Gen Chem

CHAPTER 1
“INTRODUCTION TO
CHEMISTRY”
SECTION 1.2
WHAT IS CHEMISTRY?
• Objective:
define chemistry
• Chemistry is the study of the composition
of “matter” – (matter is anything with mass
and occupies space), its composition,
properties, and the changes it undergoes.
• Chemistry is the science that deals with
the materials of the universe and the
changes that these materials undergo
SECTION 1.1
THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING
CHEMISTRY
• OBJECTIVES:
• Identify five traditional areas
of study in chemistry.
• Relate pure chemistry to
applied chemistry
• Identify reasons to study
chemistry
6 MAJOR AREAS OF
1)
CHEMISTRY
Analytical Chemistry- concerned with the
composition of substances.
1) Inorganic Chemistry- primarily deals with

substances without carbon
1) Organic Chemistry- essentially all substances

containing carbon
1) Biochemistry- Chemistry of living things
1) Physical Chemistry- describes the behavior of

chemicals (ex. stretching); involves lots of math!
1) Nuclear Chemistry - dealing with radioactivity,

nuclear processes and nuclear properties
Boundaries not firm – they overlap and interact

- Page 8
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PURE AND APPLIED
CHEMISTRY?
• Pure chemistry- gathers
knowledge for the sake of
knowledge
• Applied Chemistry- is using
chemistry to attain certain
goals, in fields like medicine,
agriculture, and manufacturing –
leads to an application
• Nylon or Aspirin (C 9H8O4) - to relieve pain
* Use of TECHNOLOGY (benefit!)
WHY STUDY CHEMISTRY?
• Everyone and everything around us

involves chemistry – explains our
world
• What in the world isn’t Chemistry?
• Helps you make choices; helps
make you a better informed citizen
• A possible career for your future
• Used to attain a specific goal
• What did we describe as “pure” and
“applied” chemistry?
CHEMISTRY FAR AND
WIDE
• Chemists design materials
to fit specific needs – velcro
(Patented in 1955)
• perfume, steel, ceramics,

plastics, rubber, paints,
nonstick cooking utensils,
polyester fibers
WHY USE HELIUM? WHY NOT HYDROGEN?
BOTH “FLOAT” IN AIR?
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWHbpMVQ1U
CHEMISTRY FAR AND WIDE
• Medicine and
Biotechnology-
• Supply materials doctors use
to treat patients
• vitamin C, penicillin, aspirin
(C9H8O4)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh7pgG32Nx8
• materials for artery

transplants and hipbones
• bacteria producing insulin
CHEMISTRY FAR AND
WIDE
• Energy – we constantly have greater
demands
• We can conserve it; use wisely
• We can try to produce more; oil
from soybeans to make biodiesel
• fossil fuels, solar, batteries (that
store energy – rechargeable?),
nuclear (don’t forget pollution!)
− http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CArPHgNd2Qo&feature=related
• Agriculture
• Produce the world’s food
supply
• Use chemistry for better
productivity – soil, water,
weeds
• plant growth hormones
• ways to protect crops;
insecticides
• disease resistant plants
- Page 16
Let’s examine some information from a graph.
88.2%
440,000
After lead was banned in gasoline and public water

supply systems, less lead entered the environment.
• The Environment
• both risks and benefits involved in
discoveries
• Pollutants need to be 1) identified
and 2) prevented
• Lead paint was prohibited in
1978; Leaded gasoline? Drinking
water?
• carbon dioxide, ozone, global
warming
• The Universe
• Need to gather data from
afar, and analyze matter
brought back to Earth
• composition of the planets
• analyze moon rocks
• planet atmospheres
• life on other planets?
SECTION 1.3
SOLVING PROBLEMS USING A SCIENTIFIC
APPROACH
• OBJECTIVES:
•To recognize the steps
scientists use in solving
problems
ALCHEMY – DEVELOPED THE TOOLS
AND TECHNIQUES FOR WORKING
WITH CHEMICALS
• The word chemistry comes
from alchemy – practiced in
China and India since 400 B.C.
• Alchemy has two sides:
• Practical: techniques for
working with metals, glass,
dyes, etc.
• Mystical: concepts like
perfection – gold was a perfect
metal
AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
• In the 1500s, a shift started

