7.

1 Atoms

What are atoms?

Over 2000 years ago a Greek philosopher called Democritus
suggested that everything was made up of tiny pieces.
Democritus suggested that, if you could keep on cutting
up a substance into smaller and smaller pieces, you would
eventually end up with a very small piece that could not be
cut up any more.
Democritus called his tiny pieces of matter atoms. ‘Atom’
means ‘cannot be divided’.
Carbon atoms seen with a scanning
We now know that atoms really do exist. Today, we can even tunnelling microscope. Each little
see some of the larger kinds of atoms, using very special round bump is a single carbon
microscopes called scanning tunnelling microscopes. The atom. The photograph is magnified
photograph shows the atoms in some carbon nanotubes. millions of times.
(‘Nano’ means very, very small.)

Different kinds of atoms

There are many different types of atoms. Scientists have discovered 94 different
kinds of atoms that occur naturally in the Universe. Another 24 kinds of atoms
have been made in laboratories.
Some substances are made up of just a single kind of atom. A substance that is
made of just one kind of atom is called an element.
For example, carbon is made only of carbon atoms. Gold is made only of gold
atoms. Silver is made only of silver atoms. Carbon, gold and silver are examples
of elements.
Each type of atom has different properties. This is why different elements have
different properties.

These Roman coins are made of pure gold. If we could see some of the atoms in a
coin, they would look something like this.
Questions
1 What are atoms?
2 If there are 94 different kinds of naturally occurring atoms, how many
different naturally occurring elements are there?

80 7 Elements and compounds

 7.1 Atoms

Atoms joining together

Some substances are made up of individual atoms. For example,
a piece of gold is made up of millions of individual gold atoms.
Atoms of neon.
Neon – which is a gas – is made of individual neon atoms.
Other substances are made up of little groups of atoms. The
atoms join together in groups of two or more.
A group of atoms joined tightly together is called a molecule.
Molecules of oxygen.
Some elements are made up of molecules. For example, in
oxygen the atoms are joined together in pairs. A molecule of
oxygen is made from two atoms of oxygen joined together.
Sulfur molecules are made up of eight sulfur atoms joined
together. They can be joined in slightly different ways.
This sulfur molecule is made
of eight sulfur atoms.

Activity 7.1
Modelling oxygen molecules

1 Imagine that you and all the other students in your class are oxygen atoms.
2 Form into an oxygen molecule by linking arms with a partner.
3 You are a gas so spread out among the other oxygen molecules and
behave as gas molecules at room temperature.
4 Imagine the temperature has dropped so low that the oxygen has become
a liquid. Change your arrangement and behaviour to model this.
5 Imagine that the temperature is even lower and that the oxygen has
solidified. Change your arrangement and behaviour to model this.
Questions
A1 Describe and explain how molecules of oxygen gas behave when
the room temperature falls.
A2 Describe and explain how molecules of oxygen behave when the
temperature is so low that the oxygen becomes a liquid.
A3 Describe and explain how molecules of oxygen behave when the
temperature is so low that the oxygen solidifies.

Summary
• All substances are made of small particles called atoms.
• Elements are made of one type of atom.
• Molecules are particles made of two or more atoms
joined together.

7 Elements and compounds 81

 7.2 Atoms and elements

Chemical symbols
We have seen that there are more than 100 different
elements (including those that have been made in
laboratories). Chemists use a shorthand way of
referring to them. They have given each element
a symbol.
• Sometimes the symbol is the first letter of the
English name of the element. For example, the
symbol for oxygen is O.
• Sometimes the symbol is the first letter of the A flask of chlorine gas, Iodine crystals,
English name of the element plus another letter symbol Cl. symbol I.
from its name. For example, the symbol for helium
is He.
• Sometimes the symbol is taken from the name of
the element in another language. For example, the
symbol for sodium is Na, from the old Latin
name ‘natrium’.
• The first letter of the symbol is always upper case. Mercury, Sodium,
The second letter, if there is one, is always symbol Hg. symbol Na.
lower case.
The four photographs show four different elements
and their symbols.
aluminium, Al
Elements on Earth iron, Fe
Some elements, such as copper and silicon, Si
gold, have been known for thousands
calcium, Ca
of years. Others, such as radium
and aluminium, have only been
discovered more recently. others
Some elements are very abundant
(common) on Earth, and some
are rare. The pie chart shows the
approximate proportions of the
various elements that are found in
the Earth’s crust.

