Atomic Structure - Study Notes
Atomic Structure - Study Notes
Atomic Structure - Study Notes
Structure
Updated as of OCT 2020
CHEMISTRY
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Atomic Structure
Atoms
An atom is the smallest particle of every element.
The word atom came from the Greek word Atomos which means indivisible.
Atoms are made of Electron, Protons, and Neutrons. Proton and Neutron reside in
the nucleus of the atom and electrons orbit the nucleus.
Atoms always have an equal number of protons and electrons and the number of
neutrons and protons is usually same as well.
Protons and Neutrons are held together in the nucleus by a strong force called
Strong Nuclear force.
Discovery of Electrons
Dalton’s theory:
Atoms are indivisible (That cannot be divided) and cannot be destroyed through
chemical reactions.
Drawbacks: Various other scientist discovered that atoms were made of elec-
tron proton and neutron.
A cathode ray tube is made of glass having two thin pieces of metal, called
electrodes, sealed in it.
The electrical discharge through the gases could be observed only at very low
pressure and at very high voltage.
When sufficient High voltage is applied on the electrodes, current starts flowing
through a stream of particles moving in the tube from the negative electrode
(cathode) to the positive electrode (anode).
These stream of particles were called cathode rays or cathode ray particles.
1. The cathode rays start from cathode and move towards the anode.
2. In the absence of electrical or magnetic field, these rays travel in straight lines.
3. In the presence of electrical or magnetic field, the behavior of cathode rays is similar
to that expected from negatively charged particles, suggesting that the cathode rays
consist of negatively charged particles, called electrons.
Some of the positively charged particles carry a multiple of the fundamental unit of
electrical charge.
The smallest and lightest positive ion was obtained from hydrogen and was called
proton.
When electrically neutral particles having a mass slightly greater than that of the
protons was emitted. He named these particles as neutrons.
Non-Fundamental Particles
Particles other than electron, protons and neutrons are called non-fundamental
particles.
5. Quarks and Bosons: These are the elementary particles from which
other heavy sub-atomic particles such as electrons, protons and neutrons are
formed. Bosons are the particles for which number of rotations are whole
number.
He stated that atoms consist of a positively charged sphere and electrons are
embedded into it.
He also said that negative and positive charges are equal in magnitude, so an atom
as a whole is electrically neutral.
Drawbacks: It failed to explain how the positive charge holds on the electron inside
the atom. It also failed to explain the reasons of stability of an atom.
He observed that most of the α– particles passed through the gold foil without
deflecting.
Some α–particles were deflected by small angles, and some were deflected by
nearly 180° .
On the basis of this experiment Rutherford stated that there is a positively charged
spherical center in an atom called the nucleus, and nearly all the mass of an atom
(having radius 10-10m) is packed in the nucleus (having radius 10–15 m).
The theory says that the size of the nucleus is very small as compared to the size of
the atom.
He stated that electrons revolve around the nucleus in a well defined path called
“orbit”.
An electron moves from lower to higher states by gaining the energy and moves
from higher energy states to lower energy states by losing energy.
The energy levels are represented by an integer known as the Quantam number.
These quantam numbers start from n=1, 2, 3, ….. and got assigned as K, L, M, N,
…. Shells.
Bohr's Model
Drawbacks: Bohr’s model was not able to define the effect of magnetic field and
electric field on the spectra of atoms.
The Bohr atomic model made correct predictions for smaller sized atoms like hydro-
gen, but poor spectral predictions were obtained when larger atoms are considered.
The number of proton present in the nucleus of the atom is called atomic number
(Z).
The positive charge of nucleus is because of protons but the mass of nucleus is due
to both protons and neutrons.
Isobars
Isobars are the atoms with same mass number but different atomic number.
Example: 6C14 and 7N14.
The isobar of cobalt is used in treatment of cancer, and the isobar of Iodine is used
in the treatment of goiter.
Isobars
Isotopes
Isotopes are the atoms with different mass number but similar atomic number.
Example: 1H1 (Protium), 1H2 (Deuterium), 1H3 (Tritium).
Chemical properties of atoms are determined by the number of electrons, which are
determined by the number of protons in the nucleus.
Number of neutrons present in the nucleus have a little effect on the chemical
properties of an element. Therefore, all the isotopes of a given element show similar
chemical behavior.
Some isotopes are stable, but some can emit subatomic particles in order to reach a
more stable state, such isotopes are called Radioisotopes, and the process of
emitting particles by them is called decay.
The unstable isotopes emit rays which are called radioactive rays. Alpha, Beta and
Gamma are the rays emitted by unstable isotopes.
Isotopes of Hydrogen
Quantum Numbers
The quantum numbers are the set of four numbers that give complete information
about
Subshell
Orientation
It identifies the shell or orbit number of an electron, it also determines the size
and energy of the orbit.
For principle quantum number n, l has values from 0 to (n-1) e.g if n=1 then
l=0 and if n=3 then l= 0, 1, 2, 3
The value of ‘m’ depends upon the value of l, it varies from –l…….0……..+l.
If l = 0 then m = 0
Generally two types of spins are possible for an electron, these are clock-
wise and anti-clockwise.
The value of s can be +1/2 or -1/2. The orbital cannot hold more than two
Symbols K, L, M, N are used to represent various shells from lower to upper energy.
Each orbit or shall consists of one or more subshells depending upon the three
dimensional graphic plot of electronic wave function and internal atomic
composition.
Each shell is associated with one or more orbitals that are represented by the small
letters s, p, d and f.
Orbitals
The three dimensional space, present around the nucleus of an atom, where
probability of finding an electron is maximum, is called orbit.
Each orbital is associated with a fixed number of electrons. E.g. the maximum
number of electrons present in s, p, d, and f subshells are 2, 6, 10, and 14
respectively.
Electronic Configuration
Distribution of Electron in Different orbits (Shells): It is an arrangement of electrons
in various shells, subshells and orbits of an atom.
3. Electrons are filled in the shells stepwise manner i.e. from inner to outer.
Afbau Principle
In the ground state of the atoms, the orbitals are filled in order of their increasing
energies, or electrons first occupy the lowest energy orbital available to them
and enter into higher energy orbitals only after the lower energy orbitals are filled.
For example, carbon has 6 electrons and its electronic configuration is 1s22s22p2.
No two electrons in an atom can have the same set of four quantum numbers, in
other words “Only two electrons may exist in the same orbital and these
electrons must have opposite spin.
The maximum number of electrons in the shell with principal quantum number n is
equal to 2n2.
This rule states that pairing of electrons in the orbitals belonging to the same
subshell (p, d or f) does not take place until each orbital belonging to that subshell
has got one electron each i.e., it is singly occupied.
Since there are three p, five d and seven f orbitals, therefore, the pairing of electrons
will start in the p, d and f orbitals with the entry of 4th, 6th and 8th electron.
The chemical properties of an element depends upon valency of element, and that is
calculated from the number of valence electrons.
Exceptions:
These two are exception because a completely full or half full d sub-
level is more stable than a partially filled d sub-level, so an electron
from the 4s orbital is exited and rises to a 3d orbital. In these both
cases an electron moves from the 4s sublevel to produce a half full 3d
(Cr) or completely filled 3d (Cu).
Points to Remember
1. Protons and Neutrons together are called Nucleons.