MODULE 3: Atomic Structure
Content
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Atoms
3.3 Relationship of Atomic Particles
3.4 Discovery and Arrangement of Sub-atomic Particles in the Atom
3.1 INTRODUCTION
In this Lecture we are going to find out how the substances are formed from fundamental
particles and description of the atomic structure.
OBJECTIVES
After studying this lecture you should be able to:
• Define atom
• Describe the structure of an atom
• Describe relationship of atomic particles
• Describe the arrangement of sub-atomic particles
• Describe the atomic spectra.
3.2 WHAT IS AN ATOM?
All the matter around you is made of atoms, at present there are about 100 kinds of atoms in the
entire universe, and whether these atoms form trees or tyres, ashes or animals, water or the air we
breathe, depends on how they are put together. That is their structures. The same atoms are used
again and again. Chemistry is made intricate and beautiful by the fact that each element reacts in
a different way.
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Why is it possible to use atoms again and again?
?
It is possible to use atoms again and again because matter can be neither destroyed nor created in
a chemical combination. This is in accordance to the Law of Conservation of matter.
The structure determines not only the appearance of materials, but also their properties. It is
important to understand the structure of materials so that you appreciate why an electrical
insulator can become a superconductor, a pencil a diamond, a common cold a deadly virus.
Are atoms the smallest particles?
?
The early Scientists believed that atoms were the indivisible, smallest most fundamental unit of
matter. However in the course of research it was discovered that there are smaller particles. The
subatomic particles are electrons, protons and neutrons.
3.2.1 Electrons
Through experiments, J. J. Thomson in 1897 discovered one of the fundamental building blocks
of matter, the electron. Electrons are very small (their mass is quite negligible compared with
the mass of the atom) negatively charged particles that are indeed fundamental parts of every
atom. Electrons are parts of all types of matter.
Say whether the statement is true or false:
The electrons emitted by gold are heavier than those emitted by
hydrogen gas. Give an explanation for your choice.
3.2.2 Protons
What was known was, the atom contains electrons which are negatively charged, but the atom
was electrically neutral. This prompted more research. Ten years later, Ernest Rutherford
discovered that atoms have a very dense nucleus, which contains protons.
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Protons are charged elementary particles that can exist freely in an atomic nucleus. A proton has
a charge +e, where e is the charge on the electron. Its mass is:
mp = 1.6726 x 10-24g = 1.6726 x 10-27kg = 9.3828 x 102MeV/c2 = 1.0073 amu This mass was
measured experimentally. The ratio of the proton mass to the electron mass is:
mp
≈ 1,836.15
me
Calculate the mass of the electron (me) in g, kg, MeV/c2 and amu
The number of protons in the nucleus of each atom of an element is called the atomic number
(Z). In a neutral atom the number of protons is equal to the number of the electrons, so the
atomic number also indicates the number of electrons present in the atom.
3.2.3 Neutrons
Due to the neutrality of the atoms, it was expected that the ratio of the mass of a helium atom (2
protons) to that of the hydrogen atom (1 proton) should be 2:1. In reality, however, the ratio is
4:1. Chadwick’s experiment when he bombarded a thin sheet of beryllium with α particles
produced electrically neutral particles having a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. He
called these particles neutrons. The mass of a neutron is 1.6749 x 10-24g = 1.6749 x 10-27kg.
What is the importance of the neutrons in the nucleus of an atom?
?
Without neutrons present, the repulsion among the positively charged protons would cause the
nucleus to fly apart. Consider the element helium, which has two protons in its nucleus. If the
nucleus did not contain neutrons as well, it would be unstable because of the electrical repulsion
between the protons. Neutrons add to the strong force of attraction but have no electric charge
and so do not increase the electromagnetic repulsion.
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Table 3.1: Mass and charge of subatomic particles
Particle Mass Charge
(g) Atomic mass Coulomb Charge unit
unit (amu)
Electron 9.10939 x 10-28 0.00055 -1.6022 x 10-19 -1
Proton 1.67262 x 10-24 1.0073 +1.6022 x 10-19 +1
Neutron 1.67493 x 10-24 1.0087 0 0
3.3 RELATIONSHIP OF ATOMIC PARTICLES
All protons are exactly the same, all neutrons are exactly the same, and all electrons are exactly
the same. Protons and neutrons have almost exactly the same mass. The mass of an electron is
almost negligible compared to the mass of a proton. Electrons have a unit negative charge.
Protons each have a positive charge. The atom's nucleus and electrons are held together by the
electromagnetic force; the positive charges of the protons balance the negative charges of the
electrons. Neutrons have no charge.
What is the identity of the atoms of different elements?
?
The answer to this question centres on the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom:
All atoms of an element have the same number of protons in the nucleus
The specific number of protons is different for different elements and is called the atomic
number. In other words we are saying that the atomic number is the identity of an element.
Furthermore, because an atom has no net electrical charge, the number of electrons in it must
equal its number of protons. For example, all atoms of the element carbon have six protons and
six electrons.
