CHAPTER – 2: Atomic Structure

Atoms and elements:

A substance made up of just one type of atom is called an element. Elements cannot be broken down into
anything simpler by chemical reactions.

Atom: The smallest particle of a element that take part in chemical reaction
Molecule: a group of atom held together by covalent bond.
Element: a sustance that cannot be further divided into simpler substance by chemical method, all the
atom of the element contain same number of proton.
Compound: a substance formed by chemical combination of two or more elements in fixed proportion.

There a e now 118 known elements.

but most of the known mass of the universe consists of just two elements, hydrogen (92%) and helium
(7%), with all the other elements contributing onIy 1% to the totaI.

There are 94 elements found naturally on Earth but just eight account for more than 98% of the mass of the
Earth‘s crust. Two elements, silicon and oxvgen, which are bound together in silicate rocks, make up
almost three-quarters of the crust.

OnIy certain elements are abIe to form the complex compounds that are found in living things. For
example, the human body contains 65 % oxygen, 18% ca rbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 2% caIcium
and 2% of other elements.

Structure of the atom

1807- Atomic theory put forward by the English chemist John Dalton. Dalton’s idea was that atoms
were the basic building blocks of the elements. He thought of them as indivisible particles that
could join together to make molecules.

Although certain parts of the theory have had to change as a result of what we have
discovered since Dalton’s time, his theory was one of the great leaps of understanding in
chemistry. It meant that we could explain many natural processes. Whereas Dalton only had
theories for the existence of atoms, modern techniques (e.g. scanning tunnelling microscopy can
now directly reveal the presence of individual atoms.

Research since Dalton’s time has shown that atoms are made up of several subatamic particles.

1897: The electron was discovered, followed soon after by the proton.
Crucial experiments then showed that an atom is mostly space occupied by the negatively charged
electrons, surrounding a very small, positively charged nucleus. The nucleus is at the centre of the
atom and contains almost all the mass of the atom .

By 1932: when the neutron was discovered, it was clear that atoms consisted of three subatoinic
particles — protons, neutrons and electrons.

Characteristics of protons, neutrons and electrons

The protons and neutrons are located in the small central nucleus. The electrons are present in the
space surrounding the nucleus. The electrons are held within the atom by an electrostatic force of
attraction between them and the positive charge of the protons in the nucleus.

Subatomic particle Relative mass Relative charge Location in atom

Proton 1 +1 in nucleus
Neutron 1 0 in nucleus
Electron 1/1840 or 0.00054 (negligible) -1 outside nucleus
 Although atoms contain electrically charged particles, the atoms themselves are electrically
neutral (they have no overall charge). This mean that in any atom there are an equal number of
protons and electrons. In this way, the total positive charge on the nucleus (due to the protons) is
balanced by the total negative charge of the orbiting electrons.

Proton (atomic) number and mass (nucleon) number

Proton number/ atomic atom: The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
Mass number/ nucleon number: The total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an
atom.

The symbol Z representing the atomic number/proton number and symbol A representing the
mass number of an atom can be written alongside the symbol for that element, in the general
format X.
It is also possible to establish two other important relationships:
• number of electrons = number of protons = atomic number
• number of neutrons = mass number — atomic number = A —Z
Periodic Table of the elements is arranged in order of increasing proton number For example,
magnesium is the twelfth atom in the table, so it must have 12 protons and 12 electrons in its
atoms.
Table 2.2 shows the numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons in particular atoms in various
elements. Note that the rules apply even to the smallest or largest atoms.
Proton Mass Inside the nucleus:
Atom Symbol number Outside the nucleus:
number (A) Protons Neutrons (A
(Z) (Z) — Z) electron (Z)
hydrogen H 1 1 1 0 1
Helium He 2 4 2 2 2
Lithium Li 3 7 3 4 3
beryllium Be 4 9 4 5 4
Carbon C 6 12 6 6 6
Oxygen O 8 16 8 8 8
Sodium Na 11 23 11 12 11
 Calcium Ca 20 40 20 20 20
Gold Au 79 197 79 118 79
uranium U 92 238 92 146 92

Table 2.2: Subatomic composition and structure of atoms of different elements

Isotopes

Measuring the mass of atoms

Relative atomic mass (Ar): the average mass of naturally occurring atoms of an element on the scale
when comparing with 1/12 unit of mass of carbon-12.

Explanation: A simple atom cannot be weighed on a balance. However, the mass of one atom can be
compared to that of another using a mass spectrometer. Since we are comparing the masses of
atoms, the values we obtain are relative values and we need to set a standard against which other
atoms are measured. The element carbon has been chosen as the standard. Carbon was chosen as
the standard because, there are far more compounds containing carbon than any other element. The
masses of all other atoms are compared to the mass of a carbon atom. This gives a series of values of
the relative atomic mass (Ar) *or the different elements.

