3.

091: Recitation 1 (09/03)

Main concepts:
Characterization of matter
Atoms
Elements
Physical properties

Concept questions:
1. What is an atom?
“the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element, consisting of a nucleus containing
combinations of neutrons and protons and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus by electrical attraction; the number
of protons determines the identity of the element.”-dictionary.com

2. Aristotle proposed 4 elements; what were they? Why are these not reflected in the periodic table?
Water, earth, fire and air. Three of these are actually expressions of phase (not element), which (under the right
circumstances) each element can take the form of - (liquid, solid, gas).

3. What is useful about arranging elements on the periodic table?

We can see, understand, and predict trends in properties.

4. True or False: In chemical reactions, atoms from one or more compounds or elements redistribute or rearrange in relation to
other atoms to form one or more new compounds. Atoms themselves do not undergo a change of identity in chemical
reactions
This is usually true, but nuclear reactions violate this principle.
Practice problems:
1. Find copper (Cu) on the periodic table.
a. What is its atomic number? What does atomic number mean?
Atomic number: 29 = number of protons (which is equal to the number of electrons in a neutral atom)

b. What is its atomic mass?

63.546 amu (It’s molar mass is 63.546 g/mol)

c. If a single atom of Cu has the atomic mass in (b), and if both protons and neutrons have masses of 1 amu, and
electrons have a mass of 0.00054 amu, how many of does the copper atom have? Why does this answer not make
sense?
29 protons (because of atomic number)
63-29=34 neutrons
(0.546 amu)/(0.00054 amu/electron)=~1000 electrons
This would mean the atom has an extreme charge imbalance. In a neutral atom, #protons = #electrons.
Isotopes (differing numbers of neutrons) are the actual reason for the atomic mass not coming out evenly.

d. Assuming Cu has two isotopes, 63Cu and 65Cu (where the superscript is the number of protons + the number of
electrons), what percentage of Cu atoms are 63Cu? (Neglect the mass contribution of the electrons)
(63 amu)*(x) + (65 amu)*(1-x)=63.546 amu
X=0.727, so 72.7% of Cu isotopes are 63Cu.

e. I have 500g of Cu. What volume of Cu do I have?

Density of Cu: 8.96 g/cm3
Volume of Cu = 500g / (8.96 g/cm3) =55.8 cm3

f. How many moles of Cu do I have?

Molar mass = 63.546 g/mol
Moles of Cu = 500 g/(63.546 g/mol) = 7.87 mol
1. We have 1.80 kg of C6H12O6 (glucose).
a. Calculate the number of moles.
Masses of each element (amu): C: 12, H: 1, O: 16
Mass of 1 molecule: 6(12) + 12(1) + 6(16) = 180 amu
Molar mass = 180 g/mol
Number of molesglucose = mass/molar mass = 1800g/(180g/mol) = 10 mol

b. How many molecules are present?

Number of molecules = number of moles of molecules * Avogadro’s number
10 moles * 6.02 * 10^23 = 60*10^23 molecules

c. How many atoms are present?

There are 24 atoms in each molecule
24 * 60*10^23 = 1.4 *10^26 atoms

2. True or False: A 500 cm3 block of a lower atomic number element is always less dense than if it were composed of a higher
atomic number element.
False (This doesn’t constrain the number of atoms in the block in any way. I can still have a higher mass block with a lower
atomic number element just because I have a higher number of those atoms)
Ex: Al: 2.7 g/cm3; Si: 2.3cm3