Chapter 2.

Chemical Foundations:
Atoms, Ions, Compounds and Molecules

Outline
1. Atoms
2. Ions, Molecules and Compounds

Reference and suggested reading:

“Chemistry: An Atoms First Approach”, S. S. Zumdahl, S. A.
Zumdahl, International Ed. 2016, Chapter 1.
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 1. Atoms
• Chemistry is a science that studies matter and its changes.
• The basic building blocks of matter are atoms. Atoms are the
smallest particle with characteristic of a given element.
• Chemistry studies the behavior of atoms.

How was the concept of atoms developed?

What are the structures of atoms?
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 Ancient Greeks and Atom

Democritus (ca. 460-370 B.C)

• All matter is composed of
indivisible particles called atoms
(Greek for un-cuttable).
Philosophical

• Substances are a mixture of atoms

with distinct shapes and sizes. Atom of water: smooth, round ball
Atoms of fire: have sharp edge

Aristotle (~384 B.C)

• All matter is continuous, not atomistic.
• Atoms do not exist.
• All matter is composed of the 4 elements:
earth, air, fire, and water.

However, ancient Greeks could not test either models.

Aristotle’s view prevailed for >2000 years.
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 Early Observations Leading to the Formulation of
Atomic Theory
1) Robert Boyle (1661) redefined the concept
of element.
• Element cannot be broken down into simpler
substances.

The Greek idea of four elements were

abandoned , as many substances could be split
to simpler ones.

Robert Boyle
2) In the 18th century, the following laws (1627-1691)
were formulated.
• The Law of Conservation of Mass
• The Law of Definite Proportions
• The Law of Multiple Proportions

To explain these laws, the concept of atoms was proposed by

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Dalton in 1808.
 The Fundamental Chemistry Laws
Name the law for each of the following statements:

A given compound always

contains exactly the same
proportion of elements by
mass.

The total mass of products

is always equal to that of
starting materials
(reactants).

Elements might combine in

more than one sets of
proportions. e.g. CO, CO2 5
 John Dalton’s Atomic Model
John Dalton (1808) viewed the atom as a small solid
sphere (Billiard Ball Model).
• All matter is made of atoms; atoms are indivisible
and indestructible.

• Each element is composed of the same kind of John Dalton

atoms. All atoms of a given element are identical in (1766-1844)

mass and properties.

• Different element is composed of different kinds of

atoms.
• Compounds are composed of atoms in specific
ratios.

• Chemical reactions are rearrangements of atoms

(mass is conserved). 6
 Modern Evidence for Atoms
• Images of atoms have been observed through Scanning
Tunneling Microscopy (STM).
– evidence that atoms exist !!!
Atoms are really small.

If an atom were the size of

this period “.”, a person
would have to be over
1000 miles tall.

Useful units:
• 1 pm (picometer) = 1 x 10-12 m
• 1 Å (Angstrom) = 1 x 10-10 m
Surface of a single grain table salt = 100 pm = 1 x 10-8 cm
1 nm = 1.0 x 10-9 m

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 Development of modern atomic models
The previous experiments/observations suggest the existence of
atoms.

What is an atom made of?

How do the atoms of various elements differ?

Development of atomic models:

• Plumb Pudding Model
Prosed by J.J. Thomson (1904)

• Nuclear model

Proposed by Rutherford (1911)

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 Plumb Pudding Model of atom
(Thomson's Model of the Atom, 1904)
In 1887, J. J. Thomson postulated the existence
of electrons to interpret the observations with
cathode-ray tubes.

cathode ray = beam of electrons.

Atoms contain electrons

Plumb Pudding Model (proposed after discovering of electrons)

z
• The atom is a sphere of positive electricity (which was diffuse) with
negative particles imbedded throughout.

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 Rutherford’s Experiment: Discovery of Nucleus

Rutherford designed a gold-foil experiment to test the plum pudding model

(in 1909)

When a-particles (Helium nuclei He2+) were fired at a piece of gold foil,
most of the helium nuclei passed through the foil, a small number of them
were deflected and, some helium nuclei bounced straight back.
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 Implication of Rutherford’s Experiment
• According to the Plum Pudding 1

model, all particles in an atom were

evenly spread out.

If this is the case, all particles

should pass.

• Experimentally, some particles were

deflected and, some bounced
straight back.

• The Plum Pudding model cannot

explain the results of his
experiment.

• Needed new model!!! 11

 Rutherford Model of Atoms

1. An atom is made of nucleus and

electrons.

2. The nucleus is made of protons and

neutrons.

3. The nucleus has essentially the entire

mass of the atom.
– The electrons weigh so little they contribute
practically no mass to the atom.

4. The nucleus is positively charged.

– The amount of positive charge balances the
negative charge of the electrons.