from alchemy to science – King
Charles II was a supporter of
the sciences
• “Royal Society of London for
the Promotion of Natural
Knowledge”
• Encouraged scientists to use
more experimental evidence,
and not philosophical debates
MORE EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE….WHAT’S
THAT?
• Recognize problem (observation)

• Purpose possible solutions or
explanations (hypothesize)
• Decide which solution is best
(performing experiments)
LAVOISIER
• In the late 1700s, Antoine
Lavoisier helped transform
chemistry from a science of
observation to the science of
measurement – still used today
• He settled a long-standing
debate about burning, which
was…
• Oxygen was required!
SECTION 1.4
USING SCIENTIFIC THINKING AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• OBJECTIVES:
•Illustrate the scientific
method
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• A logical approach to solving

problems or answering
questions.
• Starts with observation-
noting and recording
information and facts
• hypothesis- a proposed
explanation for the
observation; must be tested
by an experiment
STEPS IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
1. Observations (uses your
senses)
a) quantitative
involves numbers = 95oF
b) qualitative is word
description = hot
2. Formulating hypotheses
(ideas)
- possible
explanation for the
observation, or
“educated” guess
3. Performing experiments
(the test)
- gathers new
information to help
decide
whether the
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• We deal with variables, or factors

that can change. Two types:
1) Manipulated variable (or
independent variable) is the one that
we change
2) Responding variable (or dependent
variable) is the one observed or
measured during the experiment
• For results to be accepted, the
experiment needs to always
produce the same result
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• “controlled” experiment- designed to test the

hypothesis
• Recall IF…..AND….THEN
• IF… (statement of what we believe to be true
based on our background knowledge)
• AND … (what we are doing experimentally)
• THEN… what we predict will be the outcome
• only two possible answers:
1) hypothesis is right
2) hypothesis is wrong
• We gather data and observations by doing the experiment
• Modify hypothesis - repeat the cycle
OUTCOMES OVER THE LONG
TERM…
• Theory (Model)
- A set of well-tested hypotheses that give an
overall explanation of some natural
ex. Big Bang Theory
• Natural Law (or Scientific Law)

- The same observation applies to many
different systems; summarizes results
- ex. Newton’s Law of Gravatation
Law vs. Theory
A law summarizes what

has happened.
A theory (model) is an
attempt to explain why
it happened – this
changes as new
information is gathered.
- Page 22
Using your senses to The procedure that is used

obtain information to test the hypothesis
Hypothesis is a
Tells what happened
proposed explanation;
should be based on A well-tested explanation for
previous knowledge; an the observations
“educated” guess
COLLABORATION / COMMUNICATION
• When scientists share ideas

by collaboration and
communication, they increase
the likelihood of a successful
outcome
• How is communication done?
• Is the Internet reliable
information?
End of Chapter 1
Introduction to Chemistry
(/President Ramon Magsaysay State University
(Formerly Ramon Magsaysay Technological University)
Iba, Zambales, Philippines
Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683
College / Department College of Agriculture and Forestry /

