More important: electron cloud or nucleus

Question

I'm a freshman in Honors Chemistry, writing a paper on what is more essential to an atom: The e- cloud or the nucleus. I just need a few sentences

Answer 1

The term "essential" comes from the word "essence", meaning "the basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing ..." (from Dictionary.com).  So what is "the invariable nature" or essence of an atom?  In other words, what makes an atom an atom?  Consider Carbon.  It has an atomic number of 6, meaning there are 6 protons in its nucleus.  In its neutral configuration, there are also 6 electrons in its e-cloud.  If we strip away one or more electrons, it's still Carbon, just an ionized version of Carbon.  But if we could remove one proton, changing the atomic number to 5, it would no longer be Carbon, it would be Boron.  So it is the nucleus that defines the atom; that is, the nucleus is the "essence" of every atom.

Answer 2

You have two good answers from the tutors, explaining how the nucleus is so essential.  But also keep in mind that the potential chemical reactions that the atom can participate in are determined by the configuration of its e-cloud.  So you must have a nucleus to have an atom at all, but you must also have an e-cloud to have chemical reactions.  Then again, if there is no positive nucleus, there is nothing to bind the negative electrons in orbitals around the nucleus.

Answer 3

The nucleus is the positively charged central core of an atom, consisting of protons and neutrons. Because it contains nearly all of the atomic mass there, I would say that it is "more essential". The electron cloud, or "e-cloud", is the negatively charged electrons and where they exist around the nucleus. The e cloud is determined mathematically rather than observationally; hence, the electrons are defined as an area of where they "should" be, rather than where they "are". The e-cloud and its electrons are essential, but without the nucleus, you have no atom. The e cloud would be electrons in free movement and not associated with an orbit in an atom.