The atom: The smallest unit of pharmacology

Chapter 2 The atom


The smallest unit of pharmacology



Chapter contents


What is an atom? 7

The structure of an atom 9

The electron is the key to pharmacology 9

To achieve a confident working knowledge of pharmacology you need a sound understanding of the structure, and therefore the function, of the basic unit of chemistry: the atom.



What is an Atom?



• An atom is the smallest complete unit that cannot be broken up by chemical means. It has chemical properties in its own right.

• Atoms of exactly the same composition behave in exactly the same way in chemical reactions.

• These identical atoms are called elements (later in the text, this term will be used interchangeably with atom).

• Different atoms or elements can combine with each other to form chemical compounds, which can be relatively small, like a water molecule, or extremely large and complex, like the DNA helix.

Atoms consist of (Figure 2.1):


• a nucleus

• electrons orbiting around the nucleus.

image

Figure 2.1 Composition of an atom. Overall charge is neutral as the negative charge of the electron orbiting around the nucleus is neutralized by the positive charge of the proton in the nucleus.



The Nucleus


The nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons:


• Protons have a positive charge.

• Neutrons have no charge.

For the level of pharmacology covered in this book, the presence of neutrons is acknowledged here for completeness but they will not be discussed any further.

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Jul 22, 2016 | Posted by in PHARMACY | Comments Off on The atom: The smallest unit of pharmacology

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