Chapter Two:

Atoms, Molecules and Ions

Freshman Course: Second Semester
General Chemistry (Chem. 1012)

Chemistry Department, CNCS, AAU

By Girum A. (PhD
Chapter 2: Atoms, Molecules and Ions
2.1. Atoms and Isotopes
What is Atom?
• Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of
matter. Atom is the smallest particle of an
element that can exist. An element is a substance
composed of only one kind of atom
• They are the currency of chemistry in the sense
that almost all the explanations of chemical
phenomena are expressed in terms of atoms.
• Atoms have an internal structure: they are built
from even smaller three subatomic particles: the
electron, the proton, and the neutron.
• By investigating the internal structure of atoms,
we can come to see how one element differs
from another and see how their properties are
related to the structures of their atoms.
 2.1.1. ATOMS
I. Contain protons, neutrons, and electrons
II. Protons & neutrons are found in the nucleus
III. The nucleus contains most of the mass of an atom
IV. Electrons are distributed around the nucleus in
energy levels/shells/orbitals (which make up the
electron cloud)
V. The outermost electrons in the shell farthest from
the nucleus are called valence electrons
If the atom has a charge the charge is written
to the upper right side of the symbol. If the
charge is either negative or positive 1 the 1 is
not written but understood to be 1.
 2.1.2. The Nuclear Model of Atoms
• The earliest experimental evidence for the internal structure of atoms
was the discovery in 1897 of the first subatomic particle, the
electron.
• The British physicist J. J. Thomson (1856–1949) was investigating
“cathode rays,” the rays that are emitted when a high potential
difference (a high voltage) is applied between two metal contacts
called electrodes in an evacuated glass tube (Fig. 1.2).
FIGURE 1.2 The apparatus used by
Thomson to investigate the properties
of electrons. An electric field is set up
between the two plates and a magnetic
field is applied perpendicular to the
electric field.
• Thomson showed that cathode rays are streams of negatively charged
particles.
• They came from inside the atoms that made up the negatively
charged electrode, which is called the cathode.
• Thomson found that the charged particles, which came to be called
“electrons,” were the same regardless of the metal he used for the
cathode. He concluded that they are part of the makeup of all atoms.
• Thomson was able to measure the value of e/me, the ratio of the
magnitude of the electron’s charge e to its mass me.
• However, the values of e and me themselves were not known until
Robert Millikan carried out experiments that enabled them to
determine the value of e.
• Millikan designed an ingenious apparatus in which he could observe
tiny electrically charged oil droplets experiments.
• From the strength of the electric field required to overcome the pull
of gravity on the droplets, Millikan determined the values of the
charges on the particles.
• Because each oil droplet contained more than one additional
electron, he took the charge on one electron to be the smallest
increment of charge between droplets.
• The modern value, which is obtained in a much more sophisticated
way, is e 1.602 10-19 C.
• A charge of e is considered to be “one unit” of negative charge, and e
itself, which is called the fundamental charge, is taken to be “one
unit” of positive charge.
• The mass of the electron was calculated by combining this charge
with the value of e/me measured by Thomson; its modern value is
9.109 10-31 kg.
• Although electrons have a negative charge, atoms overall have zero
charge.
• Therefore, an atom must contain enough positive charge to cancel
the negative charge.
 But where was the positive charge?
• Thomson suggested a model of an atom as a blob of a positively
charged, jellylike material, with the electrons suspended in it like
raisins in pudding.
• However, this model was overthrown by Ernest Rutherford in 1908 by
another experimental observation.
• Ernest Rutherford knew that some elements, including radon, emit
streams of positively charged particles, which he called α-particles
(alpha particles).
• Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, shoot particles toward a piece of
platinum foil only a few atoms thick.
• If atoms were indeed like blobs of positively charged jelly, then all the
particles would easily pass through the diffuse positive charge of the
foil, with only occasional slight deflections in their paths.
 FIGURE 1.5 Part of the experimental arrangement used by Geiger and
Marsden. The particles came from a sample of the radioactive gas radon.
They were directed through a hole into a cylindrical chamber with a zinc
sulfide coating on the inside. The particles struck the platinum foil mounted
inside the cylinder, and their deflections were measured by observing
flashes of light (scintillations) where they struck the screen. About 1 in 20
000 particles was deflected through very large angles (more than 90o; most
went through the thin foil with almost no deflection and a few particles
bounced straight back in the direction from which they had come.

