3.1.1 Atomic Structure: AQA A-Level Chemistry Alevelchemistry - Co.uk
3.1.1 Atomic Structure: AQA A-Level Chemistry Alevelchemistry - Co.uk
3.1.1 Atomic Structure: AQA A-Level Chemistry Alevelchemistry - Co.uk
uk
SPECIFICATION
‒ Structure of an atom
‒ Mass number and atomic number
‒ Isotopes and calculating Relative Atomic Mass
‒ Time of flight (TOF) mass spectrometer
‒ Applications of mass spectroscopy
‒ Electronic configuration
‒ Quantum sub-shells
‒ Atomic orbitals
‒ Filling of orbitals
‒ Electron configurations and periodic table
‒ Electron configurations of ions
‒ Electronic configurations of period 2 and 3 elements
‒ Electronic configuration of d-block elements
‒ Periodic trends in ionisation energy
‒ Predicting electronic structure using successive ionisation energy
Scientists have discovered 112 elements till now. Each element has different properties.
In this article, the structure of an atom and its mass are discussed. Properties of isotopes
are also discussed.
This article also introduces the concepts about how electrons are arranged in an atom.
The atomic orbitals and their shapes are discussed. The number of atomic orbitals a
principal quantum shell carries is also explained in brief. The order in which electrons are
filled in each atomic orbital is an important concept that links with arrangement of
elements in periodic table.
A. Structure of an atom
An atom consists of a nucleus and electrons orbiting around the nucleus. Structure of an
atom is illustrated in figure 1. A nucleus consists of protons and neutrons. Protons are
particles with positive electrical charge and neutrons carry a neutral electrical charge.
Both protons and neutrons have the same mass. An electron carries a negative electrical
charge and almost has no mass.
Relative
Particle Location Relative mass
charge
Proton Nucleus 1 +1
Neutron Nucleus 1 0
Electron Shells around Negligible
! -1
!"#$
the nucleus
AQA A-Level Chemistry 3.1.1 Atomic structure
Mass Number of
Atomic Number of
Element Symbol number neutrons
number (p) protons (p)
(p+n) (n)
##
Sodium !" $% 23 11 11 12
#"
Aluminium !& '( 27 13 13 14
!*
Calcium )* +% 40 20 20 20
AQA A-Level Chemistry 3.1.1 Atomic structure
Boron is available in two forms: :;9< and ::9<. The relative composition of isotopes of
Boron found mass by spectroscopy and is given in the table below:
Boron-10 Boron-11
Relative
10 11
isotopic mass
Relative
23 100
abundance
2$%
!=
&
The composition of each isotope can be found out through result of mass spectrometer.
This data is used to calculate the relative atomic mass of the element. The mass
spectroscopy result for Boron is given in the figure below.
F. Electronic configuration
The electrons around the nucleus are arranged in principal quantum shells (symbol
n). The arrangement of electrons in an atom is called its electronic configuration.
Each principal quantum shell can hold a maximum number of electrons as per the
table given below:
Quantum shell Maximum number of electrons
n=1 2
n=2 8
n=3 18
n=4 32
The quantum shell n=1 is the closest to the nucleus, n=2 is the next shell and so on.
Examples:
He C
Mg
G. Quantum sub-shells
The principal quantum shells (except for n=1) are split into sub-shells. The sub-
shells are named as s (sharp), p (principal) and d (diffuse). The maximum number
of electrons in each of these sub-shells is given in table below:
The sub-shells for the four principal quantum shells are given in the figure below.
The electrons fill up the sub-shells in increasing of energy in each sub-shell.
• n=1 principal quantum shell consists of one s sub-shell and carries maximum of
2 electrons.
• n=2 principal quantum shell consists of one s sub-shell and one p sub-shell.
Thus, carries a maximum of 8 electrons.
• n=3 principal quantum shell consists of one s sub-shell, one p sub-shell and
one d sub-shell. Thus, carries a maximum of 18 electrons.
