Unit 1: Atomic Structure & Properties

COMMON QUESTION SETUPS FOR THIS UNIT:

●​ What experiment determined the existence of a given atomic characteristic
●​ Conversions from moles to particles or grams (or the other way around)
●​ Mass of % composition data to determine empirical mass
●​ Combustion analysis (sample burned in O2, determine amounts of C and H)
●​ Hydrate analysis (heating hydrated ionic solid, use mass change to find water:solid)

History & Models

●​ Laws include:
○​ law of conservation of matter (antoine lavoisier): matter isn’t created or destroyed
○​ law of constant composition (joseph proust): pure chemical compounds have the same
percentage of each element by mass
○​ law of multiple proportions (john dalton): when two different compounds can be made
from the same two elements, and the masses of one of the elements is the same in
both, then the masses of the other element will be in a whole number ratio
●​ Atomic theory by John Dalton
○​ all matter is composed of tiny atoms that can’t be destroyed or created
○​ each element has atoms that are identical in properties, and different elements’ atoms
have different
properties based on
element
○​ chemical reactions
are rearrangements
of atoms in whole
number ratios
●​ Cathode ray experiment (Sir
William Crookes invented, J.J Thomson discovered) determined the existence of negative parts of
atoms, aka, electrons
○​ also determined charge to mass ratio of -1.76x10^8 coulombs per gram
●​ Oil drop experiment (Robert Millikan) determined charge of electron (1.60x10^19 coulomb) and
mass of electron (9.11x10^-28 gram)
○​ plum pudding model arose
●​ Gold foil experiment (Ernest Rutherford) determined a small, dense, positive nucleus
○​ nuclear model arose
○​ later discovered proton’s mass (1.67x10^-24 gram) and that its charge is equal in
magnitude to an electron’s
●​ James Chadwick discovered the neutron through radiation
●​ Johann Balmer found a relationship between light wavelengths, later applied to element
identification
●​ Niels Bohr assumed circular orbits using a solar system model for electrons using Planck’s
description of photons (energy packets)
●​ Schrodinger developed the wave-mechanical theory that atoms can act as either waves or
particles, building on Louis de Broglie’s theory
○​ Heisenburg follows up
and says that an
electron’s exact
location at an exact
time can’t be
predicted
●​ Microwaves involve transitions
in molecular rotation, infrared
involves vibrational levels, UV
is involved with electronic
energy transitions

Light & Bohr’s Model

●​ Certain frequencies (waves per second) and photon energies
upon release (in electron volts) are categorized on the
electromagnetic spectrum
●​ (Wavelength)(Frequency) = Speed of light, where the speed
of light is 3.0 x 10^8 meters per second
●​ The energy released by a photon is found through the
formula: (Planck’s constant)(frequency), where the constant is
6.63x10^-34
●​ ^ can also be found using orbits & the Bohr model, with the formula -2.178x10^-18 over n^2,
where n is the orbit number of the electron (side note: the bohr radius is 53 pm)
●​ E = (mass)(speed of light)^2
●​ The Bohr Model is expanded to include electron clouds, where about 90% of electrons are in the
cloud
 ●​ specifics on quantum numbers aren’t necessary, but there are four needed (principal, azimuthal,
magnetic, and spin denoted by n, l, m_l, m_s)

●​ Pauli’s exclusion principle states that no two electrons can have the same set of quantum
numbers
●​ Hund’s rule states that all orbitals need to have at least 1 electron before they can start pairing
up
●​ No two electrons can spin in the same way (typically the first is positive, the second paired up
one is negative)

Moles/Molar Mass

23
●​ Avogadro’s Number: 6. 02 × 10
○​ The number of particles in a mole
●​ Same number of moles doesn’t mean same mass -
constituent particles are different
○​ Convert grams to moles via atomic mass in
amu on the periodic table (find the # of each
atom in the chemical formula and multiply
by their respective masses)
○​ Formula mass scaled up is molar mass
 ●​ Use dimensional analysis & conversion factors to get from one unit to the other

Mass Spectroscopy
●​ Notice that the masses on the periodic table are usually decimals - this is because they are based
on the relative abundance of isotopes
○​ Protons determine an element identity, electrons determine the charge, neutrons
determine the isotope of the element
●​ On a mass spectro. graph (used to determine relative abundance), each bar is a different
isotope, and the heights are their abundance

●​ Multiply each isotope by its relative abundance, then add the results
○​ This answer helps you identify the element using its mass on the periodic table

Composition
●​ All compounds have fixed compositions, meaning that their amounts are always in a set ratio
○​ For example, NaCl always has a 1:1 ratio of Na to Cl
●​ To find % composition, divide the total mass of the compound by each element’s mass and
multiply by 100 to get percentage
●​ Two different compounds can have the same ratios (empirical formulas) and subsequently, %
compositions
●​ Empirical formula is the lowest/most reduced ratio of atoms in each element, and the actual # is
molecular formula

●​ To find empirical formulas from given mass, convert to moles, divide each by the lowest number
of moles, and use the ratios. NOTE: you can approximate for decimals, and multiply them at
times (e.g., .5) to get whole numbers
 ●​ Mixtures have 2 or more pure substances in variable amounts (use
moles to get moles from grams + relate to the whole compound

Atomic Structure & Coulomb’s Law

●​ Electrons (negative) surround an atom’s nucleus consisting of protons
(positive), and neutrons (neutral)
○​ electrons determine the charge (also are so small their
volume is negligible), protons define what the element is,
neutrons define the isotope (type of that element, stable or
unstable)
Coulomb's Law:
𝑞1𝑞2
𝐹∝ 2
𝑟
●​ Coulomb’s law shows the relationship between electrical charges on particles, the q values, and
the distance between them, r, to the force needed to separate them
○​ you will never need to solve for these - just know the qualitative comparisons (e.g., an
electron closer to the nucleus will be harder to remove)

Periodic Table & Electron Configurations

●​ The Aufbau Principle states that electrons always fill the lowest atomic orbital first
○​ notation is based on the orbital number (coefficient), the orbital type (a letter, either s,
p, d, or f), and the number of electrons filled there (the exponent)
○​ visualizer on the left helps with remembering orbitals, but you can also use the periodic
table:
 ○​ for example, hydrogen is 1s^1
○​ you could also use noble gases (rightmost column) as “bookmarks” - for example, Mg
can be written as [Ne]3s^2
○​ a GROUND STATE is a state with no
charge, but an EXCITED STATE involves
ionic charge. for a negative charge
you’d add an according number of
orbital spots, and for a positive, you’d
remove them
●​ Photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) uses
radiation to knock electrons off of an atom, the force of which needed tells us which electrons
are valence (outer) and which are core (the latter being more difficult to remove, as we can
apply from Coulomb’s law)
○​ the height of each graph peak is representative of (proportional to) the number of
electrons in that shell
○​ we can use these configurations to find the element representative of the PES
●​ Periodic table trends

note: ionization energy and

electronegativity decreases with a larger
atomic radius because distance (again,
Coulomb’s law), but this reasoning does
NOT work the other way around (low
electronegativity does not cause a large
radius - they look out for this wording on
free responses)

●​ Metals lose electrons easily and electron addition is often endothermic, while nonmetals gain
easily and addition is always exothermic (negative electron affinity)