KS4 Chemistry

Atomic Structure

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Contents

Atomic Structure
Introducing atoms

Atomic number and mass number Electron configuration

Isotopes

Summary activities
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Discovery of atomic structure

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Atoms the building blocks

All substances are made from very tiny particles called atoms. John Dalton had ideas about the existence of atoms about 200 years ago but only relatively recently have special microscopes (called electron microscopes) been invented that can see atoms. The yellow blobs in this image are individual gold atoms, as seen through an electron microscope.

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Elements different types of atom

Elements are the simplest substances. There are about 100 different elements. Each element is made up of just one particular type of atom, which is different to the atoms in any other element.

Copper is an element made up of copper atoms only.

Carbon is an element made up of carbon atoms only.

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How small is an atom?

Atoms are extremely small they are about 0.00000001 cm wide. To make an atom the size of a football it would have to be enlarged by about 3,000,000,000 times.

X3,000,000,000

If a football was enlarged by the same amount it would stretch from the UK to the USA.

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The Amazing Atomic Zoom

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Inside an atom
Where are the electrons and nucleus found in an atom?

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Contents

Atomic Structure
Introducing atoms

Atomic number and mass number Electron configuration

Isotopes

Summary activities
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How heavy is an atom?

A single grain of sand contains millions of atoms of silicon and oxygen. O Si

millions of these atoms join to form each tiny grain of sand

Each atom must therefore have an extremely small mass.

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Relative atomic mass

Atoms are so small that their mass is not measured in grams but in atomic mass units. The atoms of each type of element have a relative atomic mass (RAM).

The element carbon is the atom that the mass of all other atoms is compared to. Carbon has a RAM of 12.

Relative atomic mass = 12

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Relative atomic mass examples

The lightest atom is hydrogen. It has 112 the mass of carbon and so has a RAM of 1. 12 atoms x 1 = 1 atom x 12
H H H H HH H H H HH H HHH H H H H HH H H H

Magnesium is twice as heavy as carbon. It has a RAM of 24. 1 atom x 24 = 2 atoms x 12 Mg Mg

CC

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Even smaller particles

For some time people thought that atoms were the smallest particles and could not be broken into anything smaller. Scientists now know that atoms are actually made from even smaller subatomic particles. There are three types:

proton neutron electron

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Where are subatomic particles found?

Protons, neutrons and electrons are NOT evenly distributed in an atom. The protons and neutrons exist in a dense core at the centre of the atom. This is called the nucleus. The electrons are spread out around the edge of the atom. They orbit the nucleus in layers called shells.

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The atom: check it out!

Draw a labelled diagram of the atom showing the nucleus and labelling protons, neutrons and electrons.

nucleus

electron

neutron

proton

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Properties of subatomic particles

There are two properties of subatomic particles that are especially important: 1. Mass 2. Electrical charge

Particle
proton neutron

Mass
1 1

Charge
+1 0

electron

almost 0

-1

The atoms of an element contain equal numbers of protons and electrons and so have no overall charge.
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How many protons?

The atoms of any particular element always contain the same number of protons. For example: hydrogen atoms always contain 1 proton; carbon atoms always contain 6 protons; magnesium atoms always contain 12 protons, The number of protons in an atom is known as its atomic number or proton number. It is the smaller of the two numbers shown in most periodic tables.

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Whats the atomic number?

What are the atomic numbers of these elements?

sodium

iron

tin

fluorine

11

26

50

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More about atomic number

Each element has a definite and fixed number of protons. If the number of protons changes, then the atom becomes a different element. Changes in the number of particles in the nucleus (protons or neutrons) is very rare. It only takes place in nuclear processes such as: radioactive decay; nuclear bombs; nuclear reactors.

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Mass number
Electrons have a mass of almost zero, which means that the mass of each atom results almost entirely from the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.

The sum of the protons and neutrons in an atoms nucleus is the mass number. It is the larger of the two numbers shown in most periodic tables.
Atom hydrogen lithium aluminium
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Protons 1 3 13

Neutrons Mass number 0 1 4 7 14 27

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Whats the mass number?

Mass number = number of protons + number of neutrons What is the mass number of these atoms? Atom Protons Neutrons Mass number

helium
copper cobalt

2
29 27

2
35 32

4 64 59
127 73

iodine
germanium

53
32

74
41

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How many neutrons?

Number of neutrons = mass number - number of protons = mass number - atomic number How many neutrons are there in these atoms? Mass number 4 19 88 91 Atomic number 2 9 38 40 Number of neutrons 2 10 50 51 146
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Atom helium fluorine strontium zirconium

uranium
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238

92

Building a nucleus

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Contents

Atomic Structure
Introducing atoms

Atomic number and mass number Electron configuration

Isotopes

Summary activities
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How many electrons?

