Page 73 - SCERT Kerala State Syllabus 8th Standard Basic Science Textbooks English Medium Part 1_Neat

The periodic table of elements is given in the picture (Figure 5.2)
(See page 159 for the Periodic Table).

Fig. 5.2
Analyzing the periodic table, find out the following.
• The elements familiar to you.

• The elements which you have actually seen.
• The elements which are more useful in our daily life.
See 'Gperiodic' in
IT @ School Edubuntu • List separately some elements which exist in solid, liquid
and gaseous states.
Atom and Molecule

Let us see which is the smallest particle of an element. The element
O carbon is made up of extremely small particles. Think of breaking
2
a piece of carbon into smaller and smaller particles. When it is
Ne
broken up in this manner, we get the smallest particle which
retains all the characteristic properties of carbon at the end. This
smallest particle is called an atom of carbon. The other elements
S P 4
8 are also made up of their atoms.
Atom is the smallest particle which shows all the characteristic
He
properties of an element.
Fig. 5.3
Molecules of element Atoms of some gaseous elements like helium, neon etc., can exist
as free single atoms. But atoms of some other gaseous elements
like hydrogen, oxygen etc., can exist only as a combination of
two atoms. Atoms of some elements are seen to exist as a
Basic Science VIII
72 72 Basic Science VIII