ATOMIC

STRUCTURE

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 How small is an atom?
Atoms are extremely small – they are about 0.00000001 cm
wide.
To make an atom the size of a football it would have to be
enlarged by about 3,000,000,000 times.

N X3,000,000,000

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 How heavy is an atom?
A single grain of sand contains millions of atoms of silicon
and oxygen.

O millions of these atoms

Si join to form each tiny
O grain of sand

Each atom must therefore have an extremely small mass.

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 Even smaller particles
For some time people thought that atoms were the smallest
particles and could not be broken into anything smaller.

Scientists now know that atoms are actually made from even
smaller subatomic particles. There are three types:

proton

neutron

electron

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 Where are subatomic particles found?
Protons, neutrons and electrons are NOT evenly distributed in
an atom.

The protons and neutrons

exist in a dense core at the
centre of the atom. This is
called the nucleus.

The electrons are

spread out around the
edge of the atom. They
orbit the nucleus in
layers called shells.

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 The atom: check it out!
diagram of the atom showing the nucleus, protons,
neutrons and electrons.

nucleus electron

neutron proton

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 Properties of subatomic particles
There are two properties of subatomic particles that are
especially important:
1. Mass

2. Electrical charge

Particle Mass Charge

proton 1 +1
neutron 1 0
electron 1/1836 -1

The atoms of an element contain equal numbers of

protons and electrons and so have no overall charge.

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 How many protons?
The atoms of any particular element always contain the same
number of protons. For example:
 hydrogen atoms always contain 1 proton;
 carbon atoms always contain 6 protons;
 magnesium atoms always contain 12 protons,

The number of protons in an atom

is known as its atomic number
or proton number.

It is the smaller of the two numbers

shown in most periodic tables.

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 Electrons have a mass of almost zero, which means that the
mass of each atom results almost entirely from the number of
protons and neutrons in the nucleus.

The sum of the protons and neutrons in

an atom’s nucleus is the mass number.
It is the larger of the two numbers shown
in most periodic tables.

Atom Protons Neutrons Mass number

hydrogen 1 0 1
lithium 3 4 7
aluminium 13 14 27

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 Building a nucleus

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 What’s the atomic number?
What are the atomic numbers of these elements?

sodium iron tin fluorine

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 What’s the mass number?

Mass number = number of protons + number of neutrons

What is the mass number of these atoms?

Atom Protons Neutrons Mass number

helium 2 2 4
copper 29 35 64
cobalt 27 32 59
iodine 53 74 127
germanium 32 41 73

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 How many neutrons?

Number of neutrons = mass number - number of protons

= mass number - atomic number

How many neutrons are there in these atoms?

Mass Atomic Number of

Atom
number number neutrons
helium 4 2 2
fluorine 19 9 10
strontium 88 38 50
zirconium 91 40 51
uranium 238 92 146

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 How many electrons?
Atoms have no overall electrical charge and are neutral.
This means atoms must have an equal number of
protons and electrons.
The number of electrons is therefore the same as
the atomic number.

Atom Protons Neutrons Electrons

helium 2 2 2
copper 29 35 29
iodine 53 74 53
Atomic number is defined as the number of protons rather
than the number of electrons because atoms can lose or
gain electrons but do not normally lose or gain protons.

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 Calculating the number of electrons
What are the missing numbers?

Atom Protons Neutrons Electrons Atomic Mass

number number
boron 5 6 11
potassium 19 19 39
chromium 24 28 24 24
mercury 121 80 201
argon 18 40

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 How are electrons arranged?
Electrons are not evenly spread but exist in layers
called shells.
The arrangement of electrons in these shells is often called
the electron configuration.

1st shell

2nd shell

3rd shell

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 How many electrons per shell?
Each shell has a maximum number of electrons that it can
hold. Electrons will fill the shells nearest the nucleus first.

1st shell holds

a maximum of
2 electrons

2nd shell holds

a maximum of
8 electrons

3rd shell holds

a maximum of
18 electrons

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 Calculating electron configurations

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 Properties of the nucleus and electronsv

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 Summary: the atom so far
The nucleus is:
 Dense – it contains nearly all the mass
of the atom in a tiny space.
 Made up of protons and neutrons.
 Positively charged because of the
protons.

Electrons are:
 Thinly spread around the outside
of the atom.
 Very small and light.
 Negatively charged.
 Found orbiting the nucleus in layers called shells.
 Able to be lost or gained in chemical reactions.