oxygen, O

Questions
A+I 1 Which is the most common non-metal found in the Earth’s crust?
A+I 2 Which is the most common metal found in the Earth’s crust?

82 7 Elements and compounds

 7.2 Atoms and elements

Activity 7.2
Researching an element
Choose one element. Your teacher may suggest some good ones to choose.
Find out some facts about your element. For example:
• When was the element first discovered? Who discovered it, and how?
• What is the symbol for your element? Why does it have this symbol?
• Where is this element found? Is it rare or abundant on Earth?
• Do humans make use of the element?
Make a short presentation about your element, which you can give to the rest
of the class.

Is water an element?
People believed that water was an element until about 1800. It was only then that
a scientist passed electricity through water and found that it split up into two gases
– hydrogen and oxygen.

hydrogen oxygen

+ −
water battery
− +

Electricity can be used to split water into the elements hydrogen and oxygen.

Questions
A+I 3 Suggest why people used to believe that water was an element.
4 Explain why the experiment shown in the diagram proves that water is not
an element.
A+I 5 a Name two gases that are found in air.
b Is air an element? Explain your answer.

Summary
• Each element has its own chemical symbol.
• Some elements are very abundant on Earth, and other
elements are rare.

7 Elements and compounds 83

 7.3 The Periodic Table

Arranging the elements

Scientists have developed a very useful way of arranging the elements. This is
called the Periodic Table.
The full Periodic Table, containing all of the 118 known elements, is very large
and complex! (You may have one on the wall of your science laboratory.) For now,
we will look at just the first 20 elements.

metals
non-metals
H He
hydrogen helium

Li Be B C N O F Ne
lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen fluorine neon

Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar
sodium magnesium aluminium silicon phosphorus sulfur chlorine argon

K Ca
potassium calcium

Questions
1 What are the names of the elements with the symbols Mg, Be, Li and N?
2 Find the symbols for the elements aluminium, boron, fluorine
and potassium.

Groups and periods

The Periodic Table is organised in rows and columns. The rows are called
periods. The columns are called groups.
The atoms are organised so that, as you read across each row (period) from left to
right, the atoms increase in mass. Hydrogen atoms have the smallest mass, then
helium atoms, then lithium atoms.

Questions
3 Which element has atoms with the smallest mass?
4 Which of the first 20 elements in the Periodic Table has atoms with the
greatest mass?
5 Give the names (not symbols) of two elements in the same period
as magnesium.
6 Give the symbols (not names) of two elements in the same group
as helium.

84 7 Elements and compounds

 7.3 The Periodic Table

Metals and non-metals

The Periodic Table is organised so that elements with similar properties are
close together.
In the diagram of the Periodic Table on the opposite page, all the elements that
are metals are in yellow boxes. All the elements that are non-metals are in
blue boxes.
Questions
To answer these questions, you will need to think back to your earlier work on
metals and non-metals.
7 Describe two properties that the elements in the first two columns of the
Periodic Table share with one another.
8 Describe two properties that the elements in the last two columns of the
Periodic Table share with one another.
9 The photographs show six different elements. For each photograph,
decide whether the element is a metal or non-metal. Give a reason for
your choice.
A B C

D E F

Summary
• The elements are arranged in the Periodic Table.
• The elements are arranged in order of the mass of their atoms.
• Metals are towards the left hand side of the table, and non-
metals on the right hand side.

