The structure of the atom.

Electrons, protons and neutrons

Mass number and atomic number
Isotopes
Relative atomic mass
Relative molecular/formula mass

Objectives
To review the structure of the atom.
To understand the terms:proton number, nucleon, nucleon
number and isotope.

Structure of the Atom:

A simple model
Atoms are made up of three smaller types
of particle
Particle

Description

Location

Proton

Mass 1
Charge +1

In nucleus
(a nucleon)

Neutron

Mass 1
Charge 0

In nucleus
(a nucleon)

Electron

Mass ~1/2000
Charge -1

In orbit around
nucleus

Structure of the Atom:

A simple model
Nucleon (Mass) Number,
neutrons

A = no. of protons + no. of

The NUCLEUS of
hydrogen contains
just one NUCLEON
which is a PROTON

Proton (Atomic) Number,

protons

= Number of

(= no. of electrons in neutral atom)

A 2 cm
diameter
hydrogen
nucleus
placed in
central St
Albans
would
have an
electron
cloud of
2.9 km in
radius

Structure of the Atom:

A simple model
Nucleon (Mass) Number,
neutrons

A = no. of protons + no. of

He

Proton (Atomic) Number,

protons

= Number of

(= no. of electrons in neutral atom)

Structure of the Atom:

A simple model
For elements larger
than Hydrogen 1,
there needs to be
neutrons in the
nucleus to hold the
protons together
against the electrical
repulsion.

Structure of the Atom:

A simple model
For elements larger
than Hydrogen 1, there
needs to be neutrons
in the nucleus to hold
the protons together
against the electrical
repulsion.
As atoms get bigger
there needs to be more
and more neutrons to
hold the extra protons
together.

Atomic number and mass

number
The number of protons in an atom is known as the atomic
number or proton number and is represented by the symbol Z.

The mass number of an atom is the number of protons plus the

number of neutrons, and is represented by the symbol A.

When an atom is
represented by its symbol,
the mass number, and
sometimes the atomic
number, are shown.

mass
number (A)

atomic
number (Z)

Some Elements and their Numbers

Elemen
t

Symbol

Proton
numbe
r

Neutro
n
number

Hydroge
n

Carbon

Silicon

Si

14

14

Zinc

Zn

30

35

Barium

Ba

56

81

Lead

Pb

82

126

Uranium

92

146

What do
you
notice ?
6

Complete the table

Elemen
t

Symbol

Proton
numbe
r

Neutro
n
number

Nucleon
Number

Nuclear
Symbol

Hydroge
n

Carbon

Silicon

Si

14

Zinc

Zn

30

H
1

12

14
65

Zn
30

Barium

Ba

56

Lead

Pb

82

Uranium

92

81
208
146

Some Elements and their Numbers

Elemen
t

Symbol

Proton
numbe
r

Neutro
n
number

Nucleon
Number

Nuclear
Symbol

Hydroge
n

Carbon

H
1

12

12

C
6

Silicon

Si

14

14

28

28

Si
14

Zinc

Zn

30

35

65

65

Zn
30

Barium

Ba

56

81

137

137

Ba
56

Lead

Pb

82

126

208

208

Pb
82

Uranium

92

146

238

238

U
92

Overview so far.
List the atomic numbers of
the first 12 elements in the
periodic table.

Atomic Number

Element

Symbol

Hydrogen

Helium

He

Lithium

Li

Beryllium

Be

Boron

Carbon

Nitrogen

Oxygen

Fluorine

10

Neon

Ne

11

Sodium

Na

12

Magnesium

Mg

So what is an atom?
An atom is the smallest part of an
element

Subatomic particles
Atoms are composed of three subatomic particles: protons, neutrons
and electrons. The two important properties of these particles are mass
and charge:

Particle

Relativemass

Relative
charge

proton

+1

neutron

electron

0 (1/2000)

-1

The mass of electrons is negligible when compared to the mass of

protons and neutrons, so their mass is not included when calculating the
mass of the atom.

The discovery of the

nuclear atom
Rutherfords genius

How do we know?

Ernest Rutherford 18711937

Hans Geiger (1882-1945)

Invented the
Geiger counter to
measure
radioactivity

Ernest Marsden

 The electron had been discovered

but it was thought that the atom was
a positive lump with the electrons
stuck onto the outside.
J J Thompson called this his Plum
Pudding model

Alpha scattering experiment

In the early 1900s Geiger and Marsden,
working for Rutherford, carried out a now
famous scattering experiment.
The gun was a source of alpha radiation
The bullets were alpha particles
The target was a very thin gold film
(foil)

The apparatus

The results
Most of the alpha particles went straight
through the gold foil or were deflected by
small angles
A small fraction were deflected by much
larger angles
1 in 8000 were deflected by more than 900

Single alpha scattering

Multiple alpha scattering

It was as if you fired a 15

inch shell at a piece of
tissue paper and it came
back and hit you!

The conclusions
Most of the alpha particles went straight through
the gold foil or were deflected by small angles Most of the atom is empty space
A small fraction were deflected by much larger
angles There exists a very small, positively charged
nucleus at the centre of the atom
1 in 8000 were deflected by more than 90 0 The nucleus is incredibly dense
The electrons exist outside the nucleus

The nuclear atom

What are isotopes?

