Chapter 2: Atoms and Elements

• Part 2.1: Brownian Motion: Atoms Confirmed (Slides 2-3)

• Part 2.2: Early Ideas About the Building Blocks of Matter (Slide 4)
• Part 2.3: Modern Atomic Theory and the Laws That Led to It (Slides 5-7)
• Part 2.4: The Discovery of the Electron (Slides 8-11)
• Part 2.5: The Structure of the Atom (Slides 12-17)
• Part 2.6: Subatomic Particles: Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons in Atoms (Slides 18-24)
• Part 2.7: Finding Patterns: The Periodic Law and the Periodic Table (Slides 25-30)
• Part 2.8: Atomic Mass: The Average Mass of the Element’s Atoms (Slides 31-33)
• Part 2.9: Molar Mass: Counting Atoms by Weighing Them (34-37)

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 Part 2.1: Brownian Motion: Atoms Confirmed
• Slide 3: Brownian Motion of Atoms

Part 2.2: Early Ideas About the Building Blocks of Matter

• Slide 4: Early Thoughts About the Building Blocks of Matter

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 Brownian Motion of Atoms
Robert Brown in 1827 observes random motion of small particles suspended in water.

Albert Einstein in 1905 develops a theory to explain Brownian motion that explains that
suspended particles are pushed around by the constant movement of the water molecules.

Jean Perrin in 1908 conducts experiments that confirms Einstein’s explanation.

Today we can see and move individual atoms around with the aid of a scanning tunneling
microscope (STM).

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 Early Ideas About the Building Blocks of Matter
• The Greek thinkers Leucippus and Democritus proposed that matter was composed of
small, indestructible particles. Their atomos were of different sizes and shapes.

• Aristotle and Plato did not buy into the above explanation and thought different substances
were composed of varying proportions of air, earth, water, and fire. Their view prevailed
for nearly 2000 years.

• The work and findings of N. Copernicus (1473-1543), F. Bacon (1561-1626), J. Kepler

(1571-1630), G. Galilei (1524-1642), Robert Boyle (1627-1691), I. Newton (1642-1727),
and others ushered in the scientific revolution. They demonstrated the importance of
experimental work and observations.

• John Dalton (1766-1844) offers evidence of atoms, but is unable to describe an atom and
what its structure is. This only came after more experimentation starting in the late 1800s.
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Part 2.3: Modern Atomic Theory and the Laws That Led to It

• Slide 6: Early Laws Involving Matter

• Slide 7: John Dalton and the Atomic Theory

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 Early Laws Involving Matter
• The Law of Conservation of Mass: In a chemical reaction, matter is neither created nor
destroyed.
• The Law of Definite Proportions: All samples of a given compound, regardless of their
source or how they were prepared, have the same proportions of their constituent
elements.
Mass ratio in CH4 = = 3:1

• The Law of Multiple Proportions: When two elements (e.g., A and B) form two different
compounds, the masses of element B that combine with 1 g of element A can be
expressed as a ratio of small whole numbers.

Mass O that combines with 1 g H = 8.0 g

= =2
Mass O that combines with 1 g H = 16.0 g

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 John Dalton and the Atomic Theory
• In 1808, John Dalton laid out his atomic theory:

 Each element is composed of tiny, indestructible particles called atoms.

 All atoms of a given element have the same mass and other properties
that distinguish them from the atoms of other elements.

 Atoms combine in simple, whole-number ratios to form compounds.

 Atoms of one element cannot change into atoms of another element.

In a chemical reaction , atoms only change the way they are bound
together with other atoms.
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 Part 2.4: The Discovery of the Electron
• Slide 9: The Cathode Ray Tube
• Slide 10: J.J. Thomson’s Contribution and the Properties of
Electrical Charge
• Slide 11: Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment: The Charge of the Electron

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 The Cathode Ray Tube
• Cathode rays are electrons.
• By applying a high electrical voltage a beam of charged particles travels from the
cathode (–) to the anode (+).
• The cathode rays (electrons) travel in a straight line.
• Changing the composition of the cathode does not change the nature of the cathode
rays.

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J.J. Thomson’s Contribution and the Properties of Electrical Charge
• The cathode rays are bent when external electrical and magnetic fields are applied.

• By adjusting the magnetic and electrical field strengths so that the beam traveled in
a straight line, J.J. Thomson was able to measure a charge-to-mass ratio of an electron
and obtained the value: – 1.76 x 108 C/g.

• The Coulomb, C, is the SI unit for charge.

