STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM

NUCLEUS – found at the center of the atom, it is the core of the atom where 99% of the mass of the atom is located,
even though the nucleus is very massive, its size is 100,000 times smaller than the size of the atom (if we are
going to compare the size of an atom to a football stadium, the nucleus will be just be about the size of a
marble).
- The proton and neutron are found in the nucleus, and the electrons are moving around the nucleus.
PROTON – is the positively charged subatomic particle found in the nucleus of the atom, they are all identical regardless
of the element in w/c they are found . The mass of one proton is equal to 1 a.m.u or atomic mass unit
- They are the basis of the atomic number of the elements and
their arrangement in the periodic table.
NEUTRONs – are electrically neutral (no charge), found in the nucleus of an
atom together with the protons where the mass of an atom is
concentrated it has almost the same mass with the protons.
- Their combined number of protons is equal to the mass number of
an element, and the varying number of neutrons is the reason for
the existence of isotopes.
ELECTRONS - the negatively charged particles revolving rapidly outside the
nucleus of an atom, each electron has a mass of 1/1835 amu. In a
neutral atom, the number of the electrons is equal to the number
of the protons, thus the overall charged of an atom is zero, except for ions (charged particles).
- The exact locations of the electrons are cannot be known, only the likelihood of finding an electron in a
particular place can be determined. The space outside the nucleus is a fuzzy blurry cloud where an electron
is likely to be found.
- The location of the electron in the cloud depends on the energy it possesses, an electron w/ lower energy
level is located close to the nucleus while that w/ higher energy level is located far from the nucleus.

Different elements have different properties, the properties of elements depend on the number of
electrons revolving in the various energy levels of the atom. The ability of elements to form bonds w/ other
elements depends on the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus, more specifically the arrangement of the
valence electrons in the outermost energy levels or at the level farthest from the nucleus.

PROPERTIES OF THE DIFFERENT SUBATOMIC PARTICLES

PARTICLE CHARGE MASS (kg) Relative Mass (amu) Location
Electron (e-) Negative (-) 9.11 x 10 -31 0.000549 or 0 Outside the nucleus
Neutron (no) 0 1.675 x 10 -27 1.008701 or 1 Inside the nucleus
Proton (p+) Positive (+) 1.673 x 10 -27 1.00773 or 1 Inside the nucleus

Atomic and Mass Number, Isotopes and Ions

ATOMIC NUMBER (Z) = no. of protons, all the atoms of a particular element have the same no. of protons in the
nucleus.
In a neutral atom, the no. of protons in nucleus is exactly equal to the number of e - outside the nucleus.
MASS NUMBER (A) = no. of p+ + no
All atoms of a given element have the same no. of proton, hence the same atomic number, they may
however differ from one another in mass and therefore in mass no., this is because the number of neutron
may vary.
Ex. There are 3 types of H atoms they all have one proton.
 Hydrogen (light 11H) – most common type of H, w/c has 1 proton but no neutron.
 Deuterium (21H)– has one neutron ( A = p+ + no = 1+1 = 2)
 Tritium (31H )– has 2 neutrons ( A = 3)
ISOTOPES – elements w/ the same atomic number but different atomic mass, or
- Atoms w/ same no. of protons but different no. of neutrons.
Atomic number appears as a subscript at the lower left of the symbol of the element and the mass no. is written
as a superscript.
Ex: mass no. A

Xe symbol of the element

Atomic no. Z

Quite often, isotopes of an element are distinguished from one another by writing the mass no. after the symbol
 of the element. Ex. the isotopes of Uranium are often expressed as, U-235 and U-238.

IONS – a charged atom/particle or an atom with unbalanced charge.

Cation – a positively charged ion or electron donor, contains more protons than electrons (mostly metals).
Anion – a negative ion or electron acceptor, there are more e - than p+ (mostly non-metals).

For an element to become an ion, it has to meet the OCTET configuration, meaning eight valence electrons.
Sodium atom for instance has one valence electron, it can perform either accept 7 e - or give one e- to meet the octet
rule. In doing so, w/c one is much easier for Na atom to perform, accept7 e - or give one e-?

The answer is give or lose one e- since in doing so it will require less energy to lose one e - rather than to gain 7 e-.
Neutral 1123Na = 0 charge
23 1+
11 Na - no. of p+ = 11 (always equal to the atomic number)
No. of no = mass no. ( A) – no. of p+ = 23 -11 =12
-
No. of e = 11 – 1 = 10 (since the charge is 1+ w/c means there is one proton more than
the electron.)

Exercises in determining the number of p+, e- and no of an atom

No. of
Atomic Mass No. of p+ = No. of e- Name of the
Symbol no=mass no- Charge
No. No. atomic no. = no of p+ - charge Element
at. no.
64
29Cu +2
84
Kr
36
79
Se-2
34

How did the concept of atomic number lead to the synthesis of new elements in the laboratory?
The number of protons corresponds to the atomic number, hence, hydrogen with an atomic number of 1
has the least number of protons among the elements. New elements that are naturally occurring are not
discovered anymore, however scientists still create new elements in the laboratory using particle accelerators
and nuclear reactions.
The atomic number of an atom helps scientists identify if a new element has been synthesized, one or
more protons may be added to an existing element to produce a new element, this synthesized element is
often highly reactive and decays so quickly.

