Atomic structure Al Rashid Indian School Sherin Adel

Alrashid Indian School

Chapter 2: Atomic structure

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Atomic structure Al Rashid Indian School Sherin Adel

Important to differentiate between:

1. Element: is a substance that contains only one kind of atom.
Oxygen Gas Diamond (pure carbon)

2. Compound: is substance containing 2 or more elements

chemically joined together. (NaCl, SiO2, H2O)
Water Silicon dioxide Sodium Chloride

3. Mixture: contains 2 or more substances not chemically joined

together. (You can add sand to salt, this is considered as a
mixture also Air is a mixture of gases)

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Compound Mixture
Fixed composition No fixed composition
Its components cannot be Its components can be separated
separated by physical means by physical means
Compound has different Mixture has similar properties as
properties from its components its components.
Components chemically joined Components not chemically joined

The Atomic Structure·

• An element is a substance that contains only one kind of atom.
• Atom is the smallest particle that enters the chemical reactions. And
cannot be split into anything simpler.

• The atom consists of (three types of sub-atomic particles):

✓ Nucleus at the center ➡ [p+, n0] ∴ The nucleus is positively
charged.
✓ Negative electrons rotate around the nucleus in energy levels
(shells & orbits).
✓ [p+, n0, e–] are subatomic particles.

Energy levels
- Electron move
around nucleus in
definite.
Energy levels or
electron shells

Particle Symbol Relative mass Charge Location in

atom
Proton P 1 +1 In nucleus
Neutron n 1 nil In nucleus
Electron e- 1/1840 -1 Outside
(negligible) nucleus
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Atomic structure Al Rashid Indian School Sherin Adel

 Note:

➢ The mass of the atom is concentrated in the nucleus; this is because

the mass of an electron is negligible.
➢ An atom is also neutral; this is because the number of positive
protons equals the number of negative electrons.
➢ The mass of the sub-atomic particles is in atomic mass unit (AMU).
This is because they are so light that they can't be measured in
grams.
➢ There are two numbers given to each type of atoms:
- Atomic (Proton) Number (Z): it is the number of protons in the
nucleus of one atom of an element. Since an atom has an equal
number of protons and electrons, it is the number of electrons in
the atom too.
- Nucleon number (mass number) (A): is the total number of
protons and neutrons inside the nucleus of an atom.
❖ If the atomic number is the number of protons, and the mass
number is the number of protons and neutrons, then subtracting the
proton number from the mass number will give you the number of
neutrons in the atom.
Mass number = p+n
- Atomic number = p
Mass number - Atomic number = n

• We represent the atom of an element; we give it a symbol of one or

two letters where the first letter is always in capitals and the second
one is in lowercase.
• The mass number and the atomic number go above and below the
symbol.
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always remember! Mass number is bigger than the atomic number in

periodic table.
➢ Example:
4
2𝐻𝑒
✓ This represents the Helium Atom,
✓ Its atomic number is 2,
✓ Its symbol is He,
✓ Its mass number (nucleon number) is 4,
✓ It has 2 protons, 2 electrons and 2 neutrons (4-2=2)
Example:

24
12𝑀𝑔
✓ This represents the Magnesium Atom,
✓ Its symbol is Mg.
✓ Its mass number is 24,
✓ Its atomic number is 12,
✓ It has 12 protons, 12 electrons and12 neutrons (24 - 12 = 12)

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➢ Charged particles in atom are protons (positive) & electrons

(negative) so the number of charged particles is the sum of positive
protons and negative electrons.

Atomic
Mass n Number Number Number Number of
n
Element (nucleon n) (n of of of charged
(proton
of nucleons) protons electrons neutrons particles
n)
39
19𝐾 19 39 19 19 20 38

88
38𝑆𝑟 38 88 38 38 50 76

65
30𝑍𝑛 30 65 30 30 35 60

31
15𝑃 15 31 15 15 16 30

40
18𝐴𝑟 18 40 18 18 22 36

19
9𝐹 9 19 9 9 10 18

The Electronic Configuration of Atoms

• Electronic configuration means the arrangement of electrons in an
atom.
• The electrons in an atom circle fast around the nucleus, at different
levels from it.
• These energy levels are called electron shells.
• The further the shell is from the nucleus, the higher the energy level.
• Each shell can hold a limited number of electrons.

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Atomic structure Al Rashid Indian School Sherin Adel

• The heaviest atom has 7 energy levels or electron shells which have
different energies.
✓ 1st energy shell holds up to 2e,
✓ 2nd energy shell holds up to 8e,
✓ 3rd energy shell holds up to 18e, but can be stable with only
8e.

➢ As we move away from the nucleus, the distance between energy

levels is decreasing.
❖ The last energy level cannot hold more than 8 electrons.

Fe26: 2, 8, …, 2 As33: 2, 8, 18, … Sr38: 2, 8, …, 8, 2 Pd46: 2, 8, 18, …, 2

➢ The outer shell is called the Valence shell and the electrons of the
outer shell are the valence electrons.

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The periodic table

The periodic table is a list of all the elements, in order of increasing atomic
number. The horizontal rows are called periods, and the vertical columns
are called groups.