Environmental Science Department
Course Code Chem 1
Course Title General Chemistry 1
Place of the Course in the Program Core Science Course
Semester & Academic Year First Semester AY 2020-21
Topic 1
The Historical Background of Chemistry
Introduction
Many chemists believe chemistry became a proper science in the eighteenth century. The
investigation of air by Antoine Lavoisier (France), the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestly
(England), and the new scientific language of chemistry, all played a part, together with the
many aspects of the history of mankind, as well as in the ancient civilizations..
Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
1. Relate the different periods in history that helped in the development of chemistry
2. Determine the important driving forces that led to the development and evolution of the
field
3. Name the personalities that contributed to the flourishing of chemistry
4. Trace the important periods/dates in the timeline of the history of chemistry
5. Differentiate the fields of specialization of the branches of chemistry
Discussion
Everyday, we brush our teeth with toothpaste, use soap and cleanse our body, shampoo
and conditioner to wash and soften our hair. We create concrete from mixtures of cement, water,
sand and some gravel; we build a house from bricks, and color the roof with mixtures of
pigments called paint.
We turn clay into porcelain, urine into phosphorous, phosphorous into bombs, flour into
bread, grapes into wine, minerals into pigments. There is almost no limit to the ways in which we
transmute matter. Biological anthropologist, Richard Wrangham (United Kingdom), believes that
it is cooking that made us human -- by making more energy available to feed our growing brains.
If that is so, chemistry began the moment our ancestors became human. Homo chemicus–to be
human is to transform matter. And the material transformations we –being human –make will
reflect the best and the worst of us.
The earliest practical knowledge of chemistry was concerned with metallurgy , pottery,
and dyes; these crafts were developed with considerable skill, but with no understanding of the
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principles involved, as early as 3500 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The basic ideas of element
and compound were first formulated by the Greek philosophers during the period from 500 to
300 BC Opinion varied, but it was generally believed that four elements (fire, air, water, and
earth) combined to form all things.
About the beginning of the Christian era in Alexandria, the ancient Egyptian industrial arts and
Greek philosophical speculations were fused into a new science. The beginnings of chemistry,
or alchemy , as it was first known, are mingled with occultism and magic. Interests of the period
were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the imitation of precious gems, and the search
for the elixir of life, thought to grant immortality. Muslim conquests in the 7th cent. AD diffused
the remains of Hellenistic civilization to the Arab world. The first chemical treatises to become
well known in Europe were Latin translations of Arabic works, made in Spain c.AD 1100; hence
it is often erroneously supposed that chemistry originated among the Arabs. Alchemy developed
extensively during the Middle Ages, cultivated largely by itinerant scholars who wandered over
Europe looking for patrons
Al-kimia
In Hellenistic Egypt, the refining of metals was known as chemia. With the rise of early
Islamic civilization, Muslim scholars translated many Greek texts, including ones on chemia,
which they called al-kimia. How matter changed, how to purify substances, how to colour
metals, all came under al-kimia. A side benefit of this new fascination was the refinement in
practical knowledge such as distillation and crystallization, still important skills in twenty first
century labs. On a more theoretical level, Muslim scholars built on earlier Greek understandings
of matter – the four elements of air, earth, fire, and water – and its behaviour, including the
transmutation of one metal into another. Al-kimia arrived in Europe in the twelfth century, along
with some knowledge of al-iksir(elixir, which became known as the Philosopher’s Stone).
Unsurprisingly, alchemy ran into the same kinds of problems that still occasionally
plague medicine – hucksters hawking miracle cures and charlatans, etc. Even less surprising, this
caught the attention of both rulers and the legal profession, if for different reasons. Later, in
England, it became illegal to succeed in turning lead into gold, for this was considered as
debasing the currency.
Some claimed that, since human manipulation of matter was essentially inferior to what
nature does, naturally (an early version of the still running natural versus artificial debate – check
back next century for an update) human attempts at transmuting metals were doomed. Despite
such criticisms, there were those who believed that human art was powerful enough to transform
the world. But these were discussions for the elites at universities. And matter in all its
manifestations was on the move through all social strata. We don’t know who first created kohl
or a clay pot, who first tanned leather or brewed beer, and we don’t know the names of the
medieval artisans who mixed sand, wood ash, and metal salts to create the great stained-glass
windows of medieval cathedrals. But these people all transformed matter and our lives.
Evolution of Modern Chemistry