Until the atomic number of 18 (Argon), the shells are filled in order: 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s
and 3p. For potassium (atomic number 19), the electron fill up the 4s sub-shell
rather than 3d sub-shell. This is because the ionisation energy of 4s is less than
that of 3d. The electron enters the 3d sub-shell only when the 4s sub-shell is filled.
H. Atomic orbitals
An atomic orbital is the region of space around the nucleus that can be occupied by
one or two electrons. Each quantum sub-shells is made of one or more atomic
orbitals. The number of atomic orbitals for each sub shell is given in the table below:
Maximum Number of
Sub-shell
number of electrons atomic orbitals
s 2 1
p 6 3
d 10 5
I. Filling of orbitals
The shells are filled in the increasing order of energy levels. The order in which the
electrons are filled is shown in figure below.
Electrons are negatively charged. As like charges repel each other, electrons
occupy separate orbitals if possible. Only when the all orbitals of a sub shell are
filled with one electron, the electrons are paired in those orbitals. The paired
electrons always have opposite spins to minimise repulsions.
J. Electron configurations
The electron configurations of an element denote the number of electrons in each
sub shell in order. For example, helium has 2 electrons which are filled in the 1s
orbital. The electron configuration is written as:
electron configuration of He=1s2
where 1 represents the principal quantum number, s represents the sub-shell and 2
represents the number of electrons in 1s sub-shell.
Similarly, electron configuration of nitrogen (atomic number=7) is written as:
electron configuration of N=1s22s22p3
• The electrons fill up 3d sub shell after filling up 4s sub shell. For example:
Scandium has atomic number of 21
electron configuration of Sc=1s22s22p63s23p64s23d1
The configuration of Ca2+ is similar to that of Argon (Atomic number =18) which is a
noble gas.
Negative ions are formed when atoms gain electrons. For example: electron
configuration of oxygen is 1s22s22p4. Oxygen gains two electrons and forms O2-.
The configuration of O2- is similar to that of Neon (Atomic number =10) which is a
noble gas.
AQA A-Level Chemistry 3.1.1 Atomic structure
Generally, the first ionisation energy across the period increases towards right due to
increase in atomic number. There are small dips across the period between Magnesium
and Aluminium, and between Phosphorous and Sulphur. These dips are also found in
period 2 between Beryllium and Boron, and Nitrogen and Oxygen.
Aluminium has one electron in its 3p orbital. It requires less energy to remove one
electron from p-shell when compared to that of Magnesium. This is due to shielding of
valence electrons in 3p orbital by electrons in 3s orbital. In case of Mg, the shielding is
comparatively less.
Sulphur has 2 pair of electrons in 3p orbital. There is a force of repulsion between these
paired electrons which reduces the force of attraction between valence electrons and
nucleus (spin-repulsing theory). Hence, the ionisation energy of Sulphur is less than
Phosphorous.
Second ionisation energy is the energy required to remove one electron from each atom
in one mole of atoms of single positively charged ions in gaseous state to form gaseous
2+ ions.
X+(g)→X2+(g)+e-
The ionisation energies of group 2 elements are given below. The ionisation energy
decreases down the group because of:
• Increase in the size of the atom
• Decrease in force of attraction between nucleus and valence electrons
• Increase in shielding effect of filled inner shells
Successive ionisation energy is always greater than the 1st ionisation energy.
Solution:
i. The ionisation energy for the first two electrons is relatively lower than removing
the third electron. Thus, this element must have two electrons in its outermost
shell. The first two electrons have shielding effect due to the filled shells. Once the
second electron is removed, the size of the atom has reduced significantly which
leads to increase in force of attraction. That is why it is difficult to remove the third
electron. It can be concluded that this is a group 2 element.
ii. As this element belongs to group 2. The outermost shell contains 2 electrons. The
next shell contains 8 electrons. The innermost shell contains 2 electrons. Once the
10 electrons are removed, the shielding effect and force of attraction increases
significantly. Hence, ionisation energy to remove the 11th electron increases too.