Chemistry 31A Autumn 2011

Professors Dai & Schwartz

Practice Questions for Exam 1
1.

For each part (a-d), insert a number (i-v) into the box provided. An answer may be used more than once.
(i) 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p3
(ii) 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6
(iii) 1s2 2s2 2p6 2d10 3s2 3p6
(iv) 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d5
(v) 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d34s2
(a) An impossible electron configuration
(b) The ground state configuration for the electrons of a transition element
(c) The configuration of a -1 ion of a halogen
(d) The configuration of a common ion of an alkaline earth element

2.

Rank the following atoms and ions in order of increasing atomic size:

F, Na+, Ar, Cl

Smallest ________<__________<_________<_________ Largest

3. Consider N, Mg, O, F, Al.
a. Write an electron configuration for each element.

b. Arrange the element in order of decreasing atomic radius.

c. Arrange the elements in order of increasing first ionization energy.

d. Use the electronic configurations to explain the differences between your answers to part b
and c in 1-2 sentences.

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4. In the lab, you decide to investigate the photoelectric effect using an unknown piece of metal. You shine
three different wavelengths of light on the sample, (A, B, and C) and make the following observations:
A. No photoelectric effect was observed.
B. You detect photoelectrons with a kinetic energy of 155kJ/mol.
C. You detect photoelectrons with a kinetic energy of 51kJ/mol.
a) If you used the following wavelengths during the experiment: 325nm, 455nm, and 632nm; which
wavelength must correspond with which observation?
A ______

B_________

C________

b) Consider the experiment with wavelength B. During this experiment, you also observed that
photoelectrons of lower kinetic energy were also detected. If the photoelectrons of KE 155kJ/mol were
the highest energy photoelectrons observed, from what orbital (1s, 2s, etc.) must they have been ejected if
the metal you used was Calcium?
5. Lewis Dot Structures: For parts (a) and (d), draw the best Lewis dot structure, or set of resonance
structures, for each molecule. Include all lone pairs, non-zero formal charges and all net ionic charges.
Box your final answers.
(a) N2H4 (Note connectivity is with two hydrogens attached to each nitrogen: H2NNH2)

(b) Which of these compounds, H2NNH2 or HNNH, has the stronger nitrogen-nitrogen bond? Which has
the shorter nitrogen-nitrogen bond? Explain in 1-2 sentences.

(c) In N2O, nitrogen is the central atom. Draw the three resonance structures for this molecule, making
sure to label all formal charges. Circle the structure(s) that would be the major contributor(s) to the
actual structure.

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(d) SO3 (See instructions at the beginning of the problem.) Note that the experimentally measured bond
length for SO3 is shorter than that of SO2.

6. Consider ionization of the He atom.

(a) Calculate the second ionization energy of the He atom.

(b) Is the first ionization energy of He larger, equal to or smaller than the second ionization energy?
Explain in <30 words.

7. The photoelectron spectrum of an element X is shown below (the peak height ratio follows 1: 1: 3: 1:
1.5 from left to right). Put all answers in the boxes provided.

(a) Identify X. Show your work.

(a)

(b) What is the energy needed (in unit of J) to ionize the entire outmost subshell of 1 million atoms of X
in a photoelectron spectroscopy experiment?

(b)
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(c) (12 pts) An X-ray with wavelength of 5.50 nm is used to ionize the 2s subshell. Calculate the kinetic
energy (in unit of MJ/mol) of the removed photoelectrons.

(c)

(d) (9 pts) What is the ionization energy of the 1s electron? What is the effective nuclear charge number
experienced by the 1s electrons in X?

(d)

(e) (13 pts) What is the radius (in pm) of a 1s electron in this atom?

(e)

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Useful information:
Avogadro's Number = 1mol 1g/amu = 6.022x1023

1 = 6.022x1023/mol NA

1amu = 1u = 1g/mol
1J = 1kgm2/s2
IE = 1.3MJ/mol*[(Z-s )/n]2 where s is the shielding electron number and n is the shell number.
Electrostatic potential energy between two particles, PEelec(r), is proportional to the product of their charges, q1
and q2, and inversely proportional to their separation, r:
where k = 9.0x109Jm/C2
e = -1.6x10-19C
PEelec(r) = kq1q2/r
Photon energy = hhc/
where h = 6.6x10-34Js is Plancks constant, is the frequency of the light, c =
8
3.0x10 m/s is the speed of light, and is the wavelength of the light.

1A

8A

H
1.008

2A

3A

4A

5A

6A

7A

He
4.003

10

Li

Be

Ne

6.941

9.012

10.81

12.01

14.01

16.00

19.00

20.18

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Na

Mg

23.00

24.31

3B

4B

5B

6B

7B

8B

8B

8B

1B

2B

Al

Si

Cl

Ar

26.98

28.09

30.97

32.06

35.45

39.95

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

Ca

Sc

Ti

Cr

Mn

Fe

Co

Ni

Cu

Zn

Ga

Ge

As

Se

Br

Kr

39.10

40.08

44.96

47.88

50.94

52.00

54.94

55.85

58.93

58.69

63.55

65.38

69.72

72.59

74.92

78.96

79.90

83.80

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

Rb

Sr

Zr

Nb

Mo

Tc

Ru

Rh

Pd

Ag

Cd

In

Sn

Sb

Te

Xe

85.47

87.62

88.91

91.22

92.91

95.94

98

101.1

102.9

106.4

107.9

112.4

114.8

118.7

121.7

127.6

126.9

131.3

55

56

57

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

Cs

Ba

La

Hf

Ta

Re

Os

Ir

Pt

Au

Hg

Tl

Pb

Bi

Po

At

Rn

132.9

137.3

138.9

178.5

180.9

183.9

186.2

190.2

192.2

195.1

197.0

200.6

204.4

207.2

209.0

209

210

222

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