In the hands of the Oxford Chemists (Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and John Mayow)
chemistry began to emerge as distinct from the pseudoscience of alchemy. Boyle (1627–91) is
often called the founder of modern chemistry (an honor sometimes also given Antoine Lavoisier,
1743–94). He performed experiments under reduced pressure, using an air pump, and discovered
that volume and pressure are inversely related in gases (see gas laws ). Hooke gave the first
rational explanation of combustion —as combination with air—while Mayow studied animal
respiration. Even as the English chemists were moving toward the correct theory of combustion,
two Germans, J. J. Becher and G. E. Stahl, introduced the false phlogiston theory of combustion,
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which held that the substance phlogiston is contained in all combustible bodies and escapes when
the bodies burn.
The discovery of various gases and the analysis of air as a mixture of gases occurred
during the phlogiston period. Carbon dioxide, first described by J. B. van Helmont and
rediscovered by Joseph Black in 1754, was originally called fixed air. Hydrogen, discovered by
Boyle and carefully studied by Henry Cavendish, was called inflammable air and was sometimes
identified with phlogiston itself. Cavendish also showed that the explosion of hydrogen and
oxygen produces water. C. W. Scheele found that air is composed of two fluids, only one of
which supports combustion. He was the first to obtain pure oxygen (1771–73), although he did
not recognize it as an element. Joseph Priestley independently discovered oxygen by heating the
red oxide of mercury with a burning glass; he was the last great defender of the phlogiston
theory.
The work of Priestley, Black, and Cavendish was radically reinterpreted by Lavoisier,
who did for chemistry what Newton had done for physics a century before. He made no
important new discoveries of his own; rather, he was a theoretician. He recognized the true
nature of combustion, introduced a new chemical nomenclature, and wrote the first modern
chemistry textbook. He erroneously believed that all acids contain oxygen.
Several others works were associated and attributwd to Chemistry. However, these
cannot be listed here all at once. The timeline below highlights some of the most important and
significant events in the history of man that has inclination to the field of chemistry.
Specific
Time Intervals Events Description
Times
King Hammu
1700 BC rabi's reign Known metals were recorded and listed in
Prehistoric over Babylon conjunction with heavenly bodies.
Times -
Democritus
Beginning of the 430 BC Democritus proclaims the atom to be the
Of ancient
Christian Era simplest unit of matter. All matter was
Greece composed of atoms.
(Black Magic)
Aristotle of Aristotle declares the existence of only four
http://tqd.advanc 300 BC ancient elements: fire, air, water and earth. All matter
ed.org/2690/hist/ Greece is made up of these four elements and matter
black.html had four properties: hot, cold, dry and wet.
Beginning of the 300 BC - The Advent Influenced greatly by Aristotle's ideas,