Isotopes are atoms of the same element that contain different
numbers of neutrons.
mass number is
different

atomic number
is the same
carbon-12

carbon-13

The reactivity of different isotopes of an element is identical because

they have the same number of electrons.
The different masses of the atoms means that physical properties of
isotopes are slightly different.

Isotopes of chlorine
About 75% of naturally-occurring chlorine is chlorine-35 ( 35Cl) and 25% is
chlorine-37 (37Cl).
17 protons

17 protons

18 neutrons

20 neutrons

17 electrons

17 electrons

Isotopes of carbon

There is also more than one isotope of carbon:

Isotope

Protons

Neutrons

12

13

14

All isotopes of carbon have 6 protons and so have 6 electrons.

Because chemical reactivity depends on the number of electrons the
reactivity of the isotopes of carbon is identical.

Isotopes

hydrogen 1

hydrogen 2
(deuterium)

hydrogen 3
(tritium)

H
1
2

H
1
3

H
1

Isotopes
of
hydroge
n
Same number of
protons, so
same element.
Different number
of neutrons so
different mass
number.

Unstable isotopes and their modes of

decay

Isotopes above the

stable line have too
many neutrons and
tend to be beta
emitters

Isotopes below the

stable line have too
few neutrons and
tend to be alpha
radiation emitters.

Whats the number?

Objectives: Have we met

them?
To review the structure of the atom.

To understand the terms:proton number, nucleus, nucleon

number or mass number) and isotope.

Relative atomic mass calculations

To make use of arithmetic in order to
calculate:
- Relative atomic mass
- Relative molecular/formula mass

Counting atoms and

molecules
When conducting a chemical reaction, it is often important to mix
reactants in the correct proportions. This prevents contamination of
the products by wasted reactants.
However, atoms are very small
and impossible to count out. In
order to estimate the number of
atoms in a sample of an element,
it is necessary to find their mass.

The mass of an atom is

quantified in terms of relative
atomic mass.

Weighing atoms
Mass spectrometry is an accurate instrumental technique used to
determine the relative isotopic mass (mass of each individual isotope
relative to carbon-12) and the relative abundance for each isotope. From
this, the relative atomic mass of the element can be calculated.

Some uses of mass

spectrometry include:

carbon-14 dating
detecting illegal drugs
forensic science
space exploration.

Mass spectrometry

Using mass spectra to

The mass spectrum calculate
of an element indicatesA
thermass and abundance of
each isotope present. For example, the mass spectrum of boron
indicates two isotopes are present:

abundance (%)

100
11

80

B (80%)

60
10

40

B (20%)

20
0

m/z
How can this be used to calculate the Ar of boron?

10

12

What is relative atomic

mass?
The relative atomic mass (A ) of an element is the weighted mean
r

mass of an atom of an element compared with 1/12 the mass of one

atom of carbon-12.
relative atomic mass
(Ar)

average mass of an atom 12

mass of one atom of carbon-12

Most elements have more than one

isotope.
The relative isotopic mass
Is the mass of an atom of an
isotope compared with 1/12 of the
mass of an atom of carbon-12

Calculating Ar
Most elements have more than one isotope. The relative atomic mass of
the element is the average mass of the isotopes taking into account the
abundance of each isotope.

Example: what is the Ar of boron?

In a sample of boron, 20% of the atoms are

B and 80% are

10

If there are 100 atoms, then 20 atoms would be

would be 11B.

B and 80 atoms

10

The relative atomic mass is calculated as follows:

Ar of Br = (20 10) + (80 11)
100
Ar of Br = 10.8

B.

11

Calculating Ar of magnesium

In a sample of magnesium, 79.0% of the magnesium atoms are

24
Mg, 10.0% are 25Mg and 11.0% are 26Mg.

Example: What is the Ar of magnesium?

1. Calculate mass abundance
of each isotope

24 79.0
25 10.0
26 11.0

2. Add these values,

and divide by 100

(1896 + 250 + 286) / 100

Ar of Mg = 24.3

Ar calculations

Relative molecular mass

The relative molecular mass (Mr) is the weighted mean mass of a
molecule compared with 1/12 the mass of one atom of carbon-12.

Mr can be calculated by adding together the masses of each of the

atoms in a molecule.

Example: what is the Mr of H2SO4?

1. Count number of atoms

(2 H) + (1 S) + (4 O)

2. Substitute the Ar values

(2 1.0) + (1 32.1) +
(4 16.0)

3. Add the values together

2.0 + 32.1 + 64.0 = 98.1

Relative formula mass

The equivalent of relative molecular mass for an ionic substance is the
relative formula mass.
This is the weighted mean mass of a formula unit compared with
1/12 the mass of one atom of carbon-12.

Example: what is the RFM of CaCl2?

1. Count number of atoms

(1 Ca) + (2 Cl)

2. Substitute the Ar values

(1 40.1) + (2 35.5)

3. Add the values together

40.1 + 71.0 = 111.1

Calculating relative formula

mass