Atomic Structure & the Periodic Table

C) Atomic Structure
CHE101 Chemistry Unit 1
2015 2016
Ms. T. Jackson

Topics
The Scientific Process & Theoretical Change
Atomic Theory
Atomic Structure
Sub-atomic Particles
The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity
Electronic Orbitals

Atomic Structure
Current Understanding
Our current understanding of atomic structure is largely based
on the Bohr model (1913) along with the additional
discoveries by persons such as Goldstein (1900), Moseley
(1913), Chadwick (1932), and Schroedinger (1926)

electron

nucleus

proton

neutron

The nucleus of an atom

contains protons and neutrons.
The electrons are outside the
nucleus in fixed energy levels
3

Sub-atomic Particles
An atom consists of the subatomic particles protons,
neutrons, and electrons
Each subatomic particle has characteristic properties including
relative mass, charge, location and behaviours in electric and
magnetic fields

electron

nucleus

proton

neutron

The nucleus of an atom

contains protons and neutrons.
The electrons are outside the
nucleus in fixed energy levels
4

Sub-atomic Particles
Relative
Mass*

Relative
Charge**

Location

Behaviour in
Electric Fields

Behaviour in
Magnetic
Fields***

+
movement

Proton

+1

Nucleus

magnetic
small deflection
conventional field
toward negative plate
current
no deflection

Neutron

Nucleus

Electron

1/1836

-1

Orbiting the
Nucleus

- no deflection
+
-large deflection
toward positive plate

magnetic
conventional field
current

magnetic
conventional field
current movement

electrons and protons are deflected in opposite directions in electric and magnetic fields
*mproton = 1.67 x 10-27 kg

**Qproton = +1.6 x 10-19 C

***See Flemings Left Hand Rule

Flemings Left-Hand Rule

The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity

Atomic Numbers and Mass Numbers
The number of protons in the nucleus determines the identity
of an element
E.g. 1 proton hydrogen
2 protons helium
6 protons carbon
This is called the proton number or the atomic number
For a neutral (i.e. uncharged) atom, this is also the number of
electrons in the atom
The number of protons and neutrons together determines the
nucleon number or mass number (aka atomic mass) of the
atom

The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity

Atomic Numbers and Mass Numbers
Atomic symbols are used to summarize such information
known about an atom of an element
mass number (A)

12
6
atomic number (Z)

element symbol

The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity

Isotopes
The same element can consist of atoms with different
numbers of neutrons and hence different masses.
Isotopes are different forms of the same element. They have
the same atomic number but different mass numbers.
2 H
3 H
E.g. 11H
1
1
hydrogen
deuterium
tritium
(1 p 0 n)
(1 p 1 n)
(1 p 2 n)
Since chemical properties depend on nuclear charge and
electronic structure of an atom, with mass having very little
effect, isotopes display the same chemical behaviour

The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity

Relative Atomic Mass
Because atomic masses are too small to work with practically, the
numbers used are masses calculated relative to the mass of a
carbon-12 atom
The relative isotopic mass is the mass of a particular isotope of an
element compared to one twelfth the mass of a carbon-12 isotope
(i.e. on a scale where an atom of 12C has a mass of exactly 12 units)
The relative atomic mass (Ar) is the weighted average mass of
naturally occurring atoms of an element compared to one twelfth
the mass of a carbon-12 isotope (i.e. on a scale where an atom of
12C has a mass of exactly 12 units)
Since an element is comprised of a mixture of isotopes in different
relative natural abundances this causes it to have a relative atomic
mass that is not a whole number. E.g. 35.517Cl
10

The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity

Mass Spectrometry
To determine the relative atomic mass of an element, mass
spectrometry can be used

Ionization

Acceleration

Deflection

Detection

mass spectrum of lead

3 peaks 3 isotopes
different heights relative abundances
11

The Nucleus, Isotopes & Radioactivity

Calculating Relative Atomic Masses
relative
abundance
35 37
mass/charge

Isotope
35Cl
37Cl

Relative Isotopic
Mass
35
37

Relative
Abundance in
Natural Chlorine
75%
25%

(75 35) (25 37)

Relative atomic mass
35.5
100

35.5
17

Cl
12