The isotope carbon-12 is used as this standard. One atom of carbon- 12 is given the mass of 12
precisely. From this we obtain 1 atomic mass unit (a. m.u.) = 1/12 x mass of one atom of carbon-12.

Relative molecular mass (Mr): the sum of all the relative atomic masses of the atom presents in a
molecule
.
Isotopes: atom of the same elements that have the same proton number but a different neutron
number. Some isotopes are radioactive because their nuclei are unstable (radioisotopes)

Explanation: The difference between isotopes of the same element is just the number of neutrons in the
atoms. the atoms have the same number of protons and electrons. The isotopes of an element are
defined by their difference in mass number. The isotopes are referred to using their mass number. For
example, the isotopes of carbon are carbon-12, carbon- 13 and carbon -14.
Many elements have naturally occurring isotopes. Hydrogen, the simplest element, has two naturally
occurring isotopes: hydrogen and deuterium (Figure 2.6). A third isotope, tritium, can be made
artificially.

The isotopes of an elements have the same chemical properties because they contain the same number of
electron and therefore same electronic configuration. Number of electr0n determine the way bond are
formed.

However, some physical properties of the isotopes are different. The mass of atom differs and therefore
other properties such as density and rate of diffusion also vary.

Example: Heavy- water ice (frozen deuterium oxide) has 10.6% greater density than ordinary ice. Normal
ice float in water but a heavy- water ice cube sinks.

How to calculate relative atomic mass of isotopes:

The existence of isotopes also explains why the accurate values for the relative atomic masses of most
elements are not whole numbers. However, to make calculations more straightforward, in this book the
values are rounded to the nearest whole number. This is also true in the Periodic Table In this book
(see.Appendix).
There is one exception, chlorine, where this would be misleading.
Chlorine has two isotopes, chlorine-35 and chlorine-37, The approximate ratio. of 3:1 (or 75 % , 25%).
If the ratio is 1 : 1 (or 50% : 5%), then the relative atomic mass of chlorine would be 36. The actual
value is 35.5.

This value for the relative atomic mass of chlorine can be calculated by finding the total mass of 100
atoms
Mass of 100 atoms of chorine = (35 x 75.0) + {37 x 25.0} = 3550
Then average mass of one atom: 3550/100 = 35.5
Thus, for chlorine Ar (Cl) =
35.5

The isotopes of magnesium and their abundances are given in Table 2.3.

Calculate the relative atomic mass of magnesium.

Step 1. Review data provided.
Step 2. Calculate total mass of 100 atoms of magnesium. - (24 x 78.6} + (25 x 10.1) + (26 x 11.3) -
2432.7
Step 3. Calculate the average mass of a magnesium atom. = 2432.7/100 = 24.327
Step 4. Round your answer to the required level of accuracy asked for.

Relative atomic mass of magnesium = 24.3 (to three significant

Electronic configuration of element

Electrons in shells
The aurora borealis is a spectacular display seen in the sky in the far north (a similar phenomenon —
the aurora australis — occurs in the southern hemisphere). lt is caused by radiation from the Sun
moving the electrons in atoms of the passes of the atmosphere.
Similar colour effects can be created in a simpler way in the laboratory by heating the compounds
o[ some metals in a Bunsen flame (Flame tests in Chapter 22).

The colours produced are due to electrons in the atom moving between two different electron shells.

In 1913, Niels Bohr, working with Ernest Ruthe ford, developed a theory to explain how electrons were
arranged in atoms. this theory helps to explain how the colours in the flame test are produced.

A simplified version of Bohr’s atomic theory of the arrangement of electrons in an atom can be
 summarised as follows:
• electrons are in orbit around the central nucleus of the atom
• the electron orbits are called electron shells (or energy levels) and have different energies
• shells that a e further from the nucleus have higher energies
• the shells are filled starting with the one with lowest energy (closest to the nucleus)
• the first shell can hold only two electrons
• the second and subsequent shells can hold eight electrons to give a stable (noble gas) arrangement
of electrons.
The number and arrangement of the electrons in the atoms of the first 20 elements in the Periodic Table
(see the Appendix) are shown in Table 2.6.

Electronic Configuration and Periodic Table:

Group number
Number of outer electrons in an atom = Group number
Period Number
Number of occupied shells in an atom = period (row number) of the element

The noble gas electronic configuration

Noble gases (Group VIII) are very unreactive gases. The atoms of the noble gas elements all
have a very stable electron arrangement. That means their atoms exist naturally as single
atoms. Noble gas atoms do not make chemical bonds with the atoms of other elements by
sharing or transferring their outer electrons. Noble gas atoms all have a full outer shell of
electrons (Table 2.8). This means that they usually have eight electrons in their outer shell.

When the atoms of elements other than the noble gases combine together to form molecules, the
atoms involved often achieve the same stable arrangement of electrons characteristic of the noble
gases