--*THE PERIODIC TABLE*--

Hennig Brand - (1659) was the first one to discover an element, he tried to discover what is known as “Philosopher’s
stone”, a mythical object to convert an ordinary and inexpensive object to gold.
- Using a distilled human urine, he discovered a glowing, white substance called phosphorus.
Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner – (1829) a German chemist who proposed the “law of triads” w/c states that the
atomic weight of the middle element (halogen and alkali metal triads) is somehow the same with the average of
the 2 other elements. Ex. Li – Na – K
John A.R. Newlands (1864) – Proposed the “Law of Octaves”, he noticed that when the elements are arranged
according to increasing atomic mass, every eighth element would exhibit similar properties.
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev – (1869) published his periodic table where he arranged the elements in increasing
atomic weights.
- He also developed the Periodic Law which states that “ elements arranged in increasing atomic weights will
show periodic physical and chemical properties.
- A year after (1670), Julius Lothar Meyer also published his own version of the periodic table w/c was similar
to Mendeleev, but since Mendeleev was the first to published thus, he was credited as the “Father of
Periodic table”
Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley – (1913) an English Physicist, used X-rays and discovered the isotopes of elements
and established that elements must be arranged in increasing atomic number.

THE PERIODIC TABLE – an arrangement of the elements on the basis of their atomic numbers and repeated
chemical properties.
The periodic table is composed of:
 Vertical columns called as groups or families, and
 Horizontal rows called periods or series – this indicates the energy level last-filled w/ electrons, thus if element Y
is found under the third period, then energy level last-filled w/ electrons is the 3 rd energy level.
 The groups are divided into
representative groups, the Group A and
Group B elements. (*The group number
represents the valence electrons – e-
found on the outermost shell)
Alkali Metals – elements under Group IA, they
are very reactive, must be keep away from
water since they form basic oxides when
combined with water.
Alkali Earth metals / Group IIA – their oxides
are
similar to those of alkali metal oxides,
Group III A or 13– Boron Group
Group IV A or 14 – Carbon Group
Group V A or 15 – Nitrogen Group
Chalcogen / Group VI A or 16- from the Greek
word “chalcos” w/c means ore producing.
Halogen /Group VII A or 17 – from the word
“hal” – salt, and “gen” – produce.
Noble Gases/ Group VIII A or Inert Gas Family –
(sometimes also termed as zero (0) Group), composed of stable and
unreactive elements.
All of the groups mentioned above (1A-8A) comprise the Main Group elements
The other groups of the periodic table , the Group B consists of groups 3 to 12 w/c are known as the Transition
metals (1921 – Charles Bury). Their valence electrons have strong tendencies to form coordination compound or
complexes. * The Actinide and Lanthanide series fall under the inner transition metals.

NUCLEAR REACTIONS IN THE SYNTHESIS OF NEW ELEMENTS

In the synthesis of new elements, nuclear reactions are involved. Consider an artificial nuclear transformation
conducted by Ernest Rutherford in 1919. He fired a N2 gas w/ a stream of alpha particles (42He), in the process, he
detected oxygen and hydrogen as products, the reaction is shown below:
14 4 17 1
7N + 2He 8O + 1H
Their atomic masses in amu are the ff:
14.00307 + 4.00260 16.99913 + 1.007825 The sum of the reactants is approximately
equal to the sum of the products in accordance w/ the law of conservation of mass.
This reaction took place because it was bombarded w/ alpha particles w/ some extra energy (KE) provided.

Consider a naturally occurring nuclear reaction, the alpha decay of uranium 238 ( 23898U), in this reaction 23898U gives off an
alpha particle (42He) and changes into thorium (Th) and then releases energy (Fission reaction)
238 234 4
92U 90Th + 2He + energy
There are unstable nuclei w/c undergo radioactive decay, in the process they emit particles and electromagnetic
radiation – this type of nuclei reaction is called radioactivity.
There is another type of nuclear process called nuclear transmutation when nuclei are bombarded w/ neutrons
protons or another nuclei. An example of this is the conversion of atmospheric 14 7N to C -14 and H, this results when
the neutrons from the sun bombard N isotopes:
14 1 14 1
7N + 0n 6C + 1H
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NUCLEAR REACTIONS AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS:
 Nuclear reactions are so much different from ordinary chemical reactions, in nuclear reactions, elements
are converted to other elements or isotopes while in ordinary chemical reactions atoms are rearranged by breaking and
forming chemical bonds.
 Nuclear reactions involve protons, neutrons, electrons and other subatomic particles such as alpha, on
the other hand, only electrons in atomic and molecular orbitals are involved in ordinary chemical reactions.
 Nuclear reactions are accompanied by the absorption or release of tremendous amounts of energy, while
chemical reactions are usually accompanied by relatively small amounts of energy.
To balance a nuclear reaction, the total of all atomic numbers must be balanced and the total of all the mass
numbers of the products and reactants must also be balanced.

The invention of the device cyclotron ( A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O.
Lawrence in 1929. A cyclotron accelerates charged particles outwards from the center along a spiral path), paved the way for
transmuting one element into another artificially, the high-energy particles that are produced from the cyclotron upon
hitting heavy target nuclei produce heavier nuclei.
 The bombarding of Mo w/ deuteron formed technetium – the first
artificially made element. Its name is derived from the Greek word “technetos”
w/c means artificial.
96 2 97 1
42Mo + 1H 43Tc + 0n
The Transuranic Elements – are synthetic elements w/ atomic numbers higher
than that of U-92
Ex: Neptonium (Np – 93) synthesized by E. Macmillan in 1940
238 1 239 0
92U + 0n 93 Np + -1 pβ
The Superheavy Elements – are elements w/ atomic numbers beyond 103,
these are produced by bombarding heavy
nuclear targets w/ accelerated heavy projectiles
Ex: Bohrium (Bh –107) –projectile used was Cr-54
209 54 261 1
83Bi + 24Cr 107Bh + 2 0n