Christian Era - of the alchemists attempted to transmute cheap
300 AD Alchemists metals to gold. The substance used for this
conversion was called the Philosopher's Stone.
End of 17th
13th Century
Century Failure of Although Pope John XXII issued an edict
(1200's) - 15th against gold-making, the gold business
the Gold Busi continued. Despite the alchemists' efforts,
(Alchemy) Century
ness transmutation of cheap metals to gold never
(1400's)
http://tqd.advanc happened within this time period.
ed.org/2690/hist/ Alchemists not only wanted to convert metals
alchemy.html 1520 Elixir of Life to gold, but they also wanted to find a chemical
concoction that would enable people to live
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longer and cure all ailments. This elixir of life
never happened either.
The disproving of Aristotle's four-elements
End of 17th Death of theory and the publishing of the book, The
Century Alchemy Skeptical Chemist (by Robert Boyle),
combined to destroy this early form of
chemistry.
Johann J. Beecher believed in a substance
called phlogiston. When a substance is burned,
phlogiston was supposedly added from the air
to the flame of the burning object. In some
substances, a product is produced. For
Phlogiston example, calx of mercury plus phlogiston gives
1700's the product of mercury.
End of 17th Theory
Century - Charles Coulomb discovered that given two
Coulomb's particles separated by a certain distance, the
Mid 19th Law force of attraction or repulsion is directly
Century proportional to the product of the two charges
and is inversely proportional to the distance
(Traditional between the two charges.
Chemistry)
Joseph Priestley heated calx of mercury,
collected the colorless gas and burned different
substances in this colorless gas. Priestley called
Disproving of the gas "dephlogisticated air", but it was
http://tqd.advanc
the actually oxygen. It was Antoine Lavoisier who
ed.org/2690/hist/ 1774-1794 disproved the Phlogiston Theory. He renamed
Phlogiston
traditional.html the "dephlogisticated air" oxygen when he
Theory
realized that the oxygen was the part of air that
combines with substances as they burn.
Because of Lavoisier's work, Lavoisier is now
called the "Father of Modern Chemistry".
Dalton's
John Dalton publishes his Atomic Theory
1803 Atomic which states that all matter is composed of
Theory atoms, which are small and indivisible.
Vacuum
1854
Tube Heinrich Geissler creates the first vacuum tube.
Mid 19th
Century - William Crookes made headway in modern
atomic theory when he used the vacuum tube
Present made by Heinrich Geissler to discover cathode
rays. Crookes created a glass vacuum tube
(Modern which had a zinc sulfide coating on the inside
Chemistry or 1879 Cathode Rays of one end, a metal cathode imbedded in the
other end and a metal anode in the shape of a
20th Century cross in the middle of the tube. When
Chemistry) electricity was run through the apparatus, an
image of the cross appeared and the zinc
sulfide glowed. Crookes hypothesized that
there must have been rays coming from the
4
http://tqd.advanc cathode which caused the zinc sulfide to
ed.org/2690/hist/ fluoresce and the cross to create a shadow and
modern.html these rays were called cathode rays.
Eugene Goldstein discovered positive particles
by using a tube filled with hydrogen gas (this
tube was similar to Thomson's tube...see 1897).
1885 The Proton The positive particle had a charge equal and
opposite to the electron. It also had a mass of
1.66E-24 grams or one atomic mass unit. The
positive particle was named the proton.
Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered x-
rays while researching the glow produced by
cathode rays. Roentgen performed his research
on cathode rays within a dark room and during
1895 X-rays his research, he noticed that a bottle of barium
platinocyanide was glowing on a shelf. He
discovered that the rays that were causing the
fluorescence could also pass through glass,
cardboard and walls. The rays were called x-
rays.
Henri Becquerel was studying the fluorescence
of pitchblend when he discovered a property of
1896 Pitchblend the pitchblend compound. Pitchblend gave a
fluorescent light with or without the aid of
sunlight.
J.J. Thomson placed the Crookes' tube within a
magnetic field. He found that the cathode rays
were negatively charged and that each charge
had a mass ratio of 1.759E8 coulombs per
gram. He concluded that all atoms have this
negative charge (through more experiments)
and he renamed the cathode rays electrons. His
The Electron model of the atom showed a sphere of
1897 and Its positively charged material with negative
electrons stuck in it. Thomson received the
Properties 1906 Nobel Prize in physics.
Radioactive Marie Curie discovered uranium and thorium

