Atomic Structure Lecture1
Atomic Structure Lecture1
Atomic Structure Lecture1
If an atom could be
expanded to the size of a
football stadium, the
nucleus would be the
size of a single
blueberry.
Rutherford’s Nuclear Model
• Subsequent experimental studies led to the discovery of both positive particles
(protons) and neutral particles (neutrons) in the nucleus. Protons were discovered
in 1919 by Rutherford. In 1932 British scientist James Chadwick (1891-1972)
discovered neutrons.
Radioactivity
• In 1896 the French scientist Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) was studying a uranium
compound when he discovered that it spontaneously emits high-energy radiation.
• This spontaneous emission of radiation is called radioactivity.
• At Becquerel's suggestion Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, began experiments to
isolate the radioactive components of the compound.
• Further study of the nature of radioactivity, principally by the British scientist Ernest
Rutherford, revealed three types of radiation:
alpha ( ), beta ( ), and gamma ( ) radiation.
• Each type differs in its response to an electric field, as shown in the following figure.
• The paths of both a and {3 radiation are bent by the electric field, although in
opposite directions; y radiation αis unaffected.
Radioactivity
Radioactivity
• Rutherford showed that both and rays consist of fast-moving particles, which
were called and particles.
• In fact, particles are high-speed electrons and can be considered the radioactive
equivalent of cathode rays. They are attracted to a positively charged plate.
• The particles have a positive charge and are attracted toward a negative plate.
• In units of the charge of the electron, particles have a charge of 1- and particles a
charge of 2+.
• Each particle has a mass about 7400 times that of an electron.
• Gamma radiation is high-energy radiation similar to X-rays; it does not consist of
particles and carries no charge
The Bohr Model
• By 1913, the evolution of our concept of the atom had proceeded from Dalton’s
indivisible spheres idea to J. J. Thomson’s plum pudding model and then to
Rutherford’s nuclear atom theory.
• Rutherford, in addition to carrying out the brilliant experiment that demonstrated
the presence of the atomic nucleus, also proposed that the electrons circled the
nucleus in a planetary type motion.
For hydrogen:
The Bohr Model
• To explain the hydrogen spectrum shown below, Bohr suggested that in each
hydrogen atom, the electron revolves about the nucleus in one of several possible
circular orbits, each having a definite radius corresponding to a definite energy for
the electron.
• An electron in the orbit closest to the nucleus has the lowest energy. With the
electron in that orbit, the atom is said to be in its lowest energy state, or ground
state.
• If a discrete quantity of additional energy were absorbed by the atom in some
manner, the electron might be able to move into another orbit having a higher
energy.
• The hydrogen atom would then be in an excited state. An atom in the excited
state will return to the ground state and give off its excess energy as light in the
process.
The Bohr Model
• In returning to the ground state, the energy may be emitted all at once, or it may be
emitted in a stepwise manner (but not continuously) as the electron drops from a
higher allowed orbit to allowed orbits of lower and lower energy.
• Since each orbit corresponds to a definite energy level, the energy of the light
emitted will correspond to the definite differences in energy between levels.
• Therefore, the light emitted as the atom returns to its ground state will have a
definite energy or a definite set of energies as shown below.
• The discrete amounts of energy emitted or absorbed by an atom or molecule are
called quanta (singular, quantum). A quantum of light energy is called a photon.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
• What makes an atom of one element different from an atom of another element? For
example, how does an atom of carbon differ from an atom of oxygen?
• The significant difference is in their subatomic compositions. The atoms of each
element have a characteristic number of protons.
Subatomic Particles
• Every atom has nearly all of its mass concentrated in a tiny region in the centre of the
atom called the nucleus.
• The nucleus is made up of particles called nucleons. There are two types of nucleon:
protons and neutrons.
• Atoms of different elements have different numbers of protons.
• Outside the nucleus, particles called electrons move around in regions of space called
orbitals.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
Numbers of nucleons
Proton number and nucleon number
• The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom is called the proton number (Z). It
is also known as the atomic number.
• Every atom of the same element has the same number of protons in its nucleus. It is
the proton number that makes an atom what it is. For example, an atom with a
proton number of 11 must be an atom of the element sodium.
• The Periodic Table of elements is arranged in order of the proton numbers of the
individual elements.
• The nucleon number (A) is the number of protons plus neutrons in the nucleus of an
atom. This is also known as the mass number.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
How many neutrons?
• We can use the nucleon number and proton number to find the number of neutrons
in an atom. As:
nucleon number = number of protons + number of neutrons
• Then:
number of neutrons = nucleon number – number of protons
=A–Z
• For example, an atom of aluminium has a nucleon number of 27 and a proton
number of 13. So an aluminium atom has 27 – 13 = 14 neutrons.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
Isotopes
• All atoms of the same element have the same number of protons. However, they
may have different numbers of neutrons.
• Atoms of the same element that have differing numbers of neutrons are called
isotopes.
• Isotopes of a particular element have the same chemical properties because they
have the same number of electrons.
• They have slightly different physical properties, such as small differences in density.
• We can write symbols for isotopes. We write the nucleon number at the top left of
the chemical symbol and the proton number at the bottom left.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
• The symbol for the isotope of boron with 5 protons and 11 nucleons is written:
• Hydrogen has three isotopes. The atomic structure and isotopic symbols for the three
isotopes of hydrogen are shown below:
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
• When writing generally about isotopes, chemists also name them by omitting the
proton number and placing the nucleon number after the name. For example, the
isotopes of hydrogen can be called hydrogen-1, hydrogen-2 and hydrogen-3.
