This article was co-authored by Anne Schmidt. Anne Schmidt is a Chemistry Instructor in Wisconsin. Anne has been teaching high school chemistry for over 20 years and is passionate about providing accessible and educational chemistry content. She has over 9,000 subscribers to her educational chemistry YouTube channel. She has presented at the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AATC) and was an Adjunct General Chemistry Instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. Anne was published in the Journal of Chemical Education as a Co-Author, has an article in ChemEdX, and has presented twice and was published with the AACT. Anne has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and an MA in Secondary Education and Teaching from Viterbo University.
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Every atom in the universe is a particular element. But how do we tell which of the 100+ elements it is? A larger pile of stuff might give us helpful clues: we can tell that iron is heavy, and grey, and magnetic. As you study chemistry, you'll learn that all of those qualities come from small differences in the structure of atoms. This understanding of atomic structure is the foundation for the tools actual scientists use to identify elements.