Cambridge Advanced Subsidiary Level Notes
9701 Chemistry
Abrar Faiyaz Rahim, degrees pending
Contents
1 Atomic structure 2
1.1 Particles in the atom and atomic radius 2
1.2 Isotopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Electrons, energy levels and atomic or-
bitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Ionisation energy . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1
1 Atomic structure Knowing that unlike charges attract and like charges
repel, we can see that protons move to the negative
1.1 Particles in the atom and atomic end of an electric field whereas electrons deflect to
radius the positive end. Knowing also that a proton is more
massive than an electron and hence harder to move,
Understand that atoms are mostly empty space sur- we can deduce that a proton deflects to a lesser ex-
rounding a very small, dense nucleus that contains tent than an electron in the same electric field while
protons and neutrons; electrons are found in shells travelling at the same velocity.
in the empty space around the nucleus
Determine the numbers of protons, neutrons and
Self explanatory. electrons present in both atoms and ions given
atomic or proton number, mass or nucleon number
Identify and describe protons, neutrons and electrons and charge
in terms of their relative charges and relative masses
For an atom,
Considering that the proton is a particle present in
q, is the net charge
the nucleus of an atom with charge +1 and mass 1,
Ne , is the number of electrons
we see that neutrons are particles with no charge and
Z, is the atomic number
a mass equal to that of the proton – and electrons
N, is the number of neutrons
are particles with no (neglible) mass but a charge
A, is the mass number.
opposite to that of the proton (−1).
From the discussions in sections above, we can deduce
Understand the terms atomic and proton number; that:
mass and nucleon number A=Z +N
For an atom: Note that,
Z − Ne = q
• Atomic/Proton number is the number of protons
and hence for q = 0,
in the atom.
Z = Ne
• Mass/Nucleon number is the combined number
of neutrons and protons in the atom.
State and explain qualitatively the variations in
Describe the distribution of mass and charge within atomic radius and ionic radius across a period and
an atom down a group
Observe that the massive particles in an atom (pro- Across a period, the number of electron shells in the
tons and neutrons) are present in the nucleus, hence, atom is the same. As such, the atomic and ionic radii
the nucleus is the massive part of an atom. The remain constant across a period. However, down the
charges however, are present in both the nucleus and group the number of electron shells increases by one,
the electron shells, as the charges of the protons and as does atomic and ionic radii.
electrons, respectively.
1.2 Isotopes
Describe the behaviour of beams of protons, neutrons
and electrons moving at the same velocity in an elec- Define the term isotope in terms of protons and neu-
tric field trons
2
Atoms with the same atomic number but a different The ground state of an atom is where the electrons
number of neutrons are isotopes of each other. are arranged at the lowest possible energy levels.
Understand the notation xy A for isotopes, where x is Describe the number of orbitals making up s, p and
the mass or nucleon number and y is the atomic or d sub-shells, and the number of electrons that can
proton number fill s, p and d sub-shells
Self explanatory. Also note that x = A and y = Z The s orbital has one subshell, p has three, and d
from the above sections. has five. Each orbital can hold a pair of electrons,
so 2 electrons fill an s subshell. 6 electrons fill a p
State that and explain why isotopes of the same ele- subshells and 10 electrons fill a d subshell.
ment have the same chemical properties
Describe the order of increasing energy of the sub-
shells within the first three shells and the 4s and 4p
These isotopes have the same number of electrons
sub-shells
and the same electronic configurations, thus they
show same chemical properties. The first electron shell has one s subshell. The sec-
ond electron shell has an s subshell and a p subshell.
State that and explain why isotopes of the same el- The third electron shell has s, p and d. The fourth
ement have different physical properties, limited to electron shell has shells s, p, d and f (the f subshell
mass and density is not included in the specification). Electrons fill
subshells in the following order:
A change in the number of neutrons per nucleus
causes a change in mass of the same volume of a given 1s, 2s, 2p, 2d, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d, 4p
samples of two isotopes of the same element. As such, Note that the 4s subshell fills before 3d. This is
density is also affected. In general, the higher the because the 4s subshell is at a lower energy level than
mass number the higher the mass and density. 3d.
Describe the electronic configurations to include the
1.3 Electrons, energy levels and
number of electrons in each shell, sub-shell and or-
atomic orbitals bital
Understand the terms: Electronic configurations are now represented as fol-
lows
• shells, sub-shells and orbitals
nλe
• principal quantum number, (n)
for each subshell.
• ground state, limited to electronic configuration Here, n stands for the principle quantum number
of the shell, λ is the symbol of the subshell, and e is
In atoms, electrons are arranged in orbits around the number of electrons in that subshell.
the nucleus. These orbits are called shells. In those
shells, the electrons are in subshells. In those sub- Explain the electronic configurations in terms of en-
shells, the electrons are arranged in orbitals. ergy of the electrons and inter-electron repulsion
The principle quantum number identifies the elec-
tron shell. The shell closest to the nucleus has prin- Electrons fill subshells as per their energy. They tend
cipal quantum number, n = 1, and the further the to fill the subshell with the lowest possible energy
nucleus is, the greater the n. first.
3
Consider an example at the orbital level. Below is 1.4 Ionisation energy
a p orbital without any electrons.
Define and use the term first ionisation energy, IE
First ionisation energy, IE is the energy needed to
If we are to populate it with 3 electrons, its state remove 1 mole of electrons from 1 mole of atoms of
would be: an element in the gaseous state to form 1 mole of
gaseous ions.
This is as such as two electrons will not fill the same
Construct equations to represent first, second and
orbital if there is the option to fill another, since the
subsequent ionisation energies
electrons in the same orbital repel each other.
An equation that represents first ionisation energy
Determine the electronic configuration of atoms and
of an element Λ is as follows
ions given the atomic or proton number and charge,
using either of the following conventions: Λ(g) −−→ Λ+ (g) + e−
e.g. for Fe: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d6 4s2 (full electronic
configuration) the enthalpy change (∆H) of this reaction is the first
or [Ar] 3d6 4s2 (shorthand electronic configuration) IE.
The subsequent ionisation energy, would be the en-
Described above. ergy required to remove one mole of electrons from
one mole of gaseous ions of an element with charge
Understand and use the electrons in boxes notation +1 to form one mole of gaseous ions with charge +2.
e.g. for Fe: [Ar] The equation is as follows
Each box represents an orbital. Each arrow rep- Λ+ (g) −−→ Λ2+ (g) + e−
resents an electron in that orbital. The arrowhead
shows the spin of the electron, and arrows in the same As such, in general, the nth ionisation energy
orbital are in opposite directions to show that elec- would be the enthalphy change of a reaction
trons in the same orbital must have opposite spin, as
Λn−1 (g) −−→ Λn (g) + e−
otherwise, the repulsion is too great.
Describe and sketch the shapes of s and p orbitals Identify and explain the trends in ionisation energies
across a period and down a group of the Periodic
Look it up. Table
Across a period from left to right, ionisation energy
Describe a free radical as a species with one or more
increases. This is because nuclear charge increases,
unpaired electrons
the distance between the nucleus and the outer elec-
Self explanatory. tron remains reasonably constant. The shielding by
inner shells remains reasonably constant.
Down a group, ionisation energy decreases