• Properties of electrical charge:

 Opposite charges, + and –, are attracted to one another by electrostatic attraction.
 Two positive charges repel one another.
 Two negative charges repel one another .
 A positive charge and a negative charge have the same magnitude and sum to zero
net charge.
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Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment: The Charge of the Electron
• Millikan succeeded in measuring the charge of a single electron.
• He worked with small drops of oil that after bombarding with x-rays had extra negative
charge.
• The apparatus contained two horizontal plates – the top positive and the bottom
negative. The negatively charged oil droplets fall through an opening in the top plate
and their free fall is slowed or completely stopped by adjusting the magnitude of the
electric field.
• Using a known electric field, the charge on the oil droplet was determined.
• By repeating this experiment on many oil droplets, it was determined that the charges
were all small integer values of a base value, namely –1.60 x 10-19 C (charge of one e–).
• From this value and Thomson’s charge-to-mass ratio of the electron, Millikan was able
to calculate the mass of an electron:

Mass of an electron = charge x = (–1.60 x 10-19 C)() = 9.10 x 10–28 g

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 Part 5: The Structure of the Atom

• Slide 13: The Structure of the Atom - Rutherford’s Experiment

• Slide 14: Graphic of Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment
• Slide 15: Rutherford’s Nuclear Theory of the Atom
• Slide 16: The Identification of Neutrons Completes the Story
• Slide 17: An Atom is Mostly Empty Space

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 The Structure of the Atom - Rutherford’s Experiment
• The discovery of radioactivity, the emission of small energetic particles from the core of
large unstable atoms, by H. Becquerel and M. Curie at the end of the 19th century provided
scientist with a new way to probe the structure of the atom.

• There are three different types of radioactivity: alpha (α) particles, beta (β) particles, and
gamma (γ) rays. The focus here is on positively charged alpha particles.

• In 1909, Ernst Rutherford conducted an experiment that helped elucidate the structure
of the atom. He bombarded very thin gold foil with alpha particles. The results were
not what was expected. Some alpha particles bounced back in the direction of the source.

• As a consequence of this experiment, Thomson’s plum-pudding model of the atom was

abandoned and a nuclear model was adopted, which persists all the way up to today.
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Graphic of Rutherford’s Gold Foil Experiment

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 Rutherford’s Nuclear Theory of the Atom
• Based on the results of the gold foil experiment, the nuclear theory of the
atom has three parts:

• Most of the atom’s mass and all of its positive charge are contained in a small
core called the nucleus.

• Most of the volume of the atom is empty space, throughout which tiny,
negatively charged electrons are dispersed.

• There are as many negatively charged electrons outside the nucleus as there
are positively charged particles (named protons) within the nucleus, so the
atom is electrically neutral.
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 The Identification of Neutrons Completes the Story
• In 1932, James Chadwick, discovered and described a new subatomic particle
called the neutron.

• Two features of the neutron should be noted:

 The neutron, unlike the proton and electron, has no electrical charge,
rather it is neutral.
 The mass of the neutron is similar to that of the proton. More
precisely, the neutron is 1.0018-times heavier than the proton.

• Because the proton and neutron are both located in the nucleus of the atom
they are both referred to as nucleons.
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 An Atom is Mostly Empty Space
• Picture a single nitrogen atom. It contains seven protons, seven neutrons, and seven
electrons.

• Now picture that the nucleus is the size of a golf ball and the seven protons and seven
neutrons are the size of peas.

• Where are the seven electrons? The seven electrons which are the size of fleas are
circling the nucleus. They’re confined in a sphere where the nucleus is the center of
the sphere with a radius of half a mile (or a diameter of one mile).

• The nucleus constitutes 99.9% of the mass of the atom.

• Conclusion: The atom is mostly empty space.

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Part 6: Subatomic Particles: Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons in Atoms

• Slide 19: Subatomic Particles

• Slide 20: Atomic Number
• Slide 21: Isotopes
• Slide 22: Isotopes (cont.)
• Slide 23: The n/p Ratio
• Slide 24: Ions – Cations and Anions

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 Subatomic Particles
Subatomic Mass Mass Charge Charge
Particle (kg) (amu) (relative) (C)
Proton 1.67262 x 10–27 1.00727 +1 1.60218 x 10–19
Neutron 1.67493 x 10–27 1.0086 0 0

Electron 0.00091 x 10–27 0.00055 –1 –1.60218 x 10–19

• Atomic mass unit (amu) is defined as 1/12 the mass of a carbon-12 atom (a carbon atom
containing six protons and six neutrons).
• The charge of the proton and the charge of the electron are equal in magnitude but
opposite in sign.
• The mass of the proton and neutron are nearly identical. The electron has a mass
approximately 1/2000 th (1/1836 more exactly) that of the p and n.
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 Atomic Number
• Atomic number (symbolized Z) is defined as the number of protons in the nucleus of an
atom.

