Atoms, Elements And

Compounds
By
Free Exam Academy
September 25, 2018
 
Atomic structure

Atoms are the smallest particle of a chemical element that

can exist. Elements are substances that are composed of
just a single type of atom.

For example, the element carbon is made of only carbon

atoms. Likewise, the element oxygen is made of only
oxygen atoms. You get the gist. 

The structure of an atom is made up of three sub-atomic

particles: Protons, neutrons, and electrons. 
The above diagram is an example of a helium atom. There
are several important things that you need to know about
these sub-atomic particles.  

1. Location
• Protons & neutrons are always found in the
nucleus 
• Electrons are found in shells, and they orbit the
nucleus
2. Charge
• Protons have positive charge (+) 
• Neutrons have zero charge (0) 
• Electrons have negative charge (-) 
3. Mass 
• Protons have a relative mass of 1 
• Neutrons have a relative mass of 1
 • Electrons have a negligible relative mass of
1/1840, which is essentially zero. 
The table below is a summary: 

Isotopes are atoms with the same proton number (i.e. same
element) but have different neutron numbers. 

Periodic table 

There are many chemical elements on earth, and the

periodic table summarizes all of them into a single table:
Not only does it tell us the full names of all existing elements
(and their respective shortened symbols), but it also gives
us important information regarding the structure of a single
atom of that particular element.

Take helium for example: 

Firstly, it tells you the full name and shortened chemical
symbol for the element. In this case – Helium (He). This is
fairly straight forward.  

Secondly, it tells you the proton number and the mass

number of an helium atom. Here are a couple of extremely
important things to remember: 

• The proton number (aka atomic number) is the number

of protons in the atom
• The mass number is the number total number of
protons and neutrons (recall that neutrons/protons have
mass but electrons do not) 
 • The number of electrons will always equal the number
of protons 
An atom always has zero overall charge because the
number of protons (+) will always be canceled out by the
same number of electrons (-). If there was an imbalance,
then the atom would become charged and at that point, it is
not called an atom. Instead, it is called an ion. This will be
covered down below 

This means that just from the information provided by the

periodic table, you can calculate the number of protons,
neutrons and electrons of the atoms of any particular
element! 

Lets take oxygen as an example this time: 

 •  An oxygen has 8 protons
• This means that it has 8 electrons
• Since its mass number (proton + neutron) is 16 it must
mean that it has 8 neutrons 
 

 
Electron arrangement 
Recall that electrons are held in shells. Shells are
represented as rings around the nucleus.

It is really important understand that the maximum number

of electrons that a single shell can hold can vary. 

Take a look at this diagram below: 

As described above, the first (inner) shell can hold up to 2
electrons. The second and third shell can hold up to 8
electrons. 

It is important to realize that electrons fill from the most inner

shell

Example: Oxygen 
So lets take oxygen as an example again. Above, we
established that a single oxygen atom holds 8 protons, 8
neutrons and 8 electrons.

Remember, electrons always fill from the inner shell first.

Since we know that the first electron shell can only hold up
to 2 electrons, it must mean that the rest of the electrons (6
of them) are held in the 2nd shell. This is what an oxygen
atom therefore would look like diagrammatically: 
Knowing the electron arrangement of atoms are extremely
important because it defines the entire foundation of
chemistry. Why do you think atoms react with one another?
It’s because all atoms have a goal. Do you know what that
goal is? It’s simple: To achieve a full outer shell of electrons. 

 
Reactivity of elements 
As mentioned above, all atoms have a simple goal of
wanting to achieve a full outer shell of electrons. If you look
at the diagram of oxygen above, you will see that an oxygen
atom has 6 electrons in its most outer shell. So have a think
about it… how could oxygen achieve its goal? There are
possible two main ways: 

1. Gain 2 electrons 
• If an oxygen atom just added two extra electrons
into its outer shell, then it would have 8, and
therefore a full outer shell! 
2. Lose 6 electrons 
• If an oxygen atom lost all six of its outer electrons,
then that shell would simply disappear. That means
the inner shell (with two electrons) will become the
most “outer shell”. This would also mean that
indeed the atom would now have a full outer shell
since two electrons is the maximum (for that shell)!
You need to ask yourself. Would option 1 be easier or option
2? Indeed, gaining 2 is a lot easier than losing 6 and
therefore this is what happens in reality. Oxygen either gains
2 extra electrons by sharing with other atoms or by a
transfer process. This will be covered in detail down below
(chemical bonding). 

So really, the reason why chemicals react with each other to

begin with is because these reactions allow atoms to obtain
full outer shells. 
Now you may notice that some elements in the periodic
table already have full outer shells. These are called noble
gases and they are placed in the most right hand side of the
table (i.e. Helium, Neon, etc.). As you would expect, these
noble gases are inert (do not react) because they simply do
not need to. They already have a full outer shell and they
are perfectly happy with how they are. 

Chemical bonding 
There are several types of chemical bonds that we will be
looking at in this section. We will be looking at ionic bonds,
covalent bonds, and metallic bonds. Before we get started
though, lets get some definitions straight.

1. Elements are substances made of just one type of atom

2. Compounds on the other hand, are substances that are
made from chemical bonds between two or more
different elements.
3. A mixture is a combination of two or more different
substances in the absence of chemical bonds. 

