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STRUCTURE OF ATOM NOTES

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19 views

STRUCTURE OF ATOM NOTES

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nandaniy199
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© © All Rights Reserved
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→ John Dalton considered the atom to be an indivisible entity, but his concept had to be

discarded at the end of the nineteenth century, when scientists through experiments
were able to find the existence of charged (electrons and protons) and neutral particles
(neutrons) in the atom. These particles were called the ‘Subatomic Particles’.
Discovery of Electrons – Cathode Rays (By J. J. Thomson)
→ Thomson explained the presence of electrons by cathode rays experiment.
Discovery of Protons – Anode Rays/Canal Rays (By E. Goldstein)
→ E. Goldstein by his famous anode rays/canal rays experiment was able to detect the
presence of positively charged particles called protons in the atom.
Discovery of Neutrons (By J. Chadwick)
→ J. Chadwick bombarded lighter elements (like lithium, boron etc.) with α-particles and
observed emission of new particles having zero charge but having mass equal to that of
proton.
→ These particles were called ‘Neutrons’ i.e., neutral particles of the atom.
→ Neutron are absent in Protium isotope of hydrogen atom.(1H1)
→ Since, mass of electrons are negligible as compared to that of protons and neutrons
hence, sum of masses of protons and neutrons in an atom will compose its atomic mass.
Atomic Models
→ From the knowledge of the existence of subatomic particles like electrons, protons
and neutron in an atom, various atomic models were proposed by different scientists.
• Some of the atomic models:
(i) Thomson’s Model of Atom (ii) Rutherford’s Model of Atom
(iii) Bohr’s Model of Atom
Thomson’s Atomic Model
→ This model is often called the ‘Water Melon Model’.
→ In this model, Thomson predicted the presence of electrons inside a positive sphere
(made up of protons), just like how seeds of watermelon are embedded in the red edible
part of watermelon.

→ Although this model explained the neutrality of atom but wasn't able to explain other
scientific experiments conducted on atoms. Hence it was discarded.
Rutherford’s Atomic Model
→ In his famous ‘α-ray Scattering Experiment’, Rutherford bombarded α-ray (Helium
nucleus 2He4) upon thin gold foil.
• Observations made by Rutherford in his experiment:
(i) Most of α-particles passed through gold foil undeflected.
(ii) Some of the α-particles deflected by foil by small angles.
(iii) One out of every 12000 particles appeared to rebound.

• Conclusions made by Rutherford:


(i) Atom consist of predominantly empty space as most of α-particles pass through gold
foil undeflected.
(ii) Atom contain centrally placed positively charged nucleus (carrying positively charged
particles), because few α-particles suffer deflected and very few i.e., one in 12000
bounced back.
(iii) Since a minute fraction of α-particles suffered deflections and very few bounced
back, this lead to the conclusion that most of the space an atom is empty and the space
occupied by nucleus is negligible compared to this empty space.
→ Size of the nucleus was about 10-5 times that of size of atom.
(iv) Whole of the atomic mass concentrated in the nucleus.
• Features of Rutherford proposed model of atom:
(i) There is a positively placed nucleus in an atom. Nearly all the mass resides in the
nucleus (Proton + Neutron).
(ii) Electrons revolve around the nucleus in well defined orbits.
(iii) Size of the nucleus is very small compared to the size of the atom.
• Drawbacks of Rutherford’s Model (Unstability of Atom)
→ According to Rutherford, electrons revolve round the nucleus in well-defined orbits,
but electrons being charged particles will lose their energy and finally will fall into the
nucleus.
→ This will make the atom highly unstable.
→ This was the major drawback of Rutherford which was unexplained by him.
→ To overcome drawbacks of Rutherford’s Model, Neil Bohr in 1912 proposed a
modified model of structure of atoms.
Assumption made by Neil Bohr
→ Only certain special orbits known as discrete orbits of electrons are allowed inside
the atom.
→ While revolving in discrete orbits, the electrons do not radiate energy.
→ Energy is emitted or absorbed by an atom only when an electron moves from one
orbit to another.

Atomic Number
→ The total number of proton lying in the nucleus of any atom is called the atomic
number.
→ An atomic number is the identity of an atom, changing atomic number means
changing the atom.
→ Atomic number is denoted by ‘Z’.
→ Atomic number = no. of protons or a neutral atom, no. of protons and electrons are
equal.
Mass Number
→ It is the sum of total number of protons and no. of neutrons lying in the nucleus of an
atom.
→ It is denoted by ‘A’.
→ Mass number = no. of protons + no. neutrons
→ Representation of an atom: ZEA or AZE (E= symbol of an element)
Example: Calculate number of protons, electrons and neutrons for 17Cl35 or 3517Cl
Since Cl is neutral, No. of electrons = no. of protons = 17, Mass no. of Cl = 35
No. of neutrons = 35 - 17 =18,
Distribution Of Electrons In Various Shells
→ The distribution of electrons in various shells is done in accordance with the
‘Bohr-Bury Scheme’.
Bohr-Bury Scheme
(i) The filling of electrons in an atom is done in accordance with ‘2n2’, where ‘n’ is the
number of shell and ‘2n2’ represents the total number of electrons that can be
accommodated in that particular shell.
→ Maximum number of electrons that can be filled in a particular shell.
If n = 1, i.e., K = shell, 2n2 = 2×12 = 2 electrons
If n = 2, i.e., L = shell, 2n2 = 2×22 = 8 electrons
If n = 3, i.e., M = shell, 2n2 = 2×32 = 18 electrons
If n = 4, i.e., N = shell, 2n2 = 2×42 = 32 electrons
(ii) The outermost shell can’t hold more than 8 electrons, while the second last shell
can’t have more than 18 electrons, even though they may have capacity to hold more
electrons.
Example: ‘Ca20’, the electron distribution will be :
Ca20 = 2(K), 8(L), 8(M), 2(N),
→ But Ca20 = 2, 8, 10 is wrong although the ‘M’ shell can contain upto 18 electrons.
(iii) The outermost shell can’t hold more than 2 electrons and the penultimate shell can’t
hold more than 8 electrons unless the preceding inner shell (antepenultimate shell) is
filled completely obeying ‘2n2’ rule.
Some examples:
(i) K19 = 2, 8, 8, 1
(ii) Al13 = 2, 8, 3
(iii) F9 = 2, 7
(iv) Ne10 = 2, 8
(v) Na11 = 2, 8, 1
Valence Shell and Valence Electrons
→ From the Bohr-Bury sequence, we know that the maximum number of electrons
which can be accommodated in the outermost shell is 8.
→ Every element has an urge to have 8 electrons in its outermost shell, in achieving 8
electrons an atom can either gain electrons or lose electrons.

→ The number of electrons lost or gained by an element in achieving 8 electrons in its


outermost shell will be called its Valence.
→ For elements like H, He, Li, Be and B, these elements lose their outermost electron to
achieve 2 electrons in their outermost shell. These elements will have valence in
accordance with this act.
Isotopes
→ Isotopes are atoms of the same elements having the same atomic number and
different mass numbers.
Example: Chlorine has two isotopes of mass numbers 35 and 37 respectively.
17
Cl35, 17Cl37
Uses of isotopes
(i) Uranium isotope is used as fuel in nuclear reactor.
(ii) Isotope of cobalt is useful in treatment of cancer.
(iii) An isotope of iodine is used in the treatment of goiter.
Isobars
→ Isobars are the atoms of those elements which have the same mass number but
different atomic numbers are called isobars.
→ 20Ca40 and 18Ar40 have the same mass number and different atomic number. 11Na24 and
24
12Mg are other examples.

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