• The results of the experiment suggested the nuclear model of the atom, in which there is a dense point like
center of positive charge, the nucleus, surrounded by a large volume of mostly empty space in which the
electrons are located.
FIGURE 1.6 Rutherford’s model of the
atom explains why most particles pass
almost straight through the platinum
Rutherford reasoned that when a positively
foil, whereas a very few—those scoring
charged particle scored a direct hit on one of the a direct hit on the nucleus—undergo
minute but heavy platinum nuclei, the particle very larg0e deflections. Most of the
was strongly repelled by the positive charge of atom is nearly empty space thinly
the nucleus and deflected through a large angle, populated by the atom’s electrons. The
like a tennis ball bouncing off a stationary nuclei are much smaller relative to their
cannonball (Fig. 1.6). atoms than shown here.
• Rutherford reasoned that when a positively charged particle scored a direct hit on one of the minute but
heavy platinum nuclei, the particle was strongly repelled by the positive charge of the nucleus and deflected
through a large angle, like a tennis ball bouncing off a stationary cannonball (Fig. 1.6).

• Later work showed that the nucleus of an atom contains particles called protons, each of which has a
charge of e, that are responsible for the positive charge, and neutrons, which are uncharged particles.
• The number of protons in the nucleus is different for each element and is called the atomic number, Z, of
the element.
• The total charge on an atomic nucleus of atomic number Z is +Ze and, for the atoms to be electrically
neutral, there must be Z electrons around it.
Atomic Structure
particle symbol location charge mass
proton p+ nucleus 1+ 1 amu

neutron no nucleus 0 1 amu

No charge

electron e- Electron 1- 1/1840 amu

cloud
 Isotopes
• Atoms with the same number of protons but different
numbers of neutrons

• Another way to say – atoms of the same element

with different numbers of neutrons

• An elements mass number is the number of protons

plus the number of neutrons

• REVIEW: to determine the number of neutrons

subtract the atomic number from the mass number

• Mass # – atomic # = # of neutrons

Examples of Isotopes
Interpreting Chemical Symbol
Determine the number of neutron in each isotope

1. 238 – 92 = 146 neutrons

2. 84 – 36 = 48 neutrons

3. 35 – 17 = 18 neutrons

4. 14 – 6 = 8 neutrons
Isotopic symbols

NOTE: Unlike on the periodic

table where the atomic number
is at the top of the box and the
average atomic mass is at the
bottom in isotopic symbols the
mass number is at the top and
the atomic number is at the
bottom.

If X is Hydrogen and its mass number is 2 then the isotopic symbol

would be
2H
1
Isotopic symbols

If X is Fluorine and its mass

number is 20 then the correct
isotopic symbol is
Fluorine – 20.
 2.1.4. Organization of the Elements
• Elements are arranged horizontally according to increasing atomic
number. (#1-112, 114-118)
• Elements are arranged vertically according to valence electron
structure. (Valence electrons are the outermost electrons, farthest away
from the atom’s nucleus. The nucleus is in the center of the atom.)
• Elements of the same family have the same number of valence
electrons. The gaps are necessary in order to line the members of the
family up correctly.
• Some elements are not on the chart because they do not have an
official name, yet. [Some elements are not found in nature and are
only made in a very sophisticated laboratory. Element #113 has never been
made.]
• Read the Periodic Table from left to right, like a book.
PERIODS –or- SERIES of the Periodic Table

1
ALLTHERE
ELEMENTS
ARE 7 ROWSARE 1
ON THE PERIODIC
2
ARRANGED in ORDER
TABLE CALLED
2

ofPERIODS
INCREASING
3 3

4
–or-SERIES 4

6 55 56 57
ATOMIC NUMBER. 5

6
72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
7 87 88 89
104 105 106 107 108 109 7
NOTICE THESE TWO ROWS
TAKEN OUT OF PERIODS 6 & 7,
AND PLACED AT THE VERY
6 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68
BOTTOM.
69 70 71 6

7 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 7

 CATEGORIES of the Periodic Table

1 THE PERIODIC 1

2 TABLE CAN BE 2

3
DIVIDED INTO 3

4 4

5
3 SMALLER 5

6 CATEGORIES: 6

7
Metals; 7

6
Metalloids; 6

7 Nonmetals. 7
 CATEGORIES of the Periodic Table
The Metals….
1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

6
METALS 5

7 7

6 6

7 METALS 7
 CATEGORIES of the Periodic Table
The Nonmetals….
1 H 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

6
NONMETALS 5

7 7

6 6

7 7
 CATEGORIES of the Periodic Table
NONMETALS
The Metals, Metalloids and Nonmetals
1 H 1

2 METALLOIDS B 2

3 Si 3

4 Ge As 4

METALS
5 Sb Te 5

6 Po At 6

7 7

6 6

7 7
2.2. Compounds