MTChem1: Inorganic and Organic Chemistry for MLS

A.Y.: 2020-2021
REVIEW OF GENERAL CHEMISTRY sets of properties recur periodically. In the periodic
table of elements, vertical rows are termed as “groups”
LEARNING OBJECTIVES while horizontal rows are termed as “periods”.
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
• Review the basic concepts of general An element is a pure substance that cannot be
chemistry broken down into simpler substances by a chemical
reaction. In the periodic table of elements, each
OVERVIEW OF THE MODULE element is identified by a one- or two-letter symbol.
• Classification of Matter Names are derived from a variety of sources: people
• The IUPAC Periodic Table of Elements important in atomic science, geographic locations,
• Subatomic Particles planets, etc.
• Atomic Weight, Atomic Number, Mass Listed below are some of the important elements in
Number the human body, and these elements are part of the
• Electron Configuration chemical tests that we perform as medical
• Electron Spin and Orbital Diagrams technologists:
• Valence Electrons
• Sodium – regulates electrical balance in body
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER fluids
• Potassium – essential for nerve conduction;
Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass. regulates electrical balance in body fluids
It is classified into pure substances and mixtures. • Calcium – strengthens bones and teeth; aids in
blood clotting
• Pure substances have a fixed composition and • Phosphorus – present in nucleic acids (i.e. DNA
cannot be further purified (hence, the term and RNA); involved in energy storage and
“pure”) transfer
• Iodine – stimulates production of thyroid
• Mixtures, on the other hand, are a combination hormones
of two or more pure substances. This • Iron – essential part of some proteins such
definition lets us derive to a conclusion that hemoglobin and myoglobin
mixtures can be physically separable into pure o Hemoglobin is the pigmentation found
substances. (Example of a mixture is our in red blood cells
blood) o Myoglobin is a protein found in
muscles
Pure substances are further classified into elements
and compounds.
Elements are classified into metals, nonmetals, and
• Elements cannot be subdivided by chemical or metalloids.
physical means. However, they can be
chemically combined to form compounds.
• Metals are good conductors of heat and
• Compounds are elements united in fixed electricity. Another property of elements is
ratios. that all of them are solids at room
temperature, except for Mercury (which is
Mixtures are further classified into homogeneous and liquid at room temperature).
heterogeneous mixtures. • Nonmetals, unlike metals, are poor
• Homogeneous matter has uniform conductors of heat and electricity. They have
varying states at room temperature (RT).
composition throughout.
Sulfur and carbon are nonmetals that are in
• Heterogeneous matter has nonuniform solid state at RT. Bromine is liquid at RT, while
composition. nitrogen and oxygen are nonmetals are both
gas at RT.
IUPAC PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS
• Metalloids possess both the properties of
There are 118 known metals and nonmetals. Metalloids include the
elements. Of these, 90 occur elements boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic,
in nature, while others have antimony, tellurium, and astatine.
been synthetically made by
chemists and physicists. The Compounds are pure substances made up of two or
periodic table of elements more elements in a fixed ratio by mass.
was arranged by Dmitri
Mendeleev. He arranged all • For example, water is a compound made
of the known elements in up of hydrogen and oxygen.
order of their increasing • Water is primarily formed by combining
atomic weight. It was also two hydrogen atoms to one oxygen atom.
arranged in way that certain (fixed ratio)
Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the
first Periodic Table of Elements
Henry M. Basilio, RMT | 1

• The following images show different ways
on how atoms in a molecule of water can
be illustrated.
MTChem1: Inorganic and Organic Chemistry for MLS
A.Y.: 2020-2021
ATOMIC WEIGHT, ATOMIC NUMBER, MASS NUMBER
The atomic number (Z) of an element is equal
to the number of protons in a single atom. It is also
known that the number of protons in an element is
equal to the number of electrons. Therefore, the
atomic number of an element is also equal to the
number of its electrons.
Z = No. of Protons = No. of Electrons

The mass number (A) of an element is the sum

of the number of its protons and neutrons.

