CHM 101 – General Chemistry I

Atomic Structure and Modern Electronic Theory of Atoms

Historical development of the structure of atom

In the fifth century B.C., the Greek philosopher (Democritus) proposed that all

matter consists of very small indivisible particles, which he named atomos.

Democritus idea was not accepted by many of his contemporaries, notably Plato

and Aristole.

Robert Boyle later found that there exist elements that combine to form

compounds but cannot be subdivided.

The laws of reciprocal proportion (by Richter in 1772) and constant composition

(by Proust in 1797) can only be explained by assuming that atoms combine in

constant proportions to form chemical compounds.

In 1808, John Dalton formulated a theory of the atom. He proposed that;

i. An atom is the smallest indivisible particle of matter

ii. Atom of a given element are identical

iii. Atom of one element are different from those of another element

iv. Atoms of two or more elements may combine in definite ratios to form

a compound

v. Atoms remain unchanged in chemical reactions

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A series of investigations that began in the 1850s and extended into the 20 th

century revealed that the atom is divisible and consist of even smaller particles

called sub-atomic particles.

The sub-atomic particles

1. The electron

The discovery and identification of the electron is credited to an English

Physicist, J.J. Thomson, who won the nobel prize in Physics in 1906. In his

experiment, Thomson studied the bending of a thin beam of cathode rays by

electric and magnetic fields and found that:

i. They consisted of negatively charged particles (i.e. electrons)

ii. The charge to mass ratio of the electron was -1.759 x 108Cg-1
𝑒
iii. The ratio was the same whatever the nature of the gas used
𝑚

2. The Proton

By early 1900s, the atom was known to be electrically neutral. To maintain

electrical neutrality, it must contain an equal number of positive and negative

charges.

To account for the arrangement of protons and electrons in the atom, Thomson

proposed the “plum pudding model” which considered an atom as a uniform

positive sphere of matter in which the electrons are embedded.

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 The proton is considered to be positively charged

3. The Neutron

In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the third sub-atomic particle. He called

it neutron because it is electrically neutral.

The Structure of an Atom

• The electrons are constantly moving with incredibly high speed which

makes it difficult for the electron to fall into the nucleus.

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 • The electrons are negatively charged while protons are positively charged.

• The neutrons helps to keep all the particles strongly together in the nucleus.

Properties of the sub-atomic particles

Particle Electron Proton Neutron

Symbol e- p+ nº

Charge (C) -1.6022 x 10-19 -1.6022 x 10-19 0

Relative Charge -1 +1 0

Rest mass (g) 9.1095 x 10-28 1.67252 x 10-24 1.67495 x 10-24

Relative mass 1 1836 1839

ATOMIC NUMBER, MASS NUMBER, NET CHARGE AND

ISOTOPES

Atomic number (Z): is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom of an

element. In a neutral atom, the number of protons is equal to the number of

electrons. So, atomic number also indicates the number of electrons in the

atom

Mass number (A): is the number of neutrons and protons present in the

nucleus of an atom of an element.

In general,
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 Number of neutrons = mass number – atomic number

N = (A) - (Z)

Electrical Balance in an Atom

There are two kinds of electric charge, positive (+) and negative (-). When two

objects are both charged with a positive charge, they repel one another.

Similarly, two negatively charged bodies repel one another. But when one

object is positively charged and another is negatively charged, the two objects

will attract one another. All this can be said very briefly in the statement: "like

charges repel, unlike charges attract".

Net charge (C) = proton - electron

Isotopes are atoms that have the same atomic number but different mass

numbers. For example, hydrogen has three isotopes as given in the table

below:

Isotope Name Number of Neutrons

Protium 0

Deuterium 1

Tritium 2

Each of the three isotopes has one proton.

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 Examples:

1 (a) Give the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in the following

species; (i) (ii) (iii)

and
(b) What can you say of ?

Answer

=
(a) (i) , where A and Z are the mass number and atomic number

respectively.

⸫ Number of protons = 8

In a neutral atom,

Number of electrons = Number of protons = 8

Number of neutrons is A – Z = 17 – 8 = 9

Similar calculations can be done for the other species.

Species No. of protons No. of electrons No. of neutrons

80 80 119

80 80 120

(b) and have the same number of protons but different numbers

of neutrons. Hence, they are isotopes of the same element.

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(2) What is the atomic number, mass number and the overall charge of an atom

containing 5 protons, 3 neutrons and 4 electrons.

Answer

Atomic no. = No. of protons = 5

Mass no. = No. of protons + No. of neutrons = 5 + 3 = 8

Net charge = proton – electron = 5 – 4 = +1

(3) Calculate the number of electrons, protons and atomic number of an atom

with the following characteristics:

No. of neutron = 11

Mass no. = 25

Net charge = +1

Answer: no. of electron = 13, no. of proton = 14, atomic no. = 14

Calculating the Relative Atomic Mass of an Element from Isotopic

Abundance

relative atomic mass =

(𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 1𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒 X 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑙. 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒)+(𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑜.𝑜𝑓 2𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒 X 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑙. 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒)+⋯
100

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Example

Calculate the relative atomic mass of zinc from the following data;

Mass number of isotope Relative abundance

64 48.6

66 27.9

67 4.1

68 18.8

70 0.6

(64 𝑋 48.6)+(66 𝑋 27.9)+(67 𝑋 4.1)+(68 𝑋 18.8)+(70 𝑋 0.6)

Zn = = 65.5
100

Practice Questions

1. Calculate the number of electrons, protons and neutrons in the following

atoms/ions:

(i)

(ii)

(iii) , given that number of neutrons is 81

(iv) , given that number of neutrons is 16

2. Calculate the relative atomic mass of chlorine from the following data:

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 Mass number of isotope Isotopic abundance

35 75%

37 25%

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