C & MA Sun Kei Secondary School

S3 Chemistry
Notes 2 – Microscopic World: Atomic Structure
Class: S.3____ Name: ___________________( ) Date: _________

1. What do atoms consist of?

Atoms consist of ___________, _____________ and ___________ which called
sub-atomic particles.

Sub-atomic Relative Relative Position in

Symbol Mass (g)
particle mass charge the atom
1.6725 x Inside the
Proton p 1 +1
10-24 nucleus
1.6748 x Inside the
Neutron n 1 0
10-24 nucleus
Move
9.1090 x 1
Electron e- 1840 -1 around the
10-28
nucleus

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2. What are atomic number and mass number?

Atomic number of an element = Number of ___________ in an atom

of the element

In an electrically neutral atom:

Number of protons in an atom = Number of ___________ in the same
atom

Mass number = Number of protons + Number of _________________

Chemical Symbol:

A
X M
Check Point Exercise
i. Complete the following table.
Atom Number of Number of Number of
Name protons neutrons electrons
10
5B
17
8 O
32
16 S
35
17 Cl

ii.Complete the following table.

Atomic Mass In a neutral atom, number of
Element Symbol
number number protons neutrons electrons
Phosphorus
31
15 P

Chlorine 17 37

Calcium 40 20

Magnesium 12 12
40
18 Ar

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3. What are isotopes?

Isotopes are atoms of the same element having same number of

protons but different number of neutrons.

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4. What are relative atomic masses of atoms?

The relative atomic mass of an element is the weighed average mass of all
natural isotopes of the element.

Check Point Exercise

i. In nature, magnesium has three isotopes. The relative abundance of each
isotope is shown in the table below:
Isotope 24Mg 25Mg 26Mg

Relative abundance
78.6 10.1 11.3
(%)
Calculate the relative atomic mass of magnesium.

ii. Boron has two isotopes and its relative atomic mass is 10.8. One isotope is 10
5 B

and it has an abundance of 19.60 %. Determine the mass number of another

isotope of boron.

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5. What are electronic arrangements of atoms?
Electrons are spinning around the nucleus in electron shells.

 Each electron shell is given a number(n), the maximum number of electrons

filling each electron shell is equal to __________.
 Modes of representing electronic arrangement:
1. By numbering
For example: The electronic arrangement of a neutral magnesium atom
is ________________.
2. By electron diagram
For example: The electron diagram of a neutral magnesium atom is
shown below.

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Electronic arrangements of the atoms of the first 20 elements
Element Chemical Atomic Number of electrons in Electronic
Symbol Number 1st 2nd 3rd 4th arrangement
/ No of shell shell shell shell
electrons
Hydrogen
Helium
Lithium
Beryllium
Boron
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Fluorine
Neon
Sodium
Magnesium
Aluminium
Silicon
Phosphorus
Sulphur
Chlorine
Argon
Potassium
Calcium

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6. Supplementary Exercise

Q1 Consider an element X, which has 2 isotopes, 75

27 X and 27y X respectively.

(a) If the percentage abundances of the two isotopes are both 50% while the
relative atomic mass of the element is 77.5. Calculate the value of y.

(b) A certain scientist claimed, ‘I have discovered a third isotope of X, 75

28 Z .’ State

and explain whether his claim is valid or not.

(c) Determine the number of neutrons in 28

75
Z.

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Q2

P Q R S

proton neutron

The above figure shows the nuclei of four atoms P, Q, R and S.

(a) Which two atoms are isotopes of the same element?

(b) What is the name of the element in (a)?

(c) Write the full atomic symbol of each of the atoms P, Q, R and S.

Q3 Oxygen has 3 isotopes, 8O , 8O

16 17
and 8 O respectively.
18

(a) What is the electronic arrangement of oxygen?

(b) Given that the relative atomic mass of oxygen is 16.0044 and the percentage

abundance of 8 O is
16
99.76%. Calculate the percentage abundance of 8 O and 8 O
17 18

respectively.

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Q4 The following table gives the atomic numbers of various elements (represented
by letters P, Q, R, S, T and U).

Element Atomic number

P 3
Q 5
R 11
S 14
T 16
U 20

Using the given information, find out for each element

(a) the number of electrons in an atom.

(b) the electronic arrangement of an atom.

(c) whether it is classified as a metal, non-metal, or semi-metal.

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Answers of Supplementary Exercise
Q1
75  50  50 y
(a) 77.5 = [1]
100
y = 80 [1]
(b) His claim is invalid [1] because Z has a different atomic number from X which
makes them different elements. [1]
(c) Number of neutrons = 75 – 28 = 47 [1]

Q2
(a) P and R [1]
(b) Carbon [1]

(c) P: 13
6C Q: 11
5B R: 12
6C S: 13
7N [2]

Q3
(a) 2,6 [1]

(b) Let the percentage abundance of 8 O and 8 O be

17 18
y% and (100 – 99.76 – y )%,

i.e. (0.24 – y)% respectively.

Relative atomic mass of oxygen = weighted average of the relative isotopic
masses
99.76  16  17 y  18(0.24  y )
16.0044 = [1]
100
y = 0.04 [1]

The percentage of abundance of 17

8O and 18
8O are 0.04% [1] and 0.2% [1]

respectively.

Q4
(a) P : 3, Q : 5, R : 11, S : 14, T : 16, U : 20 [3]
(b) P : 2, 1; Q : 2, 3; R : 2, 8, 1; S : 2, 8, 4; T : 2, 8, 6; U : 2, 8, 8, 2 [3]
(c) P : metal, Q : semi-metal, R : metal, S : semi-metal, T : non-metal, U : metal
[3]

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