Elements within pitchblend. She then continued to
discover two previously unknown elements:
radium and polonium. These two new elements
were also found in pitchblend. She received
two nobel prizes for her discovery; one was in
chemistry while the other was in physics.
Robert Millikan discovered the mass of an
electron by introducing charged oil droplets
Mass of the into an electrically charged field. The charge of
1909
Electron the electron was found to be 1.602E-19
coulombs. Using Thomson's mass ration,
Millikan found the mass of one electron to be
9.11E-28 grams. Millikan received the 1932
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Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.
Ernest Rutherford sent a radioactive source
through a magnetic field. Some of the
radioactivity was deflected to the positive
plate; some of it was deflected to the negative
plate; and the rest went through the magnetic
field without deflection. Thus, there were three
types of radioactivity: alpha particles (+), beta
Three Types particles (-) and gamma rays (neutral). By
1911 of performing other experiments and using this
Radioactivity information, Rutherford created an atomic
model different from Thomson's. Rutherford
believed that the atom was mostly empty
space. It contains an extremely tiny, dense
positively charged nucleus (full of protons) and
the nucleus is surrounded by electrons
traveling at extremely high speeds. The
Thomson model was thrown out after the
introduction of the Rutherford model.
Protons Henry Moseley attempts to use x-rays to
1914 within a determine the number of protons in the nucleus
Nucleus of each atom. He was unsuccessful because the
neutron had not been discovered yet.
James Chadwick discovers the neutron.

The Neutron
Enrico Fermi bombards elements with neutrons
1932
and produces elements of the next highest
Neutron atomic number. Nuclear fission occurred when
Bombardmen Fermi bombarded uranium with neutrons. He
t and Nuclear received the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics.
Fission
Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot-
Artificial Curie discovered that radioactive elements
1934 Radioactive could be created artificially in the lab with the
Elements bombardment of alpha particles on certain
elements. They were given the 1935 Nobel
Prize.
Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi both warned
the United States about Germany's extensive
Manhattan research on atomic fission reaction. Below the
1940's
Project football field at the University of Chicago, the
United States developed the very first working
nuclear fission reactor. The Manhattan Project
was in process.
The Scientific Field of Chemistry and its Branches

Chemistry can be divided into branches according to either the substances studied or the
types of study conducted. The primary division of the first type is between inorganic
chemistry and organic chemistry . Divisions of the second type are physical chemistry and
analytical chemistry.
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The original distinction between organic and inorganic chemistry arose as chemists
gradually realized that compounds of biological origin were quite different in their general
properties from those of mineral origin; organic chemistry was defined as the study of substances
produced by living organisms. However, when it was discovered in the 19th cent. that organic
molecules can be produced artificially in the laboratory, this definition had to be
abandoned. Organic chemistry is most simply defined as the study of the compounds of
carbon. Inorganic chemistry is the study of chemical elements and their compounds (with the
exception of carbon compounds).
Physical chemistry is concerned with the physical properties of materials, such as their
electrical and magnetic behavior and their interaction with electromagnetic fields. Subcategories
within physical chemistry are thermochemistry, electrochemistry , and chemical kinetics.
Thermochemistry is the investigation of the changes in energy and entropy that occur during
chemical reactions and phase transformations (see states of matter ). Electrochemistry concerns
the effects of electricity on chemical changes and interconversions of electric and chemical
energy such as that in a voltaic cell. Chemical kinetics is concerned with the details of chemical
reactions and of how equilibrium is reached between the products and reactants.
Analytical chemistry is a collection of techniques that allows exact laboratory
determination of the composition of a given sample of material. In qualitative analysis all the
atoms and molecules present are identified, with particular attention to trace elements. In
quantitative analysis the exact weight of each constituent is obtained as well. Stoichiometry is
the branch of chemistry concerned with the weights of the chemicals participating in chemical
reactions.
Activity
Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Iron and Platinum
are just some of the element in the periodic table. Search on how they were discovered. Create a
timeline for these significant dates of these contributions to development of chemistry as a field
of science. Give the details their discoverer, the time frame, place and/or other factors that led to
the discovery.
Reflection:
1. Which aspect/s of your daily life do you find Chemistry play significant role?
Sources:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/chemistry/chem-c2507/navbar/chemhist.html
https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/chemistry/concepts/chemistry/history-of-chemistry
https://en.unesco.org/courier/yanvar-mart-2011-g/chemistry-how-it-all-started
https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/chemistry/concepts/chemistry/branches-of-chemistry
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Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683

