Atoms, subatomic particles, symbols Ions E-learning Molecules Simple chemical formulae Balancing Equations

An element is a pure substance that cannot be broken down into two or more simpler substances by chemical means. Matter is made up of tiny particles. There are 3 kinds of particles. Atoms Ions Molecules

 Matter is made up of tiny particles. There are 3 kinds of particles. Atoms

Molecules

Ions

+ +

+ +

Gold Element

Cut a gold foil into half, and half, and half In the end what would you be left with ?

An Atom

Atoms: What is an atom?

An atom is the smallest particle of an element that can take part in a chemical reaction. An element contains identical atoms that are of the same type and size

Atoms: Examples
A piece of aluminium foil consists of only aluminium atoms all of which have the same size A piece of copper contains atoms that are of a different size from those in aluminium

Atoms: How small is it?

Diameter of about 0.1 nanometre How small? ( 1 x 1010 metre ) It takes 1 000 000 000 000 000 or 1015 atoms to completely cover the head of a pin

The cross-section of hair can fit 1 000 000 or 106 atoms

Atoms: Subatomic Particles

Atoms are further made up of three types of particles. They are called:
Proton Neutron Nucleus

Electrons

Electrons orbit around the nucleus in a path known as electron shell.

Atoms: Charges of Subatomic Particles

Proton = positively charged Neutron = neutral Electrons = negatively charged

Nucleus

Electrons orbit around the nucleus in a path known as electron shell.

Atoms: Subatomic Particles

Particle
Proton

Actual mass (kg)

1.67 x 10-27 1.67 x 10-27 9.11 x 10-31

Relative mass
1

Relative charge
1+

Found in
Nucleus

Neutron Electron

1 0.0005

0 1-

Nucleus Shells (orbitals)

Some Exercises
Particle Relative Relative charge mass Proton 1 1+

Neutron

0 1-

Electron 0.0005

Structure of an Atom
The nucleus consists of protons and neutrons. The nucleus has a positive charge, due to the positively charged protons. The electrons have negative charges and they orbit around the nucleus. Neutrons as the name suggests, is neutral

Brilliance of the Periodic Table

Brilliance of the Periodic Table

Mass No. or Nucleon No.

23 11

Atomic No. or Proton Number

Na

Atomic Symbol of Element

Brilliance of the Periodic Table

Atomic (proton) number: is the number of protons in an atom
Every element has a unique proton number. It does not change.

Mass (nucleon) number: is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
Hence from the periodic table, you can determine the number of protons and neutron. How about the number of electrons? In an atom, the no. of electrons = no. of protons

Some Exercises
Element
16 8
12 6
9 4

No. of protons
8

No. of neutrons
8

No. of electrons
8

137 56
40 18

C Be Ba Ar

6
4 56 18

6
5 81 22

6
4 56 18

More Exercises: Dont Complain

Electron Nucleus

Base on the above diagram, state the number of protons present in the nucleus?

Summary
Definition of an atom
Size of an atom

Sub-atomic particles and their properties

Symbol for the atom

Atomic number and mass number

 What is an atom? An atom is the smallest particle of an element that can take part in a chemical reaction. What are the three subatomic particles that make up an atom? Protons, Neutrons and electrons What particles are found in the nucleus of an atom? What electrical charge do they have? Proton (positively charge) Neutron (no charge)

 What particles move around the nucleus? What electrical charge do they have? Electrons. Negatively charged. There is one kind of atom with no neutron. Which atom is it? The hydrogen atom

What makes one kind of atom different from other kinds of atoms? Each atom has a unique number of protons What are the elements in the Periodic Table arranged in order of? They are arranged in order of proton number.

Electron Arrangement of Atoms

Proton Nucleus Neutron

Electrons

Electronic configuration and electronic structure refers to the way the electrons are arranged in an atom.

Electron Arrangement of Atoms

Electrons are arranged in shells around the nucleus
Electrons

Shell
Nucleus

Electrons can be filled in the shell and there is a fixed number of electrons that can go into each shell. First shell: maximum of 2 electrons. Second shell: maximum of 8 electrons. Note: The order at which we draw in the electrons is important, North, South, East, West Third shell: maximum of 8 electrons. Note: The inner shell must be filled in FULLY before moving on to the outer shell

Electron Arrangement of Atoms

Lets take a look at an example of drawing an atom, Sodium From the periodic table, Sodium, Na looks like this
Therefore Sodium, Na has 11 electrons
(1) We start by first drawing the Symbol of Sodium. (2) Draw the 1st shell (3) The 1st shell can fill two electrons. Note the order in which it is drawn. NSEW (4) Draw and fill on the 2nd shell with 8 electrons. (5) Since Na has 11 electrons, we need to draw a 3rd shell

Na

Key: represents electrons of Na

Electron Arrangement of Atoms

Lets do that again with Sulfur, S atom. From the periodic table, Sulfur, S looks like this
Therefore Sulfur, S has 16 electrons
(1) We start by first drawing the Symbol of Sulfur. (2) Draw the 1st shell (5) Since S has 16 electrons, we need to draw a 3rd shell

(3) The 1st shell can fill two electrons. Note the order in which it is drawn. NSEW (4) Draw and fill on the 2nd shell with 8 electrons.

Key: represents electrons of S

 Beautiful, NEAT drawings When drawing an atom, using the CIRCLE stencil (buy from book shop) will really help achieve the above. Key! All atomic drawing MUST come with a Key! Else we wont know what your means Electron representation. We can use a few shapes to represent electrons. (a) (b) (c)

Electron Configuration of Atoms

Electron configuration of atoms is the numerical representation of electrons found in the electron shell .
From the periodic table, fluorine has 9 electrons
Electronic configuration of Fluorine

2.7
F
This number represents the number of electrons in the first shell This number represents the number of electrons in the second shell

Key:
represents electrons of F

The addition of these two numbers should give the total number of electrons of fluorine

Some Exercises

(my favorite part cos its not yours.. WAHAHAHA)

Draw the electronic structure and state the electronic configuration of the first 20 elements.
(Yes I say 20 and its not a typo)

Valence electron of Atoms

The electrons in the outermost shell is known as the valence electron.
From the periodic table, Oxygen has 8 electrons

Key: represents electrons of O

Electronic configuration of Oxygen: 2.6

Number of Valence electron in Oxygen: 6

The true brilliance of the Periodic Table

Exercise: Your task is to find a pattern between what you have learnt thus far and the periodic table. As a cool teacher, Ill give you a clue. Use the electronic configurations of the first 20 element to find a pattern between it and the periodic table

When you figure it out, youll truly feel brilliant

Recall: Charges of Subatomic Particles

Proton = positively charged Neutron = neutral Electrons = negatively charged

Nucleus

The negatively charged electrons are attracted to the positively charged nucleus by electrostatic force.

Charge of an atom
Base on the charges of the sub-atomic particles, what do you think is the charge on an atom? An atom has no charge (i.e. electrically neutral) This is because..

In an atom,

the no. of electrons = no. of protons

The charges on the protons and the
electrons balance each other.

Isotopes
Isotopes are atoms of the same element having the same number of protons but different number of neutrons.
Example 1: Hydrogen has 3 isotopes
1 1

H
1 1

2 1

H
2 1

3 1

H
3 1

Hydrogen

Deuterium

Tritium

Protons Neutrons Electrons

1 0 1

1 1 1

1 2 1

Isotopes
Example 2: Carbon has 2 isotopes
12 6

C
12 6

14 6

C
C
6
8 6

Carbon 12

Carbon 14

C
6
6 6

14 6

Protons
Neutrons Electrons