For example, if you take a sample of human bone and put it under a microscope, how do you know if the atoms you’re seeing are calcium atoms? You can’t exactly count the protons on the inside, can you? Also, how do you distinguish between protons and neutrons? Do they reflect different wavelengths of light and so have different colours or something? I’ve also heard people saying that we can’t actually see atoms using microscopes, is that true? If so, how can we say something is made out, say, carbon, when we can’t see it? If the answer to that is that we have tests (flame tests for metals, precipitate tests, pH tests, etc…), then how did we know it is that element/compound that results in the test turning out a certain way? I have so many questions!
P.S. I know that nuclei aren’t really perfect spherical balls, but rather collections of protons and neutrons, which are spheres, in a classical, non-quantum-mechanical sense.
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Yes you can use emission spectra (set of wavelengths emitted) to identify chemical species including elements.
As for determining which isotope (variant on the number of neutrons) you’re looking at, basically you have to determine the average mass of each atom.
You can do that by vaporizing a substance and turning it into a gas. With a gas you can use PV = nRT which depends on the number of atoms (n) instead of the mass of atoms.
You can use that gas equation to count atoms, and then you can divide the mass of your substance by the counter number of atoms, to get average atomic mass and that gives you isotope ratios.
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