Course Code Chem 1
Topic 2
The Scientific Method
Introduction
All scientific studies have underwent thorough analyses of details and recording of
observations, and perhaps several trials and errors, hence require a lot of patience and ___ every
step of the way in the course of the investigations.
The data obtained in a research study may be both qualitative, consisting of general
observations about the system, and quantitative, comprising numbers obtained by various
measurements of the system.
At the end of this module, the students should be able to:
1. Identify the different steps in scientific methods;

2. Relate various scientific activities to each step; and
3. Describe each step of the scientific method.
4. Identify the terms associated to the scientific method
5. Determine quantitative and qualitative data
Discussion
Human beings, by nature is highly intellectual and inquisitive, thereby making the quest
to know the things around him and even the things that are unknown in the universe is a part
of his superior qualities over other living creatures on earth.
In the field of science, the way of knowing things employs a systematic approach to
research. And, it necessitates several steps referred to as the Scientific Method. Scientific
method is a flexible framework guiding scientific study. It is a set of logical steps by which
scientists solve problems.
Generally, most references agree that the first step is carefully defining the problem.
Then, it is followed by performing experiments, making careful observations, and recording
information, or data, about the system
When the experiments have been completed and the data have been recorded, the next
step in the scientific method is interpretation. In this step, the scientist attempts to explain the
observed phenomenon. Based on the data that were gathered, the researcher formulates a
hypothesis, or tentative explanation for a set of observations. Further experiments are devised
to test the validity of the hypothesis in as many ways as possible, and the process begins anew.
After a large amount of data has been collected, it is often desirable to summarize the
information in a concise way, as a law. In science, a law is a concise verbal or mathematical
statement of a relationship between phenomena that is always the same under the same
conditions. Several laws were already established after thorough investigations were already
made. Examples include Newton’s laws of motions and gravitation, and Mendeleev’s law of
heredity, the law of conservation of mass, and the gas laws, to name a few.
Hypotheses that survive many experimental tests of their validity may evolve into
theories. A theory is a unifying principle that explains a body of facts and /or those laws that
are based on them. Theories, too, are constantly being tested. If a theory is disproved by
experiment, then it must be discarded or modified so that it becomes consistent with
experimental observations. Proving or disproving a theory can take years or sometimes
centuries, because oftentimes, the necessary technology is not available. Sometimes a law
precedes a theory; sometimes it is the other way around.
There are different models that summarize the main steps of the research process. The
diagrams below show different models of the scientific method, together with the brief
description and / or key questions asked or main tasks performed in each step.
The Step The Key Question / Tasks
However, in practice, there is really no one clearcut linear step by step to achieve the
answers to the problem. Oftentimes, the scientifc investigation involves several trials and
errors and may even have to go back to the intials steps before finally finding the answer to
the problem. If data do not support the hypothesis, then, it is high time to rethink , replan and
restart! (See illustration below).
The Step The Key Tasks
Scientific Method Vocabulary Words

