Atoms

▪ Describe and draw atomic structure of an atom (Bohr model)

▪ Name and discuss forces holding an atom together
▪ Compare and contrast the three fundamental particles in an atom according to
mass and charge
▪ Determine the numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons when given the mass
number and atomic number
▪ An atom smallest unit of an element that maintains identify of that
element
▪ It has three fundamental (sub-atomic) particles:
▪ Electrons Moving around the nucleus
▪ Negatively charged
▪ Protons
▪ Positively charged Found in the nucleus
▪ Neutrons (collective name: nucleons)
▪ Neutral

▪ Most of the mass of an atom is in the nucleus, while the orbiting

electrons account for an atom’s size.
▪ The protons and neutrons of an atom are found clustered at the
centre of the atom in a structure called the nucleus.
▪ Most of the area of an atom is taken up by the empty space of the
electron cloud.
.
▪ It is the central part of an atom
▪ Composed of protons and neutrons
▪ Contains most of an atom’s mass
▪ Overall charge is positive
▪ Most nuclei are spherical (round) or ellipsoidal (slightly squashed like
a rugby ball); some exotic shapes exist.

Spherical Ellipsoidal Pear

▪ Nuclei can vibrate and rotate when struck by other particles.
▪ Some nuclei are unstable and will break apart or change their relative
number of protons and neutrons.
▪ There are two forces that hold an atom together.

▪ The first of these has to do with electric charge.

▪ Electric charge comes in two varieties: positive and negative.

▪ The main carriers of positive charge are protons, while the main carriers of negative charge are

electrons.

▪ Every proton carries exactly the same amount of positive charge, and every electron carries a negative

charge exactly opposite that of a proton.

▪ Any particle with electric charge will exert a force on any other particle with charge.

▪ Opposite charges attract; like charges repel, thus, a proton and an electron will attract each other.

▪ Thus, electrical forces between protons and electrons is one of the forces holding an atom together

▪ The other force, the strong force, will be discussed in the next slide
▪ Let us now look at what holds the nucleus together.
▪ The electric force can't account for holding the nucleus together, and in
fact, the electric force works against holding the nucleus together.
▪ The neutrons are electrically neutral, and so the electric force won't hold them in.
▪ Furthermore, the protons are all positively charged, and so they all repel each
other.
▪ If the electric force was the only force involved, you couldn't create a nucleus.
▪ You could try to push all those protons and neutrons together, but as soon as you
let go, the protons would all shoot away from each other, and the neutrons would
drift apart as well.
▪ There has to be some other force that holds protons and neutrons together.
▪ The force that holds the nucleus together must be stronger than the electric
force
▪ The strong force is a force which attracts protons to protons, neutrons to
neutrons, and protons and neutrons to each other.
▪ The force has a very short range, and this is the reason the nucleus of an atom turns out
to be so small.

▪ The nucleus of an atom is held together by the strong force, while the
electrons are held in the atom by the electric force.
▪ An atom of the same element has the same combination of protons and electrons
▪ Each element has a unique combination of protons and electrons in its atoms

▪ The chemical properties of a substance are determined by the electrons

▪ An atom of a particular element contains a certain number of protons
▪ If the number of protons changes, we get a new element, however, there can be different
numbers of neutrons in the nucleus
▪ Isotopes are atoms of the same element with the same number of protons but different number
of neutrons
▪ Since each element has a unique number of protons and electrons in its atoms, would it be
possible to identify an element if you know the number of protons and electrons in its
atoms? Explain.
▪ Answer: Yes, if you could compare the number of electrons and protons in the unknown atom with a
list of the electrons and protons in atoms of each known element.
▪ Explain why atoms are neutral.
▪ Atoms are neutral because positive and negative charges are equal.
▪ In neutral atoms, the number of electrons is always equal to the number of protons
▪ An atom with seven electrons, will contain seven protons
▪ Nuclide notation is a shorthand method of showing information about atoms.
▪ Numbers are arranged around the outside of the atom’s symbol.
▪ Nuclide notation allows us to display all of the information about an atom and its sub-atomic
particles in one symbol.
▪ The general notation for specifying a particular atom is: A
ZX
▪ Where X represents the chemical symbol for the element
▪ A is the atomic mass number (the number of protons + neutrons)
▪ Z is the atomic number (the number of protons)

▪ The diagrams show the nuclide notation for a sodium atom (right) and ion (left)
▪ Your friend says that two isotopes of carbon are specified by 12
6C and 148C . Do you
agree with your friend? Explain why or why not.
The atomic number (Z) of an element is the number
of protons contained in the nucleus of the atom.

Atomic Number of Number of

= =
number protons electrons

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

number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
Mass Number of Number of
= +
number protons neutrons
 Atom No. of No. of No. of Atomic Mass
protons electrons neutrons number number
Hydrogen 1 1 0 1 (1 + 0)
=1

Oxygen 8 8 8 8 (8 + 8)
= 16

Argon 18 18 22 18 (18+22)
= 40
 Sub-atomic Proton Neutron Electron
particle
Symbol p or n or e- or

Location in Nucleus Nucleus Surrounding the

atom nucleus
Actual charge 1.6  10-9 0 1.6 x 10-9
(C)
Relative charge +1 0 -1

Actual mass (g) 1.7  10-24 1.7  10-24 9.1  10-28

Approximate 1 1 1
relative mass 1840
(a.m.u.)
▪ Bohr model describes the visual representation of orbiting electrons around the small
nucleus.
▪ How do we draw the Bohr atomic structure of atoms, e.g., sodium?
▪ Step 1: Find the number of protons, electrons, and neutrons in the sodium atom
▪ To find the number of protons an atom contains, just look at its atomic number.
▪ The atomic number for sodium is 11, hence, the number of protons in the sodium atom is also 11.
▪ To determine the number of neutrons in an atom, use this formula.
▪ Number of neutrons in atom = Atomic mass of the atom(rounded to the nearest whole
number) – number of protons in an atom
▪ To get the number of neutrons in a sodium atom, look at its atomic mass which is 22.990 rounded to
23, and the number of protons in sodium is 11.
▪ Hence, the number of neutrons in sodium atom = (23 – 11) = 12

▪ It should be noted that “the number of electrons in a neutral atom is equal to the number of
protons”.
▪ The sodium atom is neutral; hence, its number of electrons will be equal to the number of
protons which is 11 as we already discussed.
▪ The number of electrons in sodium atom = 11
▪ The number of protons in sodium atom = 11
▪ The number of neutrons in sodium atom = 12

▪ Step 2: Draw the nucleus of an atom

▪ A nucleus is a dense and small region that contains the number of protons and neutrons of an atom.
▪ In this step, we have to draw a small circle that consists of a number of protons and the number of
neutrons of a sodium atom.
▪ Step 3: Draw the first shell
▪ The first electron shell is also called the K-shell, this is the closest shell to the nucleus of an
atom and can hold a maximum of two electrons.

▪ As sodium atoms have a total of 11 electrons, and from 11 electrons we have used two
electrons in the first shell.
▪ (11 – 2) = 9 electrons
▪ Therefore, we are left with 9 electrons, let’s put them in the next shells of the sodium atom.
▪ Step 4: Draw the second shell
▪ The second shell also called the L-shell that can hold a maximum of 8 electrons. This shell is
drawn after the first electron shell.
▪ In second shell, electrons are added one at a time in clockwise direction as a clock position –
12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 9 o’clock positions.

▪ Once you place the electrons one at a time to each of the four sides(Top – Right – Bottom –
Left], start pairing or doubling them.
▪ We have 9 remaining electrons of a sodium atom, and the 2nd shell can only hold a maximum
of 8 electrons.
▪ Therefore, put the 8 electrons of the sodium atom in the 2nd electron shell, start from the top
position, put electrons one at a time, and go in a clockwise direction(Top – Right – Bottom –
Left). And, finally, pair them up.

▪ As we have a total of 11 electrons for the sodium atom and we placed 2 electrons in the first
shell and 8 electrons in the second shell, hence, we are left with only 1 electron more.
▪ Let’s place it in the next shell.
▪ Step 5: Draw the Third electron shell
▪ The third shell is also called the M-shell and it has the capacity to hold up to 18 electrons but, for the
elements in the first few periods, the third shell only holds up to 8 electrons.
▪ For the first few elements, say, until atomic number 20 on the periodic table, the third shell holds up to 8
electrons.
▪ For the atomic number more than 20, say, atomic numbers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,…….etc., the third shell is
filled with more than 8 electrons and up to maximum of 18 electrons.
▪ We have left with only 1 electron of a sodium atom, just place it at the top position of the third shell.

This is our Bohr model of the sodium atom that contains 11 protons and 12 neutrons in the nucleus
region, and 11 electrons are orbited around the nucleus, two electrons in the first shell, eight electrons
in the second shell, and one electron in the third shell.
▪ Find the Valence electron of sodium through its Bohr diagram
▪ From the Bohr diagram of an atom, we can easily find the number of valence electrons in an atom by
looking at its outermost shell.
▪ The M-shell or outer shell of the sodium Bohr model contains only 1 electron, therefore, the number of the
valence electrons in the sodium atom is also 1.

Valence electrons are found in the outermost shell of an atom and they can participate in the formation of
a chemical bond. These electrons have more energy compared to the inner shell electrons.