RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

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MODULE 1 – AN INTRODUCTION TO CHEMISTRY

Lesson 2 – Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers,

Isotopes, and Ions

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Identify the number of particles in atoms, molecules, and ions.

TOPIC DISCUSSION

What makes an atom of one element different from an atom of another element? Say,
how does an atom of carbon differ from an atom of oxygen? The answer lies on their
subatomic compositions. The atom of each element has a specific number of protons. Indeed,
the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom of any element is called the element's atomic
number.

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Because an atom has no net electrical

charge, the number of electrons it contains must
be equal to the number of protons it has. For
example, carbon has 6 protons and 6 electrons
while oxygen has 8 protons and 8 electrons. Thus,
carbon has atomic number 6 while oxygen has
atomic number 8.

Atoms of a given element can differ in the number of neutrons they contain and
consequently in mass. For example, most of atoms of carbon have six neutrons, although some
have more and some have less.

The symbol (read as carbon twelve) represents the carbon atom containing six protons
and six neutrons. The atomic number is shown by the subscript while the superscript is called
the mass number – it is the total number of protons + neutrons in the atom. Because all atoms
of a given element have the same atomic number, the subscript is redundant and is often
omitted. Thus, the symbol for carbon-12 can be represented as simple as 12C.

Atoms with identical atomic numbers but different mass numbers (that is number of
protons is the same but different number of neutrons differ) are called isotopes of one another.

Number of Number of Number of

Symbol
Protons Electrons Neutrons
11C 6 6 5
12C 6 6 6
13C 6 6 7
14C 6 6 8

The nucleus of an atom is unchanged by chemical processes, but some atoms can
readily gain or lose electrons. If the electrons are removed from or added to a neutral atom, a
charged particle called an ion is formed. An ion with a positive charge is called cation; a
negatively charged ion is called an anion. Some examples of atom and ion are shown in the
table.
Atom Ion
He He+ (cation)
Cl Cl- (anion)
O O2- (anion)
Na Na+ (cation)

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To see how atom becomes an ion, consider the sodium atom, which has 11 protons
and 11 electrons as illustrated below. This atom easily loses one electron. The resulting cation
has 11 protons and 10 electrons, which means it has a net charge of 1+ (read as 1-positive). The
net charge on an ion is represented by a superscript. The superscripts +(1-positive), 2+(2-
positive), and 3+(3-positive), for instance, mean a net charge resulting from the loss of one,
two, and three electrons, respectively. The superscripts -(1-negative), 2-(2-negative), and 3- (3-
negative) represent the net charges resulting from the gain of one, two, and three electrons,
respectively.

Another example is the Chlorine atom, with 17 protons and 17 electrons. Chlorine
gains an electron in a chemical reaction, producing Cl- ion. Now, the Chlorine anion has 17
protons and 18 electrons, resulting to a net charge of 1- (1-negative). In general, metals – the
elements in left side of periodic table like the soft metal sodium, tend to lose electrons to form
cations, whereas nonmetal atoms – elements found in the right side of periodic table like
chorine, tend to gain electrons to form anions.

A compassion between atoms, isotopes, and ions is shown.

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In addition to simple ions, such as Na+ and Cl-, there are polyatomic ions such as NH4+
(ammonium ion) and SO42- (sulfate ion).
• Watch the YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4N1Njh7nCo
• Download the List of Polyatomic Ions:
https://ch301.cm.utexas.edu/help/ch301/polyatomics.pdf

From the video, we learned that we can readily write the empirical formula for an ion
compound if we know the charges of the ions of which the compound is composed. Chemical
compounds are always electrically neutral. Consequently, the ions in an ionic compound
always occur in such ratio that the total positive charge equals the total negative charge. Thus,
there is one Na+ to one Cl- giving NaCl.

As you consider, the NaCl and other examples, you will see that if the charges on the
cation and anion are equal, the subscript on each ion will be 1. If the charges are not equal (as
shown below), the charge on one ion (without its sign) will become the subscript on the other
ion. For example, the ionic compound formed from Mg (which forms Mg2+ ions) and N (which
forms N3- ions) is Mg3N2.

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REFERENCE

Book:
• Brown et al. (2009). Chemistry: The Central Science (11th ed.). Glenview: Pearson
Education, Inc.

Website:
• Purdue University
https://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch2/oxnumb.html#top

• Images taken from Google Image

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