Subject: SNC2DE Unit: 3.0: Chemistry Lesson: 3.

02
Topics: Materials: Nelson: Science 10
The Atom, Bohr and Lewis Diagrams Handouts
Homework: Take up flow chart and homework sheet
A) Intro:

B) Atomic Structure:
• We’ll consider the basic atom; protons, neutrons and electrons. The electrons have a negative charge and “orbit”
the nucleus which contains the protons and neutrons. The protons have a positive charge equal and opposite to the
charge on an electron. Neutrons have no charge. The charges on the proton and electron are equal and opposite and
are called elementary charges. The protons and neutrons are approximately the same size but each is about 2000x larger
than the electron. Atoms are normally neutral in charge (equal numbers of protons and electrons)
• Atoms are mostly empty space (skyscraper fits into a grain of rice), if a hydrogen nucleus was 1mm in size the electron
would be in a 100m diameter orbit
• Electrons exist in orbitals or shells. We will consider them in this course to be circular. Each shell has a maximum
number of electrons that can be contained within it (2, 8, 8). Electrons fill the innermost shells and then work outward.
The last unfilled shell is the valence shell (valence electrons).

Extension: The actual formula is 2n2 where n is the energy level number (period). Note for the 3 rd period there are 18 electrons,
but it is stable with 8. We will discuss quantum orbitals in later years.

A 13
• B X ex 27 Al A is the atomic number which indicates the number of protons (electrons) and B is the atomic
mass number that indicates the number of nucleons (protons and neutrons). The number is measured in amu or
12
atomic mass units where it is defined that for C , there are 12 amu (1 proton = 1 neutron = 1 amu).
• Which goes on top is sometimes flipped ☺) The atomic mass number is often a decimal number, the reasons for which
we will discuss shortly.

C) Bohr and Lewis Diagrams:

12
• Using this simplified model we can also represent the atoms using Bohr diagrams, consider magnesium 24 Mg :
• This shows all the important aspects of the atom, but it is a bit big and
cumbersome. A modified (simplified) way to represent the same data is:
(12p+,12n0) 2e- 8e- 2e-
• This shows the nucleus data as well as the electron orbital populations in a more
12 P compact format (and easier to draw!)
12 N • The Lewis diagram or structure, is another attempt to show the information in a
more concise but useful manner. It doesn’t show the nucleus information and only
shows the valence electrons. Or (again for Mg and some others):
•• •• •• • ••
Mg Al
•
O:
••
Li ∙ Cl :
••

• We will come back to Lewis diagrams when we look at molecules and their Lewis Structures.

D) Isotopes:
• Isotopes are elements that have the same number of protons (atomic number) and electron configuration (valence
electrons) but have a different amount of neutrons.
• <<Chadwick>>
• Isotopes will behave chemically the same way as each other but there may be physical differences.

Next page please

Notes:
Homework: Period Table Handout, homework sheet C02
 • The atomic mass number is a decimal number to account for these various isotopes.
• For any given element there will be a dominate (most prevalent) isotope in nature and we refer to the relative amounts in
a given sample of each isotope as the relevant abundance.
• Consider Carbon. It has three naturally occurring isotopes: 12C, 13C and 14C.
Their relative abundances are 99%, 1% and negligible respectively. 12C and 13C are  isotope  relative abundance
stable isotopes while 14C is unstable and naturally decays and is used in radiometric
= (99%  12amu ) C + (1%  13amu ) C
carbon dating.
12 13

12  99   1 
• To understand why Carbon is shown as 12.0107 C we calculate the atomic mass =  12  +   13 
 100   100 
number (as an average) by:
= 12.0107
E) Ions:
• The elements listed in the periodic table, including their isotopes, and other molecules in general are neutral in charge,
i.e. they have equal numbers of protons (+) and electrons (-).
• Elements are stable (unreactive) when they have full shells/orbitals of electrons or octets like the noble gases.
• Elements tend to gain or lose electrons to achieve a state with a full octet. At this point they are similar to one of the
noble gases (in terms of electrons) although they retain their different numbers of protons and neutrons. This state is
called isoelectronic (same electrons). Ex. If Li loses one electron (now only has 2 electrons filling the first orbit)
making it isoelectronic with He.
• Elements that have lost an electron are now positively charged (there are more protons than electrons) and elements that
gain an electron are now negatively charged (more electrons than protons). Charged atoms are called ions in general and
more specifically, cat ions for positively charged ions and anions for negatively charged ions.
• When referring to anions, we change the name slightly adding the suffix ide. Examples:
o Fluorine becomes Fluoride, bromine becomes bromide, iodine becomes iodide etc.
• In general:
o metals lose electrons becoming cations
o non-metals gain electrons becoming anions
• In gaining an electron an ion releases energy known as electron affinity energy (more on this next class)