7 Elements and compounds 85

 7.4 Compounds

What is a compound?
We have seen that some substances are elements. An element is made up of only
one kind of atom.
Many substances are made up of more than one kind of atom. If the different
sorts of atoms are joined tightly together, then the substance is a compound.
The chemical term for two atoms joining tightly together is bonding. In a
compound, two or more different kinds of atoms are bonded. For example,
when sodium atoms bond with chlorine atoms, they form the compound
sodium chloride.

Properties of elements and compounds

A compound is very different from the elements
from which it is made. Once two different
elements are bonded, they completely lose
the properties of the individual elements. The
compound has totally new properties.
The first two photographs show the two elements,
sodium and chlorine. The third photograph
sodium chlorine
shows the compound that is made when sodium
atoms and chlorine atoms bond together. This
compound – sodium chloride – is not at all like
either sodium or chlorine.
You may have eaten some sodium chloride today.
Sodium chloride is common salt. You would not
want to eat any sodium or chlorine, though.

sodium chloride

Questions
1 Describe two ways in which sodium chloride is different from sodium.
2 Describe two ways in which sodium chloride is different from chlorine.

Naming compounds
Each compound has a chemical name. The chemical name usually tells us the
elements that the compound is made from.
There are some important rules to remember when naming compounds.
• If the compound contains a metal, then the name of the metal comes first in
the name of the compound.

86 7 Elements and compounds

 7.4 Compounds

• If the compound contains a non-metal, the name of the non-

metal is usually changed. For example, the compound made
from sodium and chlorine is not sodium chlorine, but sodium
chloride.
• When two elements form a compound the name often ends
in ‘ide’.

Questions
3 Which two elements are combined in sodium chloride?
4 Which two elements are combined in hydrogen sulfide?
5 Which two elements are combined in magnesium oxide?
6 A student wrote this name for a compound made of
calcium and sulfur: sulfur calcium. What is wrong with
this name? Write the correct name for the compound.

Some compounds contain two different elements, plus

a third element – oxygen. These compounds often have
names ending with ‘ate’.
For example, a compound of calcium, carbon and oxygen These are crystals of copper sulfate.
is called calcium carbonate. Copper sulfate is a compound made
up of copper, sulfur and oxygen.
Questions
7 Which three elements are combined in calcium nitrate?
8 Which three elements are combined in magnesium
carbonate?
9 Which three elements are combined in lithium sulfate?

O C O
Sometimes, the name of a compound tells us how many of
each kind of atom are bonded together.
A molecule of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is made up of molecules in which one carbon
atom is joined to two oxygen atoms. ‘Di’ means ‘two’.
C O
Carbon monoxide is made up of molecules in which one
carbon atom is joined to one oxygen atom. ‘Mon’ or ‘mono’ A molecule of carbon monoxide.
means ‘one’.

Summary
• A compound is formed when atoms of two or more elements
bond together.
• A compound has completely different properties from the
elements from which it is made.

7 Elements and compounds 87

 7.5 Formulae

Particle models
It is easy to decide if a substance is a compound by looking at a particle diagram
or model. If there are different kinds of atoms bonded together, then it is
a compound.

H H
O C O H O H O O C
H H
A molecule of carbon A molecule of water, A molecule of oxygen,
dioxide, CO2. H2O. O 2.
A molecule of
methane, CH4.

Carbon dioxide, water and methane are all compounds because their molecules
are made up of different kinds of atoms. Oxygen is an element because the
atoms in the molecule are both oxygen atoms.

Using formulae
Every compound has a chemical name. For example, the compound of sodium
and chlorine is called sodium chloride.
Some compounds also have everyday names. For example, sodium chloride is
also known as common salt.
Every compound also has a formula. The formula contains the symbols of the
elements that are bonded together in the compound.
The table shows the chemical names and formulae of five compounds.

