Virtual Learning Program Science Department

Chemistry Grade 9

Dr. Heba Elsehely

Chapter 3: Lesson 2

The Structure of the atom

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chemistry: Chapter 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom

Objectives

• Atoms contain positive and negative particles.

• Atoms have small dense positively charged nuclei

• A nucleus contains protons and neutrons.

• The radii of atoms are expressed in picometers.

Dr. Heba Elsehely


Dalton
1808
Dalton’s Atomic Theory
1: All matter is made of atoms.
2: All atoms of a given element
are identical in mass and
properties.
3: Compounds are combinations
of two or more different types
of atoms.
4: A chemical reaction is a
rearrangement of atoms.
5: Atoms cannot be subdivided,
created, or destroyed.
History of the atom
Rutherford
Thomson
1897
Subatomic particles
Thomson proposed a model
for the atom that is called the
plum pudding model He
believed that the negative
electrons were spread evenly
throughout the positive
charge of the rest of the
atom. This arrangement is like
seeds in a watermelon:
Yukawa
Bohr
1935
1913 Nuclear forces
The first one argued
1911 Bohr Model nuclear strong forces.
Gold Foil Experiment
Bohr, proposed a model
in which electrons
surrounded the positively
All the positive charge
and almost all the mass charged nucleus as the
are concentrated in a planets surround the sun.
small region that has
enough positive charge
to account for the great
deflection of some alfa
particles.
 Chapter 3 3.1: , The Mole: From Philosophical Idea to Scientific Theory
Chemistry: Chapter

Dalton’s Atomic Theory

1. All matter is composed of extremely small particles called atoms.

2. Atoms of a given element are identical in size, mass, and other

properties; atoms of different elements differ in size, mass, and
other properties.

3. Atoms cannot be subdivided, created, or destroyed.

4. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole-number

ratios to form chemical compounds.

5. In chemical reactions, atoms are combined, separated, or

rearranged.
Dr. Heba Elsehely
 Chemistry: Chapter 3.1: , The Mole: From Philosophical Idea to Scientific Theory

Modern Atomic Theory

• Not all aspects of Dalton’s atomic theory have proven to
be correct. We now know that:
Atoms are divisible into even smaller particles.

A given element can have atoms with different masses.

Some important concepts remain unchanged.

All matter is composed of atoms.

Atoms of any one element differ in properties from

atoms of another element.
Dr. Heba Elsehely
Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Atoms contain positive and negative particles

Cathode ray tubes are sealed glass tubes from

which most of the air has been evacuated. A high
voltage is applied across two electrodes at one
end of the tube, which causes a beam of
particles to flow from the cathode (the
negatively-charged electrode) to the anode (the
positively-charged electrode).

The tubes are called cathode ray tubes

because the particle beam or "cathode ray"
originates at the cathode. The ray can be
detected by painting a material known
as phosphors onto the far end of the tube
beyond the anode. The phosphors spark,
or emit light, when impacted by the
cathode ray.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Atoms contain positive and negative particles

To test the properties of the

particles, Thomson placed two
oppositely-charged electric plates
around the cathode ray. The
cathode ray was deflected away
from the negatively-charged
electric plate and towards the
positively-charged plate. This
indicated that the cathode ray was
composed of negatively-charged
particles.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter
Atoms contain positive and negative particles
Thomson also placed two magnets
on either side of the tube, and
observed that this magnetic field
also deflected the cathode ray.
Milikan 1909, measured the
charge of the electron. The results
of these experiments helped
Thomson determine the mass-to-
charge ratio of the cathode ray
particles.

Thomson repeated his experiments

using different metals as electrode
materials, and found that the
properties of the cathode ray
remained constant no matter what
cathode material they originated
from.
Dr. Heba Elsehely
 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Atoms contain positive and negative particles

From this evidence, Thomson

made the following conclusions:

1. The cathode ray is composed

of negatively-charged
particles.

2. The particles must exist as

part of the atom, since the mass
of each particle is only ~ 1/2000
the mass of a hydrogen atom.