• Every atom of a particular element has the same number of protons and atomic number.

• The elements in the modern periodic table is arranged according to their atomic number.

• The periodic table has rows (or periods) and columns. You start on the left and move right.
At the end of a row you go to the next row and proceed left to right. The number of
elements in a row or period varies:
 Period 1: two elements – H, He
 Period 2: eight elements – Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne
 Period 3: eight elements – Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ar
 Period 4: eighteen elements – K, Ca,, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se,
Br, Kr.
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 Isotopes
• Not all atoms of a given element have the same mass. This is because for a given
element the number of neutrons present can vary. Atoms with the same number of
protons but different numbers of neutrons are isotopes.

• Mass number (A) is defined as the number of protons and neutrons in an atom.

• The number of neutrons in an atom is found by the expression: A-Z (mass number minus
atomic number).

• Isotopes are symbolized using the following notation:

Mass number Element symbol

𝐴
𝑍 𝑋
Atomic number
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 Isotopes (cont.)
• Not all isotopes of a given element are stable. Those that are not stable are labeled
radioactive and their relative stability is communicated by the quantity half-life (t½). The
half-life is defined as the time it takes for half the sample to decompose.

• When the natural abundance of the isotopes of an element are reported only stable
isotopes are included in the tally.
 Some elements have only one stable isotope (e.g., 19F and 31P).
 The element with the most stable isotopes is tin (Sn) – ten.

• The halogens (F, Cl, Br, and I) have the following number of isotopes:
 Fluorine (F) has one stable isotope: 19F
 Chlorine (Cl) has two stable isotopes: 35Cl (75.77%) and 37Cl (24.23%)
 Bromine (Br) has two stable isotopes: 69Br (50.69%) and 71Br (49.31%)
 Iodine (I) has one stable isotopes: 131I
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 The n/p Ratio
• For the light elements (Z = 1-20) the n/p ratio is 1.
For example, and .

• As the atoms get larger, the n/p ratio is greater

than one for the nonradioactive isotopes (as well
as the radioactive isotopes).

• For (100% abundance), the n/p ratio is 2.4.

• The last stable isotope is bismuth (Z = 83).

• The excess neutrons are needed to dilute the

proton-proton repulsive interactions in the
nucleus of the atom.
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 Ions – Cations and Anions
• The number of electrons in a neutral atom is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus
of the atom.

• During some chemical reactions, elements can lose or gain electrons to form ions.
 When an element (usually a metal element) loses one or more electrons a cation is
formed. Cations are positively charged ions.
 Na → Na+ + e–
 Mg → Mg2+ + 2 e–
 Al → Al3+ + 3 e–

 When an element (usually a nonmetal element) gains one or more electrons an anion is
formed. Anions are negatively charged ions.
 Cl + e– → Cl–
 O + 2 e– → O2–
 N + 3 e– → N3– 24
Part 7: Finding Patterns: The Periodic Law and the Periodic Table

• Slide 26: Dimitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table

• Slide 27: Dimitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table (cont.)
• Slide 28: Modern Periodic Table Organization
• Slide 29: Modern Periodic Table Organization (cont.)
• Slide 30: Main Group Ions and the Periodic Table

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 Dimitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
• Dimitri Mendeleev a Russian chemist (1834-1907) is credited with introducing the concept
of a periodic table of elements in 1869. The modern periodic table grew out of his work.

• We need to appreciate what was known and what was not known at the time:
 Only about 65 elements were known at the time.
 The subatomic particles had not been identified yet.
 The concept of atomic number had not been introduced.

• Mendeleev’s periodic table was constructed, and the elements situated in the table
based on:
 Increasing atomic mass
 The known elements were placed in columns together based similar properties.

• Mendeleev defined periodic law with the observation that when the elements are
arranged in order of increasing mass, certain sets of properties recur periodically.
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 Dimitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table (cont.)
• The Periodic Table is considered one of the most important achievements ever in the
world of Chemistry. One list of the ten greatest discoveries in chemistry looks like this:

 Periodic Table of Elements  Smallpox Vaccine

 Oxygen  Radioactivity
 Electrons  Pasteurization
 LSD  Teflon
 Atomic Theory  Penicillin

• In 2006, over 900 participants in the field of material science and engineering voted for
the top 50 achievements in this field in recorded history. See the link below for the results:

[Link]

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 Modern Periodic Table Organization
• Based on both physical and chemical properties one approach to classifying the elements
is as:

 Metals
 Nonmetals
 Metalloids (or semiconductors) – this group separates the metals from the nonmetals
by a diagonal line.

• Another way of distinguishing elements is the following:

 Main group (or representative) elements – columns with the letter A or Groups 1-2
and 13-18.
 Transition metals – columns with the letter B or Groups 3-12.