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3.3.1 Mass number (A)
We know that except for hydrogen, all atomic nuclei contain both proton and neutrons. The total
number of neutrons and protons present in the nucleus of an atom of an element is the mass
number. In general the mass number is given by:
Mass number = number of protons + number of neutrons
= atomic number + number of neutrons
Note that all three quantities; atomic number, mass number and number of neutrons must be
positive integers, or whole numbers.
3.3.2 Isotopes
In most cases atoms of a given element do not have the same mass. Atoms that have the same
atomic number but different mass number are called isotopes. As an example hydrogen has three
isotopes; the normal hydrogen with 1proton, the deuterium with 1proton and 1 neutron and
tritium has 1proton and 2 neutrons.
The accepted way to denote the atomic number and mass number of an atom of element Y is as
follows:
mass number
A
zY
atomic number
Thus, for the isotopes of hydrogen, we denote:
1 2 3
1 H 1 H 1 H
hydrogen deuterium tritium
Another example is of the isotopes of uranium with mass numbers of 235 and 238 respectively:
235 238
92 U 92 U
Chemical symbols of elements are represented with mass number as
superscript and the atomic number as subscript.
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Because all atoms of a given element have the same atomic number, the subscript is redundant
and hence is often omitted. The isotopes are represented by their mass number. For example,
some carbon atoms contain six protons and eight neutrons and are consequently represented as
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C (read "carbon fourteen").
Is it safe now, to say atoms are the smallest particles of an element?
?
The difference between atoms of distinct elements (gold and hydrogen, for example) is due
entirely to the difference in the number of subatomic particles in each atom. This is because all
atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons and these particles are the same in all
atoms. We can therefore consider an atom to be the smallest particle of an element because
breaking an atom into subatomic particles destroys its identity.
Worked Examples 2.1
In order to work out these examples you need information which can be obtained from the
periodic table in appendix A.
(1) How many protons, neutrons, and electrons are in an atom of 197Au?
Answer: The superscript 197 is the mass number, the sum of the numbers of protons and
neutrons. According to the list of elements given on the front inside cover of this text,
gold has an atomic number of 79. Consequently, an 197Au atom has 79 protons, 79
electrons, and 197 - 79 = 118 neutrons.
(2) How many protons, neutrons, and electrons are in a 39K atom?
Answer: 19 protons, 19 electrons, and 20 neutrons.
(3) Two isotopes of mercury, with mass numbers 199, and 200. Write the complete chemical
symbol for each of them.
Answer: Mercury has atomic number 80, so all atoms of mercury contain 80 protons.
199 200
The two isotopes are therefore represented by 80 Hg and 80 Hg
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Give the complete chemical symbol for the nuclide (an atom) that contains 18
? protons, 18 electrons, and 22 neutrons.
3.4 DISCOVERY AND ARRANGEMENT OF SUBATOMIC PARTICLES IN THE
ATOM
The idea was started by Ernest Rutherford; however, it was his colleagues experiment conducted
in 1909 which demonstrated that atoms have most of their mass and positive charge concentrated
in a nucleus. In the gold foil experiment, alpha particles (emitted by polonium) were shot
through a sheet of gold. Rutherford observed that most of the particles passed straight through
the sheet with little deflection (striking a fluorescent screen on the other side). About 1 in 8000
of the alpha particles, however, were heavily deflected (by more than 90 degrees). This led to the
planetary model of the atom in which point-like electrons orbited in the space around a massive
compact nucleus like planets orbiting the Sun.
Scattered beam
(small deflection) movable
Scattered beam flourescent
(large deflection) screen
Transmitted
beams with
little or no
deflection
gold foil
Beam of
alpha
particles Lead screen
Radioactive with slit
source
Figure 3.1: The Rutherford gold-foil experiment
The neutrons and protons are in the centre of the atom in a nucleus. The electrons are outside the
nucleus in electron shells that are in different shapes at different distances from the nucleus. The
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atom is mostly empty space. Almost all the mass of an atom is concentrated in the tiny nucleus.
The electrons are constantly spinning around the nucleus of the atom.
Figure 3.2: The Rutherford atomic model, as shown for a neon atom
3.4 1: Behaviour of the Electrons in the Atom
The Rutherford atomic model could not answer all the questions of the scientists of that time.
This prompted Niels Bohr to suggest another model. Bohr developed a mathematical model for
the behaviour of an electron in the hydrogen atom based on the Rutherford atom and quantum
theory of Planck.
3.4.2 Quantum Theory
(i) Atoms can exisit in certain states characterized by definite amounts of energy. When an atom
changes its state, it absorbs or emits an amount of energy (electromagnetic radiation) just
sufficient to bring it to another state.
(ii) When atoms absorb or emit light in moving from one energy level to another, the
wavelength of the light is related to the energies of the two states by the equation:
λ
Efinal – Einitial = hc/λ
Where h = Planck’s constants = 6.626 x 10-34 J.s/particle
c = speed of light = 2.998 x 108 m/s
(iii) The allowed energy states of atoms can be described by sets of numbers called quantum
numbers. Quantum numbers are associated with individual electrons in an atom.