 
Ionic bonding [Metals & non-metals] 

Background 

When atoms lose or gain electrons to obtain a full outer

shell, the neutral charge of the atom will be disrupted since
proton number will now be unequal to the electron number.
If this happens, the atom is now called an ion. The ion can
have a positive charge (cation) or a negative charge
(anion). 

Metal atoms lose electrons to form cations and non-metal

atoms gain electrons to form anions. Since cations and
anions have opposite charge, they are attracted to each
other via strong electrostatic forces. This is called ionic
bonding: The bonding between anions and cations via
strong electrostatic forces of attraction. 

Here’s how it works

In ionic bonding, metallic elements will donate their outer

electrons to non-metal elements that need it. Both elements
will therefore achieve full outer shells and turn into cations &
anions that get bonded by electrostatic forces. 

Example #1

*Group 1 is simply the first column of the periodic table.

Likewise, group 7 is the 7th column. More will be learnt
about this in a separate topic. 
Elements of group 1 (metals) and group 7 (non-metals) in
the periodic table form ionic bonds. This is because group 1
elements need to lose 1 electron to be happy, whilst group 7
elements need to gain 1 electron. This is a win-win situation!
The group 1 metal will simply donate an electron to the
group 7 non-metal and this will result in the formation of
cations and anions that are bonded via ionic bonding. 

This is an example of sodium chloride: 

Example #2

Magnesium is a group 2 element and needs to remove 2

electrons to achieve a full outer shell. Similar to the situation
above, it can also form ionic bonds with fluorine (a group 7
element) by donating its electrons. The only difference is
that magnesium will be donating to two chlorine atoms
(giving 1 electron each). 

Final structure of an ionic compound 

Whilst the above diagrams are used to demonstrate ionic

bonding diagrammatically, it does NOT represent the final
structure of an ionic compound. In fact, all ionic compounds
have a 3D lattice structure. 

In sodium chloride for example, many sodium cations and

chloride anions will join each other in regular arrangements
(called a lattice) forming a 3-dimensional structure full of
cations and anions joined by ionic bonds. This is what the
final structure would look like:

Covalent bonds [Non-metals & non-metals]

Atoms can achieve a full outer electron shell via sharing

electrons. A pair of electrons (one from each atom) can be
shared. This is a single covalent bond and it holds the two
atoms together.

Please note that atoms can be bonded via a single bond

(sharing a single pair of electrons), double bond (sharing
two pairs) or a triple bond (sharing three pairs). Moreover,
covalent bonds will ONLY exist between two non-metals. 

The examples below show that by sharing electrons, all

atoms in the bond successfully achieve a noble gas
configuration.

Simple examples

*Only the outer electrons are shown in these examples. This

is perfectly acceptable in your exams too.
Complex examples
 

Intermolecular vs intramolecular forces

Knowing the difference between inter-molecular forces and

intra-molecular forces is extremely important.

•When you are melting or boiling a substance, it is the

inter-molecular forces that you are breaking, NOT the
intra-molecular attraction. 
Inter-molecular forces are attractive forces that exist
between one molecule to another. These are usually quite
weak.
Intra-molecular forces are attractive forces that exists
between atoms within the molecule. These are usually
extremely strong. 

Differences between ionic and covalent compounds

This table below is from the IGCSE Hodder Revision Guide.

It details the main differences between ionic and covalent
compounds that CIE wants you to be aware of. 
 

Macromolecules

Background 

All of the examples of covalent molecules that we have

looked at above are simple molecules. This means that
atoms are bonded to one or few other atoms to make a
molecule or a compound that are attracted to one another
via inter-molecular forces (as described above). 
Macromolecules on the other hand are giant structures
made of millions of atoms all joined by covalent bonding. In
other words, a huge number of atoms are joined via intra-
molecular forces which are extremely powerful (also
mentioned above).  

There are three examples of macromolecules that you need

to be aware of. We will go through each of these.

Diamond 

This is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It has a

three-dimensional structure in which every carbon atom is
covalently bonded to 4 other carbon atoms. 

This is a small part of the structure of a diamond: 

Graphite

This is another form of the element carbon. The atoms are

covalently bonded in layers, with each atom is strongly
bonded to 3 other atoms in the same layer. 

An important thing to note is that when carbon forms 3

covalent bonds with other carbon atoms, each carbon atom
will actually have a spare electron left over (you do not need
to know the specifics of this). 

These free electrons are called the ‘sea of electrons’ and

they are free to move within the layers of graphite. It is also
because of these electrons that the layers are held together
(weakly). 

Silicon (IV) Oxide 

One silicon atom is bonded to four oxygen atoms and each

oxygen atom is bonded to two silicon atoms. This structure
is very similar to the structure of a diamond and
consequently, the properties are also very similar. Silicon
(IV) Oxide in the form of quartz exists as colourless crystals.
They are very hard, have a high melting point, and they do
not conduct electricity. 

RED = Oxygen [2 bonds per atom] 


BLACK = Silicon [4 bonds per atom] 

Metallic bonding 

In metals, the atoms shed their outer electrons to become

cations. The cations are arranged in a regular lattice
structure whereas the removed electrons are delocalized
and free to move throughout the structure (this is called the
sea of electrons).

The lattice arrangement of cations are therefore surrounded

by free electrons and since cations and electrons have
opposite charge, they attract each other which bonds the
structure together. 

Metallic bonding is therefore defined as the electrostatic

forces of attraction between cations and their surrounding
sea of electrons.