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 What is an isotope?
Elements consist of one type of atom, but sometimes these
atoms can be slightly different.

Although atoms of the same element always have the same

number of protons, they may have different numbers of
neutrons.

Atoms that differ in this way are called isotopes.

mass number
is different

atomic number
is the same

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 Properties of isotopes
The isotopes of an element are virtually identical in their
chemical reactions.
This is because they have the same number of protons and
the same number of electrons.

The uncharged neutrons make no difference to chemical

properties but do affect physical properties such as melting
point and density.

Natural samples of elements are

often a mixture of isotopes.

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 Isotopes of carbon
Most naturally-occurring carbon exists as carbon-12, about
1% is carbon-13 and a much smaller amount is carbon-14.

6 protons 6 protons 6 protons

6 neutrons 6 neutrons 6 neutrons
6 electrons 7 electrons 8 electrons

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 Isotopes of hydrogen
Hydrogen-1 makes up the vast majority of the naturally-
occurring element but two other isotopes exist.

hydrogen deuterium tritium

1 proton 1 proton 1 proton
0 neutrons 1 neutron 2 neutrons
1 electron 1 electron 1 electron

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 Isotopes of chlorine
About 75% of naturally-occurring chlorine is chlorine-35 and
25% is chlorine-37.
17 protons 17 protons
18 neutrons 20 neutrons
17 electrons 17 electrons

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 Isotopes of oxygen
Almost all of naturally-occurring oxygen is oxygen-16 but
about 0.2% is oxygen-18.

oxygen-16 oxygen-18
What are the
particle
numbers in
each isotope?

8 protons 8
8 neutrons 8
8 electrons 10

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 Relative atomic mass
Atoms are so small that their mass is not measured in grams
but in atomic mass units.

The atoms of each type of element have a relative atomic

mass (RAM).

The element carbon is the atom that the mass of all other
atoms is compared to. Carbon has a RAM of 12.

C Relative atomic mass = 12

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 Relative atomic mass – examples
The lightest atom is hydrogen. It has 1⁄12 the mass of carbon
and so has a RAM of 1.

12 atoms x 1 = 1 atom x 12
H H
H H HH
H
H H HH H
C
HHH H
H
H H
HH H
H H

Magnesium is twice as heavy as carbon. It has a RAM of 24.

1 atom x 24 = 2 atoms x 12
Mg CC
Mg

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 Isotopes and RAM
Many elements are a mixture of isotopes. The RAM given in
the periodic table takes account of this.

To calculate the RAM of a mixture of isotopes,

multiply the percentage of each isotope by its
atomic mass and add them together.

For example, chlorine exists as two isotopes:

chlorine-35 (75%) and chlorine-37 (25%).
RAM of chlorine = (75% x 35) + (25% x 37)
= (0.75 x 35) + (0.25 x 37)
= 26.25 + 9.25
= 35.5

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 Calculating RAM
Bromine contains 50.5% bromine-79 and 49.5% bromine-81.

What is the RAM of naturally-occurring bromine?

RAM of bromine = (50.5% x 79) + (49.5% x 81)

= (0.505 x 79) + (0.495 x 81)
= 39.895 + 40.095
= 79.99
= 80 (the RAM is usually rounded
to the nearest whole number)

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 Summarizing atomic structure

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 Atomic structure word check

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 Contents

Atomic Structure

Introducing atoms

Atomic number and mass number

Electron configuration

Isotopes

Summary activities

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 Glossary (part 1)
atom – The smallest particle that can exist on its own.
atomic number – The number of protons in the nucleus
of an element, also known as the proton number.

electron – Negative particle that orbits the nucleus of an

atom.

element – Substance made up of only one type of atom.

isotopes – Different atoms of the same element. They have

the same number of protons and electrons, but a different
number of neutrons.

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 Glossary (part 2)
nucleus – The dense positive centre of an atom, made up
of protons and neutrons.

neutron – A neutral particle, with a mass of 1. It is found in

the nucleus of an atom.

mass number – The number of protons and neutrons in

an atom.

proton – A positive particle, with a mass of 1. It is found in

the nucleus of an atom.

relative atomic mass (RAM) – The mass of an

element compared to the mass of 1⁄12 of the mass of carbon-
12.

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 Anagrams

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 Atomic structure word search

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 Properties of subatomic particles

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 Multiple-choice quiz

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