ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Matter: Anything that has weight/ mass and occupies space is matter.

e.g. table, coal. Water, air etc.

Matter is made up of tiny particles which are in constant and random motion. These particles include atoms &
molecules.

Atom: Smallest particle of any substance which can exist of its own and can take part in a chemical reaction.

e.g. An iron nail is made up of iron atoms

Neon gas in a neon lamp is made up of neon atoms.

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Diamond is made up of carbon atoms.

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Atoms are represented by symbols.

Oxygen = O Chlorine = Cl

Sodium = Na Nitrogen =N AG
Gold = Au Aluminum = Al

Atom has two parts:

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 Outer part called shells/ orbits / energy levels
 Inner part called Nucleus.
electron
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Orbit/ shell

Nucleus
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neutron

proton

 Atom has three main sub – atomic particles, electron, proton and neutron.
 All the mass of an atom lying in its nucleus.
 Electrons have – ve charge and they revolve around the nucleus in the shells.
 Protons have +ve charge, they are present in the nucleus.
 Neutrons have no charge (neutral), they are present in the nucleus.
 In the atom all sub – atomic particles are held together by electrostatic forces. These forces are due to
opposite charges.
 No of protons is taken as the identity of an atom and this has given a name proton number or atomic
number (symbol Z).e.g Proton no of sodium is 11 as it has 11 protons.
 All the atoms of the same elements are identical because all have same no of protons.
 Mass no/ atomic mass/ Nucleons: Total number of protons and neutrons.
 Mass no = p + n
 Mass of one proton is taken as one unit mass of an atom.1 unit = atomic mass unit, a.m.u
 No. of electrons and protons are equal in an atom.
 No of neutrons = mass no. – proton no.

Atom Proton no Mass no e- p n

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Na23
11 11 23 11 11 12

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8 O16 8 16 8 8 8

6 C12 6 12 6 6 6

13 Al27 13 27
AG 13 13 14
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Particle Charge Mass Location symbol
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Proton +ve 1 amu nucleus P

Electron - ve 1/2000 Shells e-

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neutron Neutral 1 Nucleus n

 Orbits / shells: The path or area where electrons revolve around the nucleus.
 Nearest shell to the nucleus is ‘K’ shell, it can accommodate maximum 2 electrons. Then is ‘L’ shell
which can accommodate maximum 8 e-
  The accommodation of electrons in a shell is governed by a formula i.e 2n2 , where ‘n’ is no of shell.
 For example In shell no 1 2 X 12 =2
2 2 X 22 = 8
3 2 X 32 = 18
5 2 X 52 = 50
 2n2 provides the maximum e-s CAN be accommodated but all the atoms tend to have 8 electrons in
their valence shell (except first shell) to become stable.
 To fill up 8 electrons in valence shell is called octet rule (in 1st shell 2 electrons are filled so it is
duplet rule).
 Each shell must be completely filled before going to the next.
 Electronic configuration is the way to fill electrons in their respective shells

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e.g lithium atom has 3 electrons, its electronic configuration is :

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Q. How to write atomic structure:
This is to write no. of electrons per shell. For lithium atom it is 2,1 as drawn above.
 Each atom is electrically neutral because total no of +ve charges (protons) are equal to total no
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of – ve charges (electrons).
 All noble gases have stable electronic configuration as their valence shells are completely
filled.
 All other atoms have strong tendency to achieve the stable noble gas configuration either by
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loosing or gaining electrons.

 When an atom loose or gain electron its neutrality get disturb because no. of electrons and
protons now no more are equal hence ions are formed.
 Ions are charged particles. Positive ions called cations while negative ion called anions. e.g O-2,
Na+1, Al+3 etc.
 Loss of electron = cations
 Gain of electrons = anions

Oxygen has 8 e Carbon has 6e

 8p 6p

Zero charge Zero charge

Formation of ions

 Sodium has 11 electrons its electronic configuration written as 2, 8, 1.It tends to complete its last shell
either by loosing or gaining electrons. It is always feasible to transfer lesser no. of electrons. When
sodium loose 1 electron its second shell become its last complete shell as empty shells are not shown.
After losing 1e there become 1 proton extra for which is not canceled by any electron so shown as
charge at the top of symbol, Na+1.
 In the same manner chlorine gain 1e so it has 1 more electron which is shown as Cl-1.

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Please note:

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loss and gain of electrons take
ide
place simultaneously

during a chemical reaction

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 In general metals loose electrons to form +ve ions, they are electropositive.
 Non – metals gain electrons to form – ve ions, they are electronegative.
 There is no change in the name of atoms when they become +ve ions like
Na+1 is sodium ion
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Ca+2 is calcium ion

Al+3 is aluminum ion
 Anions names ends with – ide.
Cl-1 is chloride ion
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O-2 is oxide ion

N-3 is nitride ion

Element: A pure substance made up of same kind of atoms and cannot be be split up into simpler
substances. e.g an iron rod is made up of only iron atoms, mercury in a thermometer is made up of
only mercury atoms.
Formula: The formula of a compound or molecule represents type and no. of atoms present in that
compound. E.g salt NaCl, glucose C6H12O6, ammonia NH3

 Write down formulas of any 10 compounds

 Molecule: A molecule is formed when two or more atoms (same or different) chemically combine
together.
water molecule, H2O
Oxygen gas O2
Salt, NaCl
Ozone O3

 Compare compound and mixtures in table form.

 Relative atomic mass,RAM/ Ar : Mass of an atom compared with 1/12 part of carbon – 12. e.g Ar.
Of oxygen is 16

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 Relative molecular mass, RMM/ Mr : Sum of masses of Ar. Of atoms present in a molecule e.g Mr. of
water is 18

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Calculate Mr of magnesium oxide, MgO
24 + 16 = 40
Mr of Sodium oxide, Na2O
(2X23)+16= 62 AG
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ISOTOPES
Definition: Atoms of the same elements having same proton no. but different mass no. because of having
different no. of neutrons.
e.g Oxygen has three isotopes: 8O16 , 8O17 , 8O18
 Isotope p e n
8O 8 8 8
16

8O 8 8 9
17

8O 8 8 10
18

o This gives each isotope of a particular element a different mass or nucleon number, but,
being the same element they have the same atomic or proton number.
o They are also chemically identical, because they have the same number of electrons,
hence the same electron structure.
o There are small physical differences between the isotopes e.g. the heavier isotope has

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a greater density or boiling point, the lighter the isotope the faster it diffuses.
o However, because they have the same number of protons (proton/atomic number)
isotopes of a particular element has the same electronic structure and identical

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chemistry.

o hydrogen–1, hydrogen–2, and hydrogen–3 are the three isotopes of

hydrogen with mass numbers of 1, 2 and 3, with 0, 1 and 2 neutrons respectively. All
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have 1 proton, since all are hydrogen! Hydrogen–1 is the most common, there is a
trace of hydrogen–2 (sometimes called deuterium) naturally
but hydrogen–3 (sometime called tritium) is very unstable and is used in atomic
bombs – nuclear fusion weapons.
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They are sometimes denoted more simply as 1H, 2H and 3H since the chemical symbol H
means hydrogen and therefore must have only one proton.
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isotope nuclide symbol protons neutrons electrons % abundance

carbon–12 12
C
6 6 6 6 98.9%, stable
carbon–13 13
C
6 6 7 6 1.1%, stable
traces, unstable
carbon–14 14
C 6 8 6
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6
radioactive