Atoms have no overall electrical charge and are neutral. This means atoms must have an equal number of protons and electrons. The number of electrons is therefore the same as the atomic number. Atom helium Protons Neutrons Electrons 2 2 2

copper
iodine

29
53

35
74

29
53

Atomic number is defined as the number of protons rather than the number of electrons because atoms can lose or gain electrons but do not normally lose or gain protons.
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Calculating the number of electrons

What are the missing numbers? Atom Protons Neutrons Electrons Atomic Mass number number boron 5 6 5 5 11 potassium 19 20 19 39 19 chromium 24 28 24 24 52 80 80 201 mercury 80 121 18 18 40 argon 18 22

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How are electrons arranged?

Electrons are not evenly spread but exist in layers called shells.

The arrangement of electrons in these shells is often called the electron configuration.
1st shell

2nd shell

3rd shell

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How many electrons per shell?

Each shell has a maximum number of electrons that it can hold. Electrons will fill the shells nearest the nucleus first. 1st shell holds a maximum of 2 electrons 2nd shell holds a maximum of 8 electrons 3rd shell holds a maximum of 8 electrons
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Calculating electron configurations

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Properties of the nucleus and electrons

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Summary: the atom so far

The nucleus is: Dense it contains nearly all the mass of the atom in a tiny space. Made up of protons and neutrons. Positively charged because of the protons. Electrons are: Thinly spread around the outside of the atom. Very small and light. Negatively charged. Found orbiting the nucleus in layers called shells. Able to be lost or gained in chemical reactions.

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Contents

Atomic Structure
Introducing atoms

Atomic number and mass number Electron configuration

Isotopes

Summary activities
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What is an isotope?
Elements consist of one type of atom, but sometimes these atoms can be slightly different. Although atoms of the same element always have the same number of protons, they may have different numbers of neutrons. Atoms that differ in this way are called isotopes.

mass number is different

atomic number is the same
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Properties of isotopes
The isotopes of an element are virtually identical in their chemical reactions. This is because they have the same number of protons and the same number of electrons. The uncharged neutrons make no difference to chemical properties but do affect physical properties such as melting point and density.

Natural samples of elements are often a mixture of isotopes.

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Isotopes of carbon
Most naturally-occurring carbon exists as carbon-12, about 1% is carbon-13 and a much smaller amount is carbon-14.
6 protons 6 neutrons 6 electrons

6 protons
6 neutrons 7 electrons

6 protons
6 neutrons 8 electrons

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Isotopes of hydrogen
Hydrogen-1 makes up the vast majority of the naturallyoccurring element but two other isotopes exist.

hydrogen
1 proton 0 neutrons 1 electron

deuterium
1 proton 1 neutron 1 electron

tritium
1 proton 2 neutrons 1 electron

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Isotopes of chlorine
About 75% of naturally-occurring chlorine is chlorine-35 and 25% is chlorine-37. 17 protons 18 neutrons 17 electrons 17 protons 20 neutrons 17 electrons

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Isotopes of oxygen
Almost all of naturally-occurring oxygen is oxygen-16 but about 0.2% is oxygen-18. oxygen-16 oxygen-18

What are the particle numbers in each isotope? protons

8 8 8

neutrons electrons

8 8 10

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Isotopes and RAM

Many elements are a mixture of isotopes. The RAM given in the periodic table takes account of this. To calculate the RAM of a mixture of isotopes, multiply the percentage of each isotope by its atomic mass and add them together. For example, chlorine exists as two isotopes: chlorine-35 (75%) and chlorine-37 (25%). RAM of chlorine = (75% x 35) + (25% x 37) = (0.75 x 35) + (0.25 x 37) = 26.25 + 9.25 = 35.5
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Calculating RAM
Bromine contains 50.5% bromine-79 and 49.5% bromine-81.

What is the RAM of naturally-occurring bromine?

RAM of bromine = (50.5% x 79) + (49.5% x 81) = (0.505 x 79) + (0.495 x 81) = 39.895 + 40.095 = 79.99 = 80 (the RAM is usually rounded to the nearest whole number)
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Summarizing atomic structure

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Atomic structure word check

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Contents

Atomic Structure
Introducing atoms

Atomic number and mass number Electron configuration

Isotopes

Summary activities
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Glossary (part 1)

atom The smallest particle that can exist on its own.

atomic number The number of protons in the nucleus
of an element, also known as the proton number.

electron Negative particle that orbits the nucleus of an

atom.

element Substance made up of only one type of atom. isotopes Different atoms of the same element. They have
the same number of protons and electrons, but a different number of neutrons.

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Glossary (part 2)

nucleus The dense positive centre of an atom, made up

of protons and neutrons.

neutron A neutral particle, with a mass of 1. It is found in

the nucleus of an atom.

mass number The number of protons and neutrons in

an atom.

proton A positive particle, with a mass of 1. It is found in

the nucleus of an atom.

relative atomic mass (RAM) The mass of an

element compared to the mass of 112 of the mass of carbon-12.
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Anagrams

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Atomic structure word search

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Properties of subatomic particles

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Multiple-choice quiz

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