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Before we discuss the Bohr hydrogen atom and quantum numbers let us revisit the
electromagnetic spectrum.
3.4.3 Atomic Spectra
The spectrum of white light is a continuous band which contains wavelengths of varying lengths.
White light is one form of electromagnetic radiation (radio waves, x-rays and gamma-rays are
other examples). All forms of electromagnetic radiation exhibit wavelike behaviour. They all can
be characterised by a wavelength, λ and frequency, ν. The wavelength and frequency are related
to speed of light, c as follows:
λν = c
Electromagnetic radiation also has properties associated with particles called photons. The light
emitted when an electron moves from an orbit with higher n value to one with a smaller n value
is a photon. The energy of a photon may be determined from the expression:
hc
E = hv =
λ
When one heats up a gas, it emits light of various wavelengths. When this light is passed through
a prism it consists of only a limited number of coloured lines with dark spaces between them.
Each of these lines corresponds to a single wavelength of light, so the light emitted by such a gas
consists of light of discrete energies. These discontinuous spectra are called atomic spectra.
Each element has its own distinctive line spectrum, a kind of atomic fingerprint. For monoatomic
gases formed of only one kind of atom the emission spectra contains only light of particular
wavelength.
For example:
Element Colour (wavelength)
cesium Sky blue
rubidium Deepest red
hydrogen Reddish purple
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For hydrogen the spectra obeys the relation:
1 1 1
= R H 2 − 2
λ nf ni
Where ni and nf are positive non-zero integers with ni > nf and RH is a constant called Rydberg’s
constant with the value RH = 1.097 x 107 m-1.
One of the first such series of lines discovered which obey the equation was found by Balmer,
which corresponds to nf = 2 and is in the visible light. The fact that atomic spectra consists of
only limited numbers of well-defined wavelength lines provides a great opportunity to learn
about the structure of atoms. For example it suggests that only a limited number of energy values
are available to excited gaseous atoms.
3.4.4 The Bohr Theory of the Hydrogen Atom
The hydrogen atom has a central proton and a single electron which moves around the proton in
a circular orbit. The force of attraction of the proton for the electron is related to the circular
motion of the electron. The energy of the electron was expressed in terms of the radius of the
orbit.
The Bohr Theory predicts the radii of the allowed orbits in a hydrogen atom
Rn = n2ao
Where ao = 0.53 Å (53 nm)
Is it possible to know the energy of the electron?
?
Also, Bohr found the allowed energies are restricted. The energy of an energy level is given by
the equation:
E = -B/n2
Where n = 1, 2, 3, …
B = 2.179 x 10-18 J/particle
E = -2.179 x 10-18 J/particle/n2 = -1312 kJ/mol/n2
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3.4.5 Quantum Numbers
Quantum numbers are the “addresses” for electrons. The address of a place has several points
(street, postal number, etc) which specify the place. Likewise the electron can be identified by
four quantum numbers which are explained below:
(i) The principal quantum number, n
This number determines the size of an orbital (bigger n = bigger orbitals). It largely determines
the energy of the orbital (bigger n = higher energy). The n can take on integer values n = 1, 2, 3,
...,∞. All electrons in an atom with the same value of n are said to belong to the same shell. The
shells have been assigned names by spectroscopists as follows:
Table 4: Spectroscopist’s notation for shells
n Shell name n Shell name
1 K 5 O
2 L 6 P
3 M 7 Q
4 N
(ii) The Azimuthal Quantum Number, l
This number l designates the overall shape of the orbital within a shell, it affects orbital energies
(bigger l = higher energy). All electrons in an atom with the same value of l are said to belong
to the same subshell. The number l can take only integer values between 0 and n-1. In some
books it is referred to as the orbital angular momentum quantum number. Spectroscopists use
the following notation for subshells
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Table 5: Spectroscopist’s notation for subshells
l Subshell name
0 s
1 p
2 d
3 f
(iii) The Magnetic Quantum Number, mℓ
This number determines the orientation of orbitals within a subshell. It does not affect orbital
energy (except in magnetic fields!). The m l can only take integer values between -ℓ and +ℓ with
0 inclusive. The number mℓ is related to orbitals as follows; the number of mℓ values within a
subshell is the number of orbitals within a subshell
Table 6: Number of orbitals in subshells
ℓ Possible values of mℓ Number of orbital
in this subshell
0 0 1
1 -1, 0, +1 3
2 -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 5
3 -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3 7
Note: Orbitals in a subshell have the same energy (degenerate) e.g. the 3-p orbitals are of the
same energy; the 5-d orbitals all are of the same energy and so forth. However, the degeneracy is
lost when magnetic field is applied.
(iv) The Spin Quantum Number, ms
This number helps to explain several experimental observations when the electron is treated as
though it were spinning. The spin makes the electron behave like a tiny magnet. Spin can be
clockwise or counter clockwise. Spin quantum number can have values of +½ or -½. These are
denoted as ↑ for +½ or ↓ for -½ spins
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