A = No. of Protons + No. of Neutrons

The Modern Periodic Table of Elements
SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
The nucleus is a dense core that contains the
protons and neutrons. Most of the mass of an atom
resides in the nucleus. The electron cloud is composed
of electrons that move rapidly in the almost empty
space surrounding the nucleus.
Two atoms of the same element will always
have the same number of protons but the number of
neutrons may vary. In cases wherein atoms of the
same element have a different number of neutrons,
they are called isotopes. The simplest example of a
chemical isotope is the element hydrogen.

PROTON NEUTRON ELECTRON

CHARGE Positive Neutral Negative

MASS (g) 1.673x10-24 1.675x10-24 9.109x10-28

MASS (amu) 1.0073 1.0087 N/A The image above portrays three isotopes of hydrogen.
(Left to Right) Protium contains 1 proton and no
LOCATION Nuclear Nuclear Extranuclear neutron. Deuterium contains 1 proton and 1 neutron.
Lastly, tritium contains 1 proton and 2 neutrons.

As observed from the isotopes, only the

Diagram of the Atomic structure with Subatomic particles
As a general rule in subatomic particles,
like charges repel, and opposite charges attract.
number of neutrons vary. Protons and electrons
remain equal. This means that isotopes will vary only
on their mass numbers (A) as the computation of the
mass number includes the number of neutrons. The
atomic number (Z), on the other hand, remains
unaffected as it is only associated with the number of
protons and electrons.

With this principle, two protons (positively-charged)

will repel each other just like how two electrons The atomic weight of an element is the
(negatively-charged) will not attract each other. weighted average of
Ultimately, this principle leads to a rule that protons the mass of naturally
and electrons will always be attracted to each other. occurring isotopes of
a particular weight.
It is often expressed
in atomic mass units (amu). In the periodic table of
Like charges repel
elements, the atomic weight of an element is often
listed under the symbol of the element.

Opposite charges attract

Henry M. Basilio, RMT | 2


ELECTRON CONFIGURATION
The electron configuration refers to the
arrangement of electrons in the electron cloud or
extranuclear space. Electrons do not move freely in
the extranuclear space as they are confined to a
specific region and are restricted to a specific energy.
NUMBER OF RELATIVE
SHELL
ELECTRONS ENERGIES
4 32 Higher
3 18
2 8
1 2 Lower
The table above shows the distribution or
location of electrons in the extranuclear space. The
electron cloud contains shells where electrons are
suspended. Each shell has a maximum number of
electrons it can hold, and this may be computed
through the formula 2n2, where n is the shell number.
For example, the maximum electrons in shell number
3 may be computed as follows: 2(3)2 = 18 electrons.
As observed on the table, the farther the shell
from the nucleus, the larger its volume becomes, and
the more electrons it can hold. Subsequently, this also
results to higher relative energies since the electrons
increase in number as the shells are located farther
from the nucleus.
Each electron shell contains electron
subshells. These are regions of space within an
electron shell that contains electrons with the same
energy. A particular type of subshell contains a specific
number of orbitals.
Electron orbitals are regions of space within
an electron subshell where an electron with a specific
energy is found. An electron orbital can accommodate
a maximum of 2 electrons. The maximum number of
electrons per orbital may be computed using the
formula 2n, where n is the number of orbitals. For
example, the d subshell contains 5 orbitals. Therefore,
the maximum number of electrons that this may hold
is: 2(5) = 10 electrons.
The electron configuration of Carbon
MTChem1: Inorganic and Organic Chemistry for MLS
A.Y.: 2020-2021
NUMBER OF
MAX
SUBSHELL ELECTRONS
ORBITALS
PER ORBITAL
s 1 2
p 3 6
d 5 10
f 7 14
The image above presents the subshell energy
order in elements. The lowest energy level is 1s,
followed by 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s… and so on.
For this part, do not forget the maximum number of
electrons that each subshell can hold
For example, Carbon has an atomic number of 6. Since
the no. of electrons is equal to the atomic number, we
can derive that Carbon contains 6 electrons as well.
These 6 electrons of Carbon are distributed across
different subshells. Here is how you will identify their
distributions:
1. Start with the lowest energy level, 1s. An s-
subshell contains a maximum of 2 electrons.
Write down 1s2. The exponent represents the
number of atoms present in that subshell.
Since 2 electrons are already in the 1s subshell,
the other 4 atoms of Carbon are located in
higher energy levels.
2. Next, move to the next energy level, 2s.
Similarly, this subshell also contains 2
maximum electrons. Therefore: 2s2. Since 2 of
the Carbon electrons are in the 1s, and 2 are in
this 2s subshell, the remaining 2 electrons are
located in a higher energy level.
3. The next energy level is 2p. A p subshell can
contain a maximum number of electrons (2p6).
However, since there are only 2 remaining
Carbon electrons, the electron configuration
will only be 2p2 instead of 2p6.
Henry M. Basilio, RMT | 3