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Important facts about periodic table

➢ Groups:
• The group number tells you how many electrons there are in the
outer shell of the atoms.
• All elements in a group have similar properties.
• Group 0 elements have full outer shell. This makes them unreactive.
• Some of the groups have special names.
Group 1 - The alkali metals
Group 2 - The alkaline earth metals
Group 7 - The halogens
Group 0 - The noble gases

• The period number gives information about the number of electron

shells that are available in that period.
• The periodic table is obtained by arranging elements in order to
increase the atomic number.
• It is 7 Horizontal rows known as periods and the period number
shows how many shells there are.
• It is 8 vertical columns known as groups and the group number is
the same number of outer shell electrons.
• All the elements in the same group have the same number of
electrons in their outer shells, called Valence electrons. That is why
all elements of the same group have the same chemical properties.
• Metals are on the left of the periodic table; Nonmetals are on the
right and separated by zigzag line. There are 8 elements lie beside
zigzag line known as semimetals or metalloids (B, Si, Ge, As, Sb,
Te, Po and At)

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• Metalloids are:
- solid and shiny like metals - brittle as nonmetals
- Metalloids are semiconductors with average transmission
of heat.
• As we move in the periodic table from left to right, (across period)
the metallic properties of elements decrease. and the number of
outermost shell electrons increase.
• The top metallic properties are found on the left - bottom part of the
table.
• If an element possesses a full outer shell, the element becomes
unreactive (Ex: Noble gas).
• Most elements have more neutrons than protons. Some elements
like Ca, Mg and Ne have equal number of protons and neutrons.
• Group 4 elements contain C (non-metal), Si and Ge (metalloids), Sn
and Pb (metals).
• All metals are silvery grey except copper (reddish brown) and gold
(golden yellow).
• All salts of group (I), group (II) and group (III) are white solids and
when dissolved in water, they are colourless (Ex: NaCl, KBr, CaO,
AIF3).
• All metals are solid at room temperature except mercury is liquid.
• Non-metals at room temperature are solid (like Carbon) or gas like
(chlorine) and the only liquid non-metal is bromine.
• The only non-metal conducting electricity is carbon (graphite).
• The only element that has non neutrons inside its nucleus is
hydrogen.

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• Hydrogen is the smallest atom of all, its properties are distinctive

and unique. It does not fit easily into the trends shown in any one
group.
• The reactivity of metals increases down a group.
Rb > K > Na > Li
• The reactivity of non-metals decreases down a group.
F > Cl > Br > I

Transition metals

Physical properties of transition metals

• Hard. Metal Density (g/cm3)
• High density. Aluminum 2.70
• High melting point. Copper 8.94
Gold 19.3
Iron 7.86
Lead 11.34
Magnesium 1.74
Silver 10.5
Tin 5.75
Zinc 7.14
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Chemical properties of transition metals

• Act as catalyst (metals & salts) (Fe metal is catalyst & V2O5 is
catalyst).
• Form coloured compound.
• Less reactive than group (I)
• Has more than one oxidation number
 Note:

• Metals when react they lose electrons from outermost shell, so

number of positive protons is greater than number of negative
electrons forming positive ions.

• Non-metals when react they gain electrons from outermost shell, so

number of positive protons is less than number of negative electrons
forming negative ions.

• Valency: is the number of electrons lost, gained, or shared by an

atom to reach the stability of nearest inert gas.

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The relation between number of valence electrons and valency

Group number I II III IV V VI VII
Symbol Na Mg Al Si P S Cl
number of valence electrons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Valency 1 2 3 4 3 2 1

• The number of e- gained or lost = numerical value of oxidation state.

• Valency of metals is the number of electrons lost.
• Valency of non-metals is the number of electrons gained.
• The valency from group (I) to group (IV) is equal to the group
number.
• The valency from group (V) to group (VIII) is equal to (8 - the
group number).
Group (VIII) is also called group 0 as they don't gain or lose electrons as
their outermost shell is full
Q: Explain why some elements have positive oxidation states but others have
negative ones.

A: Atoms with small number of outer electrons, lose electrons forming positive ions
Atoms with large number of outer electrons, gain electrons forming negative ions.

Q: an element with proton number 15. Is it metal or non-metal and why?

A: Element is non-metal as electron distribution of element is 2,8,5.

Element is in group V containing 5 electrons in outer shell, so element is in the
right of periodic table.

Q: Calcium, on the left of Period 4 of the Periodic Table, is more metallic than
bromine on the right of this period. Why is this?

A: Ca contains fewer outer shell electrons (2e) than bromine (7e).

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The Isotope
ISOTOPES are atoms of the same element with the same number of
protons (atomic N.) but different number of neutrons. Therefore, their
nucleon number (mass N.) is different.
Ex: Lithium atoms has 3 isotopes Ex: Carbon atoms has 3 isotopes

Ex: Oxygen has 2 isotopes Ex: Carbon atoms has 3 isotopes

• Isotopes have the same chemical properties as they have the same
electron distribution (same number of electrons in the outer shell);
but they have different physical properties.
• some physical properties of the isotopes are different. The masses
of the atoms differ and therefore, other properties, such as density
and rate of diffusion, also vary.
• A visual illustration of how the presence of isotopes affects physical
properties is the difference in density between ordinary ice and
heavy-water ice (frozen deuterium oxide). Frozen deuterium oxide
has a greater density than ordinary ice. Normal ice cubes float in
water, but a heavy-water ice cube will sink.

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