eli5: from what i understand elements are determined based on the vibration of the atoms im sure this is wrong, but can i get a good explanation of what determines an atoms element?

Question

i could be entierly wrong but from what i remember being told the elements of atoms all have their own frequency or vibration. is this true? and furthermore would changing the vibration or frequency change the element of the atom.

im not asking if this is physicality possible now.. but is this how the system works, or do i have a fundamental misunderstanding?

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Answer 1

Atoms are made from protons and neutrons.

The protons have positive charges, and how many of them are in the atom determines the element.

Neutrons have neutral charge, and adding them can make an atom heavier, but it’ll still be an “isotope” of the same element.

So, for example, Uranium-235 and Uranium-238 are both isotopes of Uranium because they each have 92 protons… but U-235 has 143 neutrons compared to U-238 having 146. And when folks just say “Uranium” that usually juts means “natural Uranium” which will be mixture of different Uranium isotopes in the typical proportions that they are found in on Earth.

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The way that “frequency” and “vibration” comes into play has to do with the mass of the atom.

Similar to how a steel tuning fork and an aluminum tuning fork could be made to the exact same dimensions will produce different sounds, two atoms with different masses will react differently when struck by something like a photon.