Chemical name Formula What the compound contains

calcium oxide CaO one calcium atom bonded to one oxygen atom
carbon dioxide CO2 one carbon atom bonded to two oxygen atoms
carbon monoxide CO one carbon atom bonded to one oxygen atom
hydrogen sulfide H2S two hydrogen atoms bonded to one sulfur atom
calcium carbonate CaCO3 one calcium atom, one carbon atom and three
oxygen atoms bonded together

Be very careful reading the symbols of the elements. For example, you do not want
to confuse the symbol for carbon, C, with the symbol for calcium, Ca.
The little number written below and to the right of some symbols tells you how
many atoms of each element are found in one molecule of the compound. If
there is no number, that means there is just one atom of that element.

88 7 Elements and compounds

 7.5 Formulae

Questions
A+I 1 Which of these substances are elements, and which are
compounds? Explain your answer.
K O2 NaCl Al Ca CaCl2 H2
A+I 2 The formula for sulfur dioxide is SO2.
a How many different elements are combined in
sulfur dioxide?
b How many atoms of oxygen are combined with each
atom of sulfur?
A+I 3 The formula for water is H2O.
a Which two elements are combined in water?
b What does the formula tell you about the numbers of
each kind of atom that are combined together?
4 The compound with the formula CO is called carbon
monoxide. Suggest why it is not simply called ‘carbon oxide’.
A+I 5 Suggest the names of the compounds with these formulae:
a MgO
b NaCl
c CaCl2

Hydroxides
There is one more kind of compound that you need to know
about. These are the hydroxides.
You may remember learning about sodium hydroxide and
potassium hydroxide when you studied acids and alkalis.
Hydroxides are alkalis. Sodium hydroxide and potassium
hydroxide are both strong alkalis. When they dissolve in water,
they form solutions that can neutralise acids. Why do you think bottles of
The formula for sodium hydroxide is NaOH. The formula for chemicals usually have both
potassium hydroxide is KOH. their chemical name and their
formula on the label?

Questions
6 Which two elements are contained in all hydroxides?
7 What is the name of the compound with the formula LiOH?
A+I 8 How many different elements are combined together in LiOH?

Summary
• Each compound has its own chemical formula.
• The formula tells you which elements the compound contains
and how many atoms of each element are combined together.

7 Elements and compounds 89

 Unit 7 End of unit questions

7.1 Choose the correct word from the list to match each description.

atom compound element

group molecule period

a A substance made up of only one type of atom. [1]

b The tiniest particle of an element that can exist. [1]
c A group of atoms bonded tightly together. [1]
d A substance made of more than one kind of atom bonded together. [1]
e A column in the Periodic Table. [1]
f A row in the Periodic Table. [1]

7.2 a Give the symbols for the following elements.

magnesium oxygen hydrogen

calcium boron [5]

b Name the elements with these symbols.

C Na K Cl Si [5]

c Explain why scientists use symbols for the elements. [1]

d Explain why some symbols – for example, Cl and Si – have two letters. [1]

7.3 a Suggest a name for a compound containing potassium and chlorine. [1]
b Which elements are present in the compound aluminium sulfate? [1]
c Suggest a name for a compound containing calcium, carbon and oxygen. [1]
d What is the difference between a molecule of carbon dioxide and a
molecule of carbon monoxide? [2]

90 7 Elements and compounds

 7 End of unit questions

7.4 Here are the formulae of four substances.

MgSO4    H2O    N2    O2

a Name the element that occurs in three of these substances. [1]

b Name the element present in these substances that is a metal. [1]
c Give the chemical symbols for magnesium and hydrogen. [2]
d List the types and numbers of the atoms in one molecule of H2O. [2]

7.5 The following chemicals are either elements or compounds. Copy the table and tick
one box for each substance, to show which it is. The first one has been done for you.

Name and formula of substance Element Compound

water, H2O ✓
sulfur dioxide, SO2
sodium, Na
carbon, C
hydrogen, H2

[4]
7.6 The diagrams show the atoms in four different substances. Each circle represents
an atom.
A B C D

Copy and complete the table, to show which diagrams represent elements
and which diagrams represent compounds.

Elements Compounds

[4]

7 Elements and compounds 91