Why is the relationship between atomic number and density not linear? What are the factors that affect the density of an atom?

Jamya Shea

Jamya Shea

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2022-08-29

Why is the relationship between atomic number and density not linear? What are the factors that affect the density of an atom?

Answer & Explanation

ce1ret3i

ce1ret3i

Beginner2022-08-30Added 12 answers

At an atomic scale, there are two things that go into the density, which is ρ = mass volume . First, we have the number density, which is n = number of atoms volume . Then we also have the mass per atom, μ = mass atom . It is easy to see by combining these equations that the density is then ρ = n μ - it depends on both number density and atomic weights.
While the mass per atom, μ, goes up linearly (very roughly speaking) as you go up in atomic number, the number density does not go up linearly. This is because interactions between the actual atoms cause them to cluster closer together, so you get a higher value of n in the equation above for some atoms, but a much lower one for others.

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