3. These subatomic particles can

be found within atoms of all
elements.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Atoms contain positive and negative particles

The plum pudding model

Thomson knew that atoms had an

overall neutral charge.
Therefore, he reasoned that
there must be a source of
positive charge within the atom
to counterbalance the negative
charge on the electrons. This led
Thomson to propose that atoms
could be described as negative
particles floating within a soup
of diffuse positive charge. This
model is often called the plum
pudding model of the atom.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Atoms have small dense positively charged nuclei

Rutherford fired a thin beam of α particles at a very thin sheet of pure gold. Alpha
particles are helium nuclei and they are given off in various radioactive decay
processes.
In this case, Rutherford placed a sample of radium (a radioactive metal) inside a
lead box with a small pinhole in it. Most of the radiation was absorbed by the lead,
but a thin beam of α particles escaped out of the pinhole in the direction of the
gold foil. The gold foil was surrounded by a detector screen that would flash when
hit with an α particle.

Gold Foil Experiment Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Based on Thomson's plum pudding model, Rutherford predicted that most of the α particles
would pass straight through the gold foil. This is because the positive charge in the plum
pudding model was assumed to be spread out throughout the entire volume of the atom.
Therefore, the electric field from the positively charged "soup" would be too weak to significantly
affect the path of the relatively massive and fast-moving α particles. The results of the
experiment, however, were striking. While almost all of the α particles passed straight through
the gold foil, a few \alphaαalpha particles (about 1 in 20,000) were deflected more than 90∘
from their path!
Dr. Heba Elsehely
 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

He concluded that there is a powerful force must occupy a very small

amount of space of the atom because so few of the total number of alpha
particles had been affected by it. This force must be caused by a very
densely packed bundle of matter with a positive electric charge that is
called the nucleus.

Rutherford had discovered that the volume of a nucleus was very small
compared with the total volume of an atom. In fact, if the nucleus were the
size of a marble, then the size of the atom would be about the size of a
football field.

But where were the electrons? This question was not answered until
Rutherford’s student, Niels Bohr, proposed a model in which electrons
surrounded the positively charged nucleus as the planets surround the sun.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

A nucleus contains protons and neutrons.

• All atomic nuclei (one Hydrogen atom exception) are made of

two kinds of particles, protons and neutrons.

• A proton has a positive charge equal in magnitude to the

negative charge of an electron.

• Atoms are electrically neutral because they contain equal

numbers of protons and electrons.

• A neutron is electrically neutral.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

• The simplest hydrogen atom consists of a single-proton

nucleus with a single electron moving about it.

• All atoms besides the simplest hydrogen atom also have

neutrons. The mass of a neutron is 1.675 × 10-27 kg—slightly
larger than that of a proton.

• The nuclei of atoms of different elements differ in their

number of protons and, therefore, in the amount of positive
charge they possess. Thus, the number of protons
determines that atom’s identity.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

• Physicists have identified other subatomic particles, but particles

other than electrons, protons, and neutrons have little effect on
the chemical properties of matter.

• A proton has a mass of 1.673 × 10-27 kg, which is 1836 times

greater than the mass of an electron, or virtually all, of the mass of
the simplest hydrogen atom.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

Forces in the Nucleus

• Generally, particles that have the same electric charge repel one
another. Therefore, we would expect a nucleus with more than one
proton to be unstable. However, when two protons are extremely
close to each other, there is a strong attraction between them.

• Attraction force exists when neutrons are very close to each other
or when protons and neutrons are very close together.

• These short-range proton- neutron, proton-proton, and neutron-

neutron forces hold the nuclear particles together and are
referred to as nuclear forces.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

The Radii of atoms are expressed in picometers.

• The region occupied by the electrons is called an electron cloud—a
cloud of negative charge.

• The radius of an atom is the distance from the center of the

nucleus to the outer portion of this electron cloud.

Dr. Heba Elsehely

 Chapter 3 3.2: , The Structure of the Atom
Chemistry: Chapter

The Radii of atoms are expressed in picometers.

• The Radii of atoms are expressed using a unit that is more

convenient for the sizes of atoms. This unit is the picometer. The
abbreviation for the picometer is pm (1 pm = 10-12 m = 10-10 cm).

• To get an idea of how small a picometer is, consider that 1 cm is the

same fractional part of 103 km (about 600 mi) as 100 pm is of 1 cm.
Atomic radii range from about 40 to 270 pm.

• By contrast, the nuclei of atoms have much smaller radii, about

0.001 pm. Nuclei also have incredibly high densities, about 2 × 108
metric tons/cm3

Dr. Heba Elsehely