ATOMIC STRUCTURE

(LESSON 2)
ISOTOPES
• The chemical properties of an element depend on the number of
protons and electrons inside the atom.
• So if a neutron or two is added or removed from the nucleus, then
the chemical properties will not change as chemical properties of an
element is affected by only the number of protons and electrons,
and not the number of neutrons.
• This means that such an atom would remain in the same place in the
periodic table.
• For example, no matter how many neutrons we add or subtract from
a nucleus with 6 protons, that element will always be called carbon
and have the element symbol C (see the periodic table).
 Atoms which have the same number of protons (i.e. same atomic
number Z), but a different number of neutrons (i.e. different N and
therefore different mass number A), are called isotopes.
• The chemical properties of the different isotopes of an
element are the same, but they might vary in how stable their
nucleus is.
• We can also write elements as E - A where the E is the
element symbol and the A is the atomic mass of that element.
• For example Cl-35 has an atomic mass of 35 u (17 protons
and 18 neutrons), while Cl-37 has an atomic mass of 37 u
(17 protons and 20 neutrons).
• In nature the different isotopes occur in different
percentages. For example Cl-35 might make up 75% of all
chlorine atoms on Earth, and Cl-37 makes up the remaining
25%.
QUESTION
 The element chlorine has two isotopes,

chlorine-35 and chlorine-37. The

abundance of these isotopes when they
occur naturally is 75% chlorine-35and25%
chlorine-37. Calculate the average relative
atomic mass for chlorine.
CLASSWORK