• Isotopes can be radioactive or non-radioactive. Specific radioisotopes (radioactive
isotopes) can be used to check for leaks in oil or gas pipelines and to check the
thickness of paper. They are also used in medicine to treat some types of cancer and
to check the activity of the thyroid gland in the throat.
Atomic Mass
• Because each proton and each neutron contribute approximately one amu to the
mass of an atom, and each electron contributes far less, the atomic mass of a single
atom is approximately equal to its mass number (a whole number).
• However, the average masses of atoms of most elements are not whole numbers
because most elements exist naturally as mixtures of two or more isotopes.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
• The mass of an element shown in a periodic table or listed in a table of atomic masses
is a weighted, average mass of all the isotopes present in a naturally occurring sample
of that element.
• This is equal to the sum of each individual isotope’s mass multiplied by its fractional
abundance.
• For example, the element boron is composed of two isotopes: About 19.9% of all
boron atoms are 10B with a mass of 10.0129 amu, and the remaining 80.1% are 11B
with a mass of 11.0093 amu.
• The average atomic mass for boron is calculated to be:
boron average mass = (0.199 × 10.0129 amu) + (0.801 × 11.0093 amu)
= 1.99 amu + 8.82 amu
= 10.81 amu
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
• It is important to understand that no single boron atom weighs exactly 10.8 amu;
10.8 amu is the average mass of all boron atoms, and individual boron atoms weigh
either approximately 10 amu or 11 amu.
Example 2:
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
Exercise:
• We can also do variations of this type of calculation, as shown in the next example.
Atomic Numbers, Mass Numbers, and
Isotopes
• The occurrence and natural abundances of isotopes can be experimentally
determined using an instrument called a mass spectrometer.
• Mass spectrometry (MS) is widely used in chemistry, forensics, medicine,
environmental science, and many other fields to analyze and help identify the
substances in a sample of material.
• In a typical mass spectrometer (shown below), the sample is vaporized and exposed
to a high-energy electron beam that causes the sample’s atoms (or molecules) to
become electrically charged, typically by losing one or more electrons.
• These cations then pass through a (variable) electric or magnetic field that deflects
each cation’s path to an extent that depends on both its mass and charge (similar to
how the path of a large steel ball bearing rolling past a magnet is deflected to a lesser
extent that that of a small steel ball bearing).
Isotopes
• The figure below illustrates an analysis of zirconium (Zr) in a mass spectrometer
which produces a mass spectrum with peaks showing the different isotopes of Zr.
Isotopes
• The ions are detected, and a plot of the relative number of ions generated versus
their mass-to-charge ratios (a mass spectrum) is made.
• The height of each vertical feature or peak in a mass spectrum is proportional to the
fraction of cations with the specified mass-to-charge ratio.
• Since its initial use during the development of modern atomic theory, MS has evolved
to become a powerful tool for chemical analysis in a wide range of applications.
[The letters s, p, d, and f come from the words sharp, principal, diffuse, and
fundamental, which were used to describe certain features of spectra before
quantum mechanics was developed]
The Quantum Mechanical Model of the
Atom
Orbitals and Quantum Numbers
3. The magnetic quantum number, ml, can have integral values between -n
and n, including zero. This quantum number describes the orientation of
the orbital in space.
• The collection of orbitals with the same value of n is called an electron shell. All the
orbitals that have n = 3, for example, are said to be in the third shell.
• Further, the set of orbitals that have the same n and l values is called a subshell.
• Each subshell is designated by a number (the value of n) and a letter (s, p, d, or f,
corresponding to the value of l).
• For example, the orbitals that have n = 3 and l = 2 are called 3d orbitals and are in
the 3d subshell.
• The following table shows the relationship among Values of n, l, and ml . It
summarizes the possible values of the quantum numbers l, and ml for values of n
through n = 4.
The Quantum Mechanical Model of the
Atom
The Quantum Mechanical Model of the
Atom
• The restrictions on the possible values of the quantum numbers give rise
to the following very important observations:
1. The shell with principal quantum number n will consist of
exactly n subshells. Each subshell corresponds to a different
allowed value of l from 0 to (n - 1). Thus, the first shell (n = 1)
consists of only one subshell, the 1s (l = 0); the second shell
(n = 2) consists of two subshells, the 2s (l = 0) and 2p (l = 1); the
third shell consists of three subshells, 3s, 3p, and 3d, and so forth.
The Quantum Mechanical Model of the
Atom
2. Each subshell consists of a specific number of orbitals. Each orbital
corresponds to a different allowed value of ml . For a given value of l, there are
(2l + 1) allowed values of ml, ranging from -l to +l. Thus, each s (l = 0) subshell
consists of one orbital, each p (l = 1) subshell consists of three orbitals, each d
(l = 2) subshell consists of five orbitals, and so forth.
3. The total number of orbitals in a shell is n2, where n is the principal quantum
number of the shell. The resulting number of orbitals for the shells – l, 4, 9, 16
– is related to a pattern seen in the periodic table: We see that the number of
elements in the rows of the periodic table – 2, 8, 18, and 32 – equals twice
these numbers.
• The adjacent diagram shows the relative
energies of the hydrogen atom orbitals through n
= 3. Each box represents an orbital; orbitals of
the same subshell, such as the 2p, are grouped
together.
ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS