Atoms – a closer look at elements

As mentioned before, atoms are

composed of protons, neutrons, and
electrons
Review from the earlier notes
 Protons are positive, have a mass
roughly the same as a neutron,
found in the nucleus, define an
element
 Neutrons have no charge, have a
mass roughly the same as a proton,
found in the nucleus, are responsible
for isotopes
 Electrons are negative, very small
mass, smallest subatomic particle,
found outside of the nucleus, are
responsible for ions (atoms with a
charge, add number to electron total
if negative, subtract if positive).
So, what does it mean to define an
element?

 An element is defined as the

number of protons that it has in its
nucleus.
 Therefore, the number of protons
equals the element’s Atomic
Number.
 The atomic number is the same for
all atoms of the same element.
 More about the Atomic number
 Equals the number of
electrons for NEUTRAL
atom
 Determines an
elements placement
on the periodic table
 Represented by letter
Z
 So Z = protons =
electrons (if neutral, if
not see above note)
Let’s look at a Periodic Table

 How many protons does titanium

(Ti) have?
 Antimony has 51 protons, what is
its atomic number? What
abbreviation is given to Antimony?
 Magnesium (Mg) is a neutral atom,
how many electrons does it have?
 Mass number (A)

 Sum of the protons and neutrons of an

atom
 So, Mass number = protons + neutrons
 To find neutrons given protons and
mass number:
 Neutrons = mass number - protons
108
47Ag This is called a
Top is mass number nuclear symbol
Bottom atomic number
Note: Both numbers on left
Practice Problem

 What is the mass number of an

element with 10 protons and 10
neutrons? What element are we
dealing with? How would you
represent this symbolically?
 20 amu
 Ne
 10
20
Ne
More Practice

 How many protons, neutrons and

electrons does the following neutral
atoms have?

56
26 Fe
 26 protons, 30 neutrons, 26 electrons

 131
54
Xe
 54 protons, 77 neutrons, 54 electrons
Two More – now with a charge

32  2 16 protons
16 neutrons
O 18 electrons
16

41  1 20 protons
21 neutrons
Ca 19 electrons
20
 Group Work – Make and complete
this chart on the white boards
Element/ Atomic Mass Protons Neutrons Electrons
Ion Number Number
12
C
6
7 
Li
3
35 
Cl
17
39
K
19
24 2
Mg
12
Look at the masses on the Periodic
Table

 So, if the atomic mass is equal to

the sum of protons and neutrons,
why isn’t the mass a whole number
on all Periodic Tables of the
Elements?
Even though an atom has to have a certain
number of protons, the number of
neutrons can vary slightly. These different
versions of the same atom are called…
Isotopes
Isotopes

 Same number of protons but

different number of neutrons
 Examples are Carbon -13 verse
Carbon -12
Average Atomic Masses

Relative atomic mass: average

masses of isotopes
average atomic mass is also known as
Atomic weight (AW).
Atomic weights are listed on the
periodic table.
*Don’t confuse these with mass
numbers*
Naturally occurring Carbon is
98.892 % 12C + 1.108 % 13C.
Find the average atomic mass
 Step 1: Multiply the mass number
of each isotope by its percentage
 Step 2: Add the numbers together
 Step 3: Divide by 100
 Step 4: Check your answer. Mass
should be between highest and
lowest mass
An Isotope Example - Chlorine

Let’s look at Chlorine, which has an atomic mass of 35.5

Atomic # = ___,
17 which means that there are ___
17 protons.

There are two naturally occurring isotopes, Cl-35 and Cl-37

This means that Cl-35 has ___
18 neutrons while Cl-37
has ___
20 neutrons.
Cl-35 occurs naturally 75.8% of the time
Cl-37 occurs naturally 24.2% of the time
(35 x 75.8 + 37 x 24.2)/100 = 35.5
Try this one

 Calculate the average mass of

the isotopes of Uranium with:
 50.0% at 239 amu
 29.4% at 235 amu
 20.6% at 238 amu

 237.62 amu
Homework

 Page 108: 30-37

 Page 253: 43 and 44