold Atoms and Atomic Structure question: How many neutrons and protons are in gold? 79 protons, 118 neutrons, atomic mass;197. wiki.answers.com/.../How_many_neutrons_and_protons_are_in_gold - Now we know that there are 79 protons (Gold's Atomic Number is 79) and 118 neutrons giving gold an atomic mass of 197 (protons plus neutrons). There are also 79 electrons around the nucleus of each gold atom in its ground state so that electrical neutrality of the atom is maintained. There are 79 plus charges from the nuclear protons and 79 negative charges from the orbital electrons.

What happens if we split a gold atom? To split the atom means to split the nucleus of the atom. If you just change the number of electrons an atom has it is called ionization, and affects the chemical properties of the atom, but does not change its elemental character. If we were to split a gold nucleus, we would change the number of protons and neutrons so that the sum of protons in the pieces would add up to around 79 (one or more protons may be emitted in such a reaction--as may one or more neutrons) leaving two different elements around Atomic Number 39 (Yttrium). Since there is no split atom with 79 protons, the gold atom has been turned into two other elements.

That is the answer to your question: if a gold atom (nucleus) is split, that gold atom is no longer gold, and two atoms of lower atomic numbers are formed.

NOTE: For a fascinating history of how protons and neutrons were discovered by physicists and chemists shortly after the discovery of radioactivity by Henri Bequerel in the late 1800s, I recommend a very readable paperback, From X-Rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries by Emilio Segre. The original edition of 1980 is ISBN 0-7167- 1147-8 pbk., or there is a new Dover Classics of Science and Mathematics reqpinting June 5, 2007 on Amazon.com (It has a 5-star rating). The Library of Congress designation is QC7.S4413 for the original edition.