GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1
Module 3, Lesson 1: Atomic Theory
Democritus (5th Century) – All matter consists of
tiny, indivisible particles called Atomos
John Dalton (1808) – Atom is like a tiny, solid ball
DALTON’S ATOMIC THEORY
- Elements are composed of extremely small
particles called atoms
- All atoms of a given element are identical, having
the same size, mass, and chemical properties,
the atoms of one element are different from the
atoms of all other elements.
- Compounds are composed of atoms of more
than one element. In any compound, the ratio of
the numbers of atoms of any to of the elements
present is either an integer or a simple fraction
o Gave rise to different laws of matter
o Laws of definite proportion - which states
that different samples of the same
compound always contain the same
elements in the exact same proportions by
mass; and
o Laws of multiple proportions – if two
elements can combine to form more than
one compound, the masses of one element
that combined with fixed mass of other
elements are in ratios of small whole
numbers
- A chemical reaction involves only the separation,
combination, or rearrangement of atoms; it does
not result in their creation or destruction
o Law of conservation of mass – matter can
neither be created nor destroyed.
ATOM (Based on John Dalton’s Theory) – the basic
unit of an element that can enter chemical
combination.
1
Scientists who discovered that atoms have
subatomic particles:
Joseph John Thomson (1910)
- conducted an experiment on a cathode ray tube
- found out that electrons exist inside atoms and
are embedded in a positively-charged material
- Cathode Ray Experiment
o scientists at that time are engrossed at
studying matter through radiation
o radiation – emission and transmission of
energy through space in the form of waves
o one of the devices used to study radiation is
the cathode ray tube
o this led Thompson to visualize atoms as
positively charged entities embedded with
negatively charged particles
In this setup, a magnetic plate is used to
identify if the cathode ray will attract or repel. Based
on the second and third images, the north pole /
positive one of the magnetic plates went downward,
from the third image, the south pole / negative part of
the magnetic plate went upward. This happened
because the cathode ray is attracted by the plate
bearing the positive charges and repelled by the plate
bearing the negative charges. From the observation,
it was deduced that the cathode ray is consisted by
negatively charged particles
Ernest Rutherford, Hans Geiger, Ernest Marsden
- Conducted the alpha particle scattering
experiment
o Series of experiments using very thin foils of
gold and other metals
o Nucleus and protons exist inside atoms. An
atom has a dense center and consists
mostly of empty space.
o Upon the emission of alpha particles through
the gold foil, some of those alpha particles
pass through the gold foil while some of
them deflected.
o The deflection of some particles led them to
think that something massive is found at the
center of the atom and a part of that massive
center is a positively charged particle.
o Through the said experiment, they created
an atomic model that visualizes an atom as
mostly empty spaced but has a dense center
with positively charged particles.
2
However, the model that Rutherford, Geiger,
and Marsden provided are inadequate. There are two
protons in Helium, but its mass was found to be 4
grams per mole. Therefore, there is a discrepancy
between the mass and the number of protons inside
the nucleus. Because of that, Rutherford and his
associate thought that there might be some other
particles coexisting with protons at the nucleus.
James Chadwick (1932)
- Let a thin sheet of beryllium be emitted with alpha
particles. When he did that, the beryllium sheet
emitted a very high energy radiation, similar to
gamma rays. Those rays actually consisted of
electrically neutral particles having a mass
slightly greater than that of proton—which we call
neutrons.
- “Neutrons exist inside atoms”
Niels Bohr
- Electrons move around the nucleus in specific
shells.
The key person in development of subatomic
particles because he provided an atomic model that
illustrated atoms with layers or shells with electrons
distributed around the center of the atom
GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1
Module 3, Lesson 2: The Inside of an Atom
In summary, based on the experiments of the
scientists mentioned in the past lesson, the
visualizations of the model that the scientists are
located below
Based on the experiments conducted by the
scientist’s using radiation, an atom is made up of
smaller particles, and an atom is consisted of protons,
neutrons in its core, while the electrons travel freely
outside it.
In summary, the three details of sub-atomic particles
are as follows.
3
How do we represent the atomic components of
elements? Through atomic and mass numbers
1. Mass (or nucleon) number
o Called as such because it is found at the
center of the element or the atom
o Known as the mass number because most
of the elements’ mass is attributed to its core
or the nucleus.
o Equal to the number of protons and number
of neutrons in the element.
2. Atomic number
o The number of protons in the element, the
number of electrons for electrically neutral
elements
o Elements can be positive or negative,
depending on whether they give or receive
electrons. If they are not charged, then it is
also equal to the atomic number
3. Symbol of Element in the periodic table
GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1
Module 3, Lesson 3: Isotopes, Ions and Molecules
Isotopes
- Atoms of the same element with the same
number of protons but different number of
neutrons. Because of the change in the number
of neutrons inside the isotopes, they differ in
terms of physical properties because the mass
also changes.
- Isotopes can also be represented by other
elements
- We can identify that an isotope is an isotope if the
mass number is different from the one written in
the periodic table.
Uses of Isotopes
Isotopes have many uses because of their
radioactive properties. Isotopes are used in medicine,
safety, archaeology, and geology
Technetium-99 = tumor detection
Iodine-131 = treating thyroid disorders
Californium-252 = detection of explosives
Americium-241 = smoke detector
Carbon-14 = Carbon dating/estimating the age of
rocks
Uranium-238 = identifying the age of rocks
Ions
- An atom or a group of atoms that has a net
positive or negative charge
- Cation = the ion has a positive charge; gives off
electrons
- Anion = the ion has a negative charge; receives
electrons
If the electron is positively charged, then it gave an
electron, decreasing the number of electrons. On the
other hand, if the ion is negatively charges, then it
received an electron, increasing the number of
electrons
Molecules
- aggregate of at least two atoms in a definite
arrangement held together by chemical bonds. It
can be diatomic (contains 2 atoms) examples are
as follows; hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and the
halogens chlorine, bromine and iodine; or
polyatomic (contains more than 2 atoms