ELECTRON SPIN AND ORBITAL DIAGRAMS
An electron moves about within an orbital,
spinning on its own axis. In each orbital, one electron
spins in a clockwise direction while another electron
spins in a counterclockwise direction. These electron
spins are often represented using orbital diagrams
In this orbital diagram, each half-arrow
represents one electron. The upward and downward
direction of these arrows indicate that electrons in one
orbital (one box) have different spins.
In creating orbital diagrams, there are certain rules
that must be followed:
1. Electrons are placed in the lowest energy
orbitals beginning with the 1s orbital.
Electrons are placed in the lowest energy
orbitals beginning with the 1s orbital.
In the case of Carbon, the first electron
(upward arrow) is placed in the 1s orbital.
2. Each orbital holds a maximum of two
electrons, which have opposite spins
(represented by upward and downward
arrows).
In Carbon, the second electron on the 1s
orbital is placed in the same box as the first
electron. However, the second electron is
represented by a down arrow to indicate that
is has an opposite spin.
The same rules are applied to the 2s orbital.
3. When orbitals are equal in energy, one
electron is added to each orbital until the
orbitals are half-filled, before any orbital is
completely filled.
In carbon, the 2p has 3 orbitals (3 boxes).
These orbitals have equal energy. To apply the
rule above, the first electron in the 2p subshell
MTChem1: Inorganic and Organic Chemistry for MLS
A.Y.: 2020-2021
is placed in the first box.
Still following the rule, the second and last
electron in the 2p subshell of Carbon is placed
on the second box instead of placing it on the
same box as the first electron. This is to satisfy
the rule that orbitals (boxes) must be half-
filled first.
Since the 2p subshell of Carbon has only 2
electrons, the image above will be the final
diagram for the Carbon atom.
VALENCE ELECTRONS
The valence electrons are the electrons placed
in the outermost shell of the element. The number of
valence electrons may be determined through the
electron configuration.
For example, Chlorine (Z = 17) has an electron
configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p5. Its valence
electrons may be identified through the following
steps:
1. Identify the highest shell that electrons have
occupied. In the case of chlorine, the highest
shell is shell number 3:
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p5
2. Next, count the total number of electrons
present in that shell. Remember that the
number electrons is represented by the
exponent in the electron configuration.
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p5
In the electron configuration above, the 3s
subshell has 2 electrons while the 3p subshell has 5
electrons. The valence electrons may then be
computed by adding the total electrons in the highest
shell number (3).
Therefore,
2 electrons in 3s + 5 electrons in 3p
=
7 valence electrons.
Chlorine has 7 valence electrons.
Henry M. Basilio, RMT | 4
 MTChem1: Inorganic and Organic Chemistry for MLS
A.Y.: 2020-2021
Valence electrons may be represented through
Lewis-dot or electron-dot symbols (see image below).
Each valence electron is represented by one dot. If you
will observe, Chlorine (in column 7A) has 7 Lewis dots
since Chlorine has 7 valence electrons.

REFERENCES

• Stoker, Stephen. Et al.: General, Organic and

Biological Chemistry. 7th ed. Philippines: 2016
• Principles of General Chemistry, Organic, and
Biochemistry by Janice Smith, 2nd Edition, ©
McGraw-Hill 2015

Henry M. Basilio, RMT | 5