Lecture 1-3

Concepts of Atomic Structure

Atom: Atom is a hard solid individual particle incapable of subdivision. It is the smallest unit of
matter that retains the identity of the substance. This concept was first proposed by Democratus.
But Aristatle said that the atom is divisible and can be divided as many times. The British scientist
John Dalton considered that all matter was composed of small particles called atom. The word
atom comes from two Greek letters, a and tomos. Greeek letter a means ‘no’ and tomos means
‘divisible’, thus atomos means indivisible.

At the end of nineteenth century there accumulated enough experimental experiments evidence to
show that the atom is made of still smaller particles. These subatomic particles are called the
fundamental particles. The number of subatomic particles now known is very large. For us, the
most three important are the proton, neutron and electrons. How these fundamental particles go to
make the internal structure of the atom, is a fascinating story.

Atoms are composed of 2 regions:

 Nucleus: the center of the atom that contains the mass of the atom
 Electron cloud: region that surrounds the nucleus that contains most of the space in the
atom

The nucleus contains 2 of the 3 subatomic particles.

 Protons: positively charged subatomic particles
 Neutrons: charge neutral subatomic particles

The third subatomic particle resides outside of the nucleus is the electron.
 Electron: the negatively charged subatomic particle with relatively no mass

Some properties of these three fundamental subatomic particles are summarized below.
Subatomic Symbol Mass/g Relative mass Charge/C Relative charge
particle

Proton P+ 1.67 × 10-24 1 +1.6 × 10-19 +1

Neutron n 1.675 × 10-24 1 0 0

Electron e- 9.11 × 10-28 0 -1.6 × 10-19 -1

Thus, mass of 1 proton = mass of 1 neutron = 1840 × mass of 1 electron.

Protons and neutrons live compacted in the tiny positively charged nucleus accounting for most of
the mass of the atom.
The negatively charged electrons are small and have a relatively small mass but occupy a large
volume of space outside the nucleus.

How the subatomic particles balance each other?

In an atom, the number of protons = the number of electrons.
In an atom, say sodium (Na), it has 11 protons and 11 electrons. So, 11 protons bear +11 charge
and 11 electrons bear -11 charge, thus the whole atom is electrically neutral. Neutrons have no
charge. Therefore, the number of neutron may equal or unequal to the number of proton in an
atom.
How do we know the number of subatomic particle in an atom?
Atomic number: The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus
of the atom of that atom.
Hydrogen (H) has one proton in its nucleus, thus its atomic number is one. Carbon (C), nitrogen
(N), oxygen (O), magnesium (Mg), chlorine (Cl) and calcium (Ca), have 6, 7, 8, 12, 17 and 20
protons, respectively. So the atomic number of C, N, O, Mg, Cl and Ca atoms are 6, 7, 8, 12, 17
and 20, respectively. All atoms of same element have same atomic number and it is different for
different elements. Two different atoms of different elements can never have same number of
protons in their nucleus. That’s why proton number is the identity of an atom or element, thus it
called atomic number. The number of proton identify the atom.

Mass number: The mass number of an atom is equal to the total number of nucleons (protons and
neutrons) in the nucleus of an atom.
Carbon can have a mass number of 12. Since, it has 6 protons, the its neutron number must be 6.
The mass number of Cl is 35. So, it has 18 neutrons in its nucleus as the atomic or proton number
of chlorine is 17.
So, the number of neutrons = mass number – atomic number.

As the mass of electron is negligible and proton and neutron together bear almost total mass of an
atom (~99.97%), that’s why the total number of proton and neutron in an atom is considered as its
mass number.

How to determine the number of proton, electron and neutron in an atom?

An atom can be expressed as 𝐴𝑍𝑋
Where, X is the symbol of element, A is the mass number and Z is the atomic number. In case of
Li, its mass number and atomic number are 7 and 3, respectively.
So, its proton number is 3 (equal to the atomic number)
electron number is also 3 (as every atom has electrons equal to the number of its proton)
and neutron is 7 – 3 = 4 (neutron number = mass number – proton number)
Why atoms are electrically neutral?
Why proton number is considered as atomic number?
What is nucleon number?
How the charged particles balance each other in an atom?

Different Atom Model:

To explain the structure of atom different scientist proposes different atomic model. We shall
discuss two important atom models. These are Rutherford atomic model and Bhor atomic model.

Rutherford atomic model:

Rutherford proposed that an atom is composed of empty space mostly with electrons orbiting in a
set, predictable paths around fixed, positively charged nucleus.

Rutherford’s Atomic Model (Source Credit: Britannica)

Postulates of Rutherford atomic model

 An atom is composed of positively charged particles. Majority of the mass of an atom was
concentrated in a very small region. This region of the atom was called as the nucleus of an
atom. It was found out later that the very small and dense nucleus of an atom is composed of
neutrons and protons.

 An atom has no net charge or they are electrically neutral because electrons are negatively
charged and the densely concentrated nucleus is positively charged. A strong electrostatic force
of attractions holds together the nucleus and electrons.

 Atoms nucleus is surrounded by negatively charged particles called electrons. The electrons
revolve around the nucleus in a fixed circular path (orbits) as the planets revolve around the
sun in the solar system . Rutherford compared the structure of atom with the solar system and
named this model solar system atomic model.
Limitations of Rutherford Atomic Model

Rutherford’s experiment was unable to explain certain things. They are:

 Rutherford’s model was unable to explain the stability of an atom. According to Rutherford’s
postulate, electrons revolve at a very high speed around a nucleus of an atom in a fixed orbit.
However, Maxwell explained accelerated charged particles release electromagnetic radiations.
Therefore, electrons revolving around the nucleus will release electromagnetic radiation.

 The electromagnetic radiation will have energy from the electronic motion as a result of which
the orbits will gradually shrink. Finally, the orbits will shrink and collapse in the nucleus of an
atom. According to the calculations, if Maxwell’s explanation is followed Rutherford’s model
will collapse with 10-8seconds. Therefore, Rutherford atomic model was not following
Maxwell’s theory and it was unable to explain an atom’s stability.

 Rutherford’s theory was incomplete because it did not mention anything about the arrangement
of electrons in the orbit. This was one of the major drawbacks of Rutherford atomic model.
 Comparison of atoms structure with solar system was another limitation of Rutherford atomic
model because in the solar system charged neutral planets revolving around the charged neutral
sun but in atom negatively charged electron revolve around the positively charged nucleus.

Bohr atomic model:

A Danish physicist named Neil Bohr in 1913 proposed the Bohr atomic model. He modified the
problems and limitations associated with Rutherford’s model of an atom. Earlier in Rutherford
Model, Rutherford explained in an atom a nucleus is positively charged and is surrounded by electrons
(negatively charged particles).

Bohr’s Model of an Atom