Nuclear Charge

[Harleen Kaur]

Can someone please explain how to find the nuclear charge of an atom?

[Jasmin Gonzalez]

Fining the nuclear charge of an atom is usually equal to the number of protons in its nucleus. To find the nuclear charge of an atom you can look at its atomic number.

[DevanCornelio_1I]

The number of protons is the nuclear charge. This is the number on the periodic table of the atom, a small number on the left side of the little box. The one that increases by 1 every atom.

[Levy Shaked]

Yes, nuclear charge is simply the number of protons contained in the nucleus. However, more important with regard to periodic trends is the EFFECTIVE nuclear charge—that is, the pull the nucleus is able to exert on outer electrons irrespective of its absolute charge. This effective nuclear charge increases across each period (in correspondance with absolute nuclear charge), because although the electron shielding experienced by outer electrons remains the same (electrons in the same energy level do not shield each other effectively), the absolute nuclear charge increases. However, effective nuclear charge decreases down a group, because although absolute nuclear charge increases, as does the amount of electron shielding experienced by outer electrons. Moving down a group, the outer electrons are bound by less energy and have a greater number of electrons between themselves and the nucleus that carry out shielding, causing effective nuclear charge to decrease.