5. The electrons are dispersed in the empty

space of the atom surrounding the
nucleus.

Proposed in 1911, the model is also called nuclear model of the atom 12
 Interpretation of the Results
Why do most particles pass straight through?

Why are some particles deflected and

bounced back?

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 Modern View of Atomic Structures
Nucleus is positively Protons:
charged - found in nucleus
- relative charge of +1
- relative mass of 1.0073 u

Neutrons:
- found in nucleus
- neutral charge
- relative mass of 1.0087 u

Electrons:
Atom - found in electron cloud
= nucleus (protons + neutrons) + electrons - relative charge of ‒1
- relative mass of 0.00055 u

 Number of protons in element = Number of electrons = Atomic Number

 For a given element: all atoms have the same atomic number 14
 Describing Atoms

A
Nuclear Notation E Z is normally omitted
Z for brevity!
e.g. 1H, 2D,15N, 13C, 31P, 57Fe
• Atomic Symbol, E
• Atomic number, Z
 the number of protons in the nucleus
 the number of electrons in a neutral atom
 the integer on the periodic table for each element
• Mass Number, A
 integer representing the approximate mass of an atom
 equal to the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the
nucleus
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 Isotopes
Atoms of the same element (same Z) but different mass number
(A).
They have same number of protons and electrons, but different
number of neutrons.
For example,
Boron-10 (10B) has 5 p and 5 n
Boron-11 (11B) has 5 p and 6 n
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B

10
B
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 Exercises

1. Democritus proposed the "first" atomic view of

matter. They arrived at this view based on
A) many experiments.
B) careful measurements.
C) philosophical and intuitive speculation.
D) All of the above contributed to their atomic
view.
2. Which of the following pairs can be used to
illustrate the law of multiple proportions?
A) SO and SO2
B) CO and CaCO3
C) H2O and C12H22O11
D) H2SO4 and H2S
E) KCl and KClO2
F) All of them
3.Which one of the following is NOT part of
Dalton's atomic theory?
A) Matter is composed of atoms.
B) Atoms of the same element have the same
properties.
C) Atoms of different elements have different
properties.
D) Atoms change into other atoms in chemical
reactions.
4. The proton has
A) the same mass and charge as the electron.
B) a smaller mass and same charge as the electron.
C) a smaller mass and opposite charge as the electron.
D) a larger mass and opposite charge as the electron

5. A neutral atom has the same number of

A) electrons and neutrons.
B) electrons and nucleons.
C) electrons and protons.
D) neutrons and protons.

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6. The atomic number of sodium is 11 and the mass number of
sodium is 23. The charge on the nucleus of a sodium atom is
A) 0
B) 1+
C) 11+
D) 23+

7. The atomic number of tin is 50. The element tin (Sn) occurs
naturally as ten isotopes. Each of these isotopes has
A) 50 protons.
B) 50 electrons.
C) a different number of neutrons.
D) all of the above

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 2. Ions, Molecules and Compounds

• IONS are atoms or groups of atoms with a positive or

negative charge.
e.g. Na+, NH4+, F-, NO3-

– Cation: positive charge species formed by taking away

electron(s) from an atom. e.g. Na ‒ e‒  Na+

– Anion: negative charge species formed by adding electron(s)

to an atom.
e.g. F + e‒  F‒
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 Molecules
• A molecule:

• It is the smallest unit of a compound that retains the

chemical characteristics of the compound.

Examples:

glucose aspirin
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 Compounds and classification
Compounds: substances made of two or more elements
chemically combined. e.g. NaCl, H2O.

Classification of compounds:

• Ionic compounds (or salts):

 Made of ions NaCl, salt
 e.g. Table salt, made of Na+ and Cl-
 an ionic compound can be represented
by an empirical formula (simplest
whole-number atomic ratio). E.g. NaCl

• Molecular compounds
 Made of molecules
 e.g. water, H2O
water, H2O
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 Representing compounds by formulae
A molecular compound (e.g. methanol) can be represented by
its chemical formula.

CH3OH
CH4O

(a) The molecular formula gives only the number of each kind of atom
present. (b) The structural formula shows which atoms are connected.
(c) In the condensed structural formula, the bonds are omitted. (d) A
perspective drawing (also called a wedge-and-dash representation)
attempts to show the three-dimensional structure of the molecule. 25
 Representing compounds by model
A molecular compound can also be represented by models (a
more accurate way to specify a compound).

• Ball-and-stick model: represents

atoms as balls and chemical bonds as
sticks; how the two connect reflects a
molecule’s shape. E.g. CH4

• Space-filling model, atoms fill the space

between each other to more closely
represent our best estimates for how a
molecule might appear if scaled to visible
size. E.g. CH4.

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 Representing compounds: Examples
A molecular model: a more accurate way to specify a
compound.

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