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 Modern Periodic Table Organization (cont.)
• Certain main group elements that occur together in a column or family are collectively
given a name because they have similar properties. Four families are highlighted below.

Li Be F He
Na Mg Cl Ne
K Ca Br Ar
Rb Sr I Kr
Cs Ba At Xe
Alkali metals Alkaline earth metals Halogens Noble Gases
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 Main Group Ions and the Periodic Table
Monoatomic anions have an –ide ending.
For example:
• Chloride, Cl–
• Oxide, O2–
• Nitride, N3–
• Carbide, C4–

• Main group metals lose one or more electrons to be like the nearest noble gas.
• Nonmetals gain one or more electrons to be like the nearest noble gas.
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Part 8: Atomic Mass: The Average Mass of the Element’s Atoms

• Slide 32: Atomic Mass

• Slide 33: Mass Spectrometer

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 Atomic Mass
• The atomic mass of an element is determined by the average mass of its isotopes
weighted according to the natural abundance of each isotope.

• General formula:

Atomic mass = Σ (fraction of isotope 1)(mass of isotope 1) + (fraction of isotope 2)(mass

of isotope 2) + (fraction of isotope 3)(mass of isotope 3) + …

• Example: Chlorine

• Atomic Mass Cl = (34.969)(0.7580) + (36.966)(0.2420) = 26.506 + 8.946 = 35.452 amu

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 Mass Spectrometer
• A mass spectrometer is used to sort positively charged ions by mass and simultaneously
record their relative abundance. This is where the chlorine data on the previous slide
comes from.

This is what is shown in Figure 2.16.

• The x-axis supplies the mass of the isotope, while the y-axis supplies the relative
abundance of the isotope.
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 Mass Spectrometry of Cl2(g)
• Recall there are two stable isotopes of chlorine.
 35Cl (75.80% abundant)
 37Cl (24.20% abundant)

• In the mass spectrum of Cl2(g) three peaks for Cl2+ with varying intensities are observed.

 [35Cl- 35Cl]+: Intensity = (0.7580 x 0.7580) = 57.46% @ m/z =70

 [35Cl- 37Cl]+: Intensity = (0.7580 x 0.2420) = 18.34% @ m/z =72

 [37Cl- 35Cl]+: Intensity = (0.2420 x 0.7580 ) = 18.34% @ m/z =72 36.68%

 [37Cl- 37Cl]+: Intensity = (0.2420 x 0.2420 ) = 5.86% @ m/z =74

 Note: Percent intensity = 57.46% + 36.68% + 5.86% = 100.00%

 Part 9: Molar Mass: Counting Atoms by Weighing Them
• Slide 35: The Mole: A Chemist’s “Dozen”
• Slide 36: Calculations Using the Information Found on the Previous Slide
• Slide 37: More Calculations

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 The Mole: A Chemist’s “Dozen”
• A dozen = 12 objects
• A gross = 144 objects
• Avogadro’s number = 6.02214 x 1023 particles (I’ll use 6.02 x 1023 in calculations).

• A mole (abbreviated mol) is the amount of material containing an Avogadro number

of particles.

• One mole is defined as the number of carbon-12 () atoms in exactly 12 grams of

this carbon isotope. This allows us to count atoms by weighing them.

• The mass of a mole of atoms of an element is its molar mass (or atomic weight).

• An element’s molar mass in grams per mole is numerically equal to the element’s
atomic mass in atomic mass units (amu).
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 Calculations Using the Information Found on the Previous Slide
1. Moles to particles: How many atoms of cobalt (Co) are in 0.045 moles of Co?
Avogadro’s No.

0.045 mol Co x = 2.71 x 1022 Co atoms

2. Particles to moles: How many moles of nickel (Ni) are in 4.51 x 1019 Ni atoms?
Avogadro’s No.

4.51 x 1019 Ni atoms x = 7.48 x 10–5 mol Ni atoms

3. Moles to grams: How many grams of zinc (Zn) are in 0.034 moles of Zn?
Molar mass
0.034 mol Zn x = 2.2 g Zn

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 More Calculations
4. Grams to moles: How moles of manganese (Mn) are present in 3.905 g of Mn?
Molar mass
3.905 g Mn x = 0.0711 mol Mn

5. Atoms to grams: How many grams of chromium (Cr) are present in 8.23 x 1025 Cr atoms?
Avogadro’s No. Molar mass
8.23 x 10 Cr atoms x x = 7.11 x 10 g Cr
25 3

6. Grams to atoms: How many vanadium (V) atoms are in 11.74 g V?

11.74 g V x Molar
x = 1.39
mass x 1023 V atoms Avogadro’s No.

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