Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
Everything around you is made of atoms - they're literally the smallest pieces of elements that can exist. It's like LEGO blocks, but for the entire universe.
The periodic table is your roadmap to all elements. When elements team up through chemical reactions, they form compounds (like water from hydrogen and oxygen). Mixtures are different - they're just things mixed together without any chemical bonding, so you can separate them using physical methods like filtering or heating.
Inside every atom, you've got three key players: protons (positive charge, in the nucleus), neutrons (no charge, also in the nucleus), and electrons (negative charge, whizzing around the outside). The atomic number tells you how many protons an element has - this never changes for a specific element.
Isotopes are like twins with different weights - same element, same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons. Carbon-12 and Carbon-13 are both carbon, just with different masses.
Memory Hack: For ionic compound naming, it's simple - metal first, then non-metal with an "-ide" ending. Iron + Oxygen = Iron Oxide!