Listed below are some terms encountered and used in the conduct of a scientific study.
Observe Use the senses to learn about objects and events
Compare Identify characteristics of things or events o find out how they are alike and
different.
Measure Compare an attribute of an object, such as its mass, length, or volume, to a
standard unit such as a gram, a centimeter, or liter
Classify Group or organize objects or events in categories based on specific
characteristics.
Gather Data Make observations and use them to make inferences or predictions
Record Data To write down observations
Display Data Make tables, charts, or graphs to display results.
Predict (prediction) Form an idea of an expected outcome based on observations or experience.
Hypothesize To make a statement about the expected outcome based on observation,
knowledge, and experience.
Plan and conduct Identify and perform the steps necessary to find the answer to a question,
simple investigations using appropriate tools and recording and analyzing the data collected
Infer To use logical reasoning to explain events and draw conclusions
based on observations.
Variables Identify and control factors that affect the outcome of an experiment.
Experiment Design ways to collect data to test hypotheses and controlled conditions.
Scientist Someone who is an expert at science
Graph A kind of drawing that compares numbers or amounts using lines, bars, or
parts of a circle.
Theory A statement based on facts, that explains why or how something happens.
Law A rule that says that things should always happen in a certain way.
Results What is discovered or learned from an experiment.
Steps to the 1. Purpose/Ask Question 4. Experiment
Scientific Method 2. Gather information 5. Conclusion
3. Hypothesis
Independent Variable Something that the researcher will control or change during your
experiment.
Dependent Variable Something that may or may not be affected or changed due to the
independent variable
Constants All other things that should be kept the same throughout the test
(experiment).
Quantitative Data States amount (quantities) that describe an object or events.
Uses mainly numbers and units.
Qualitative Data Provides information about traits (qualities) of objects and events.
Conducting a scientific study is never an easy process. Various inventions and great
discoveries are usually the results of the cumulative contributions and experience of many
workers. However, more often than not, the world only learns about the spectacular scientific
breakthroughs. Many scientists stay unheralded for their “unsuccessful” studies. But, it is quite
fascinating that the failure of one oftentimes becomes the starting point of another scientist,
hence, the scientific world continuously flourish! Probably, it is the unquenchable thirst for
truth and knowledge that drives scientists to search over and over and never give up on
searching. Although answers to the problems are being found after each study, another related
or totally new problem may then be found out, thus , the cycle for the scientific study goes on
and on.
Sources:
Name __________________________________________ SCORE__________

Exercises
The Scientific Method
I. Instruction: Choose from the word bank below the term that best fits the statement in each
item. Write your answer on the space provided.
Word Bank
Data Recording Observation Prediction

Formulation of Hypothesis Experimentation Classifying
Measurement Display of Data Planning
1. The students have seen formation of turbid solution after _____________________

two clear solutions were combined.
2. The researcher used a graduated cylinder to attain a _____________________
specific volume of alcohol.
3. The thesis student separates the water soluble sample _____________________
form the insoluble samples.
4. The scientist lists down the phenomena that occurred _____________________
during the chemical reaction.
5. The researcher performs laboratory tests to the sample _____________________
to obtain data to support his hypothesis.
6. After results were obtained, pie chart were used _____________________
to represent the data. Display of Data
7. An estimate of the probability of the occurrence _____________________
of the phenomenon is forecasted.
8. A possible explanation is being given prior to _____________________
the actual conduct of scientific investigation.
9. The researcher decides on the procedures and _____________________
apparatus to be used for the investigations.
10. The chemist jots down the readings of the _____________________
volumes and weights in the laboratory notebook.
II. Determine whether the following are QUANTITATIVE or QUALITATIVE observations

or BOTH or NOT APPLICABLE.
1. Clear pink solution was obtained in 250 mL beaker __________________

2. 59.5 mL volume of alcohol was distilled from the solution __________________
3. Soluble precipitates formed in a 5ml test tube __________________
4. Colourful gases were formed after mixing __________________
5. 5.0g gold was isolated from soil after metal content analysis __________________
6. White crystalline substances were formed __________________
on the rim of 250 ml flask
7. The unknown was found to be 10 g nitrogen gas __________________
8. The solution is placed in the 50 mL beaker __________________
9. Burnt odor was produced __________________
10. No reaction was observed __________________
Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683

Course Code Chem 1
Topic
Measurement, Accuracy & Precision, and Significant Figures
Introduction
We can never measure a quantity exactly, because measuring devices are made to limited
specifications and we use our imperfect senses and skills to read them. Therefore, every
measurement includes some uncertainty. The measuring device we choose in a given situation
depends on how much uncertainty we are willing to accept.
In supermarket, a weighing scale that measures in 0.1 kg increments is perfectly

acceptable; it tells you that the mass is, for example, 3.0 ± 0. 1 kg. The term "± 0. 1 kg"
expresses the uncertainty in the measurement. That is, if 3 kg of rice is bought, a weight
between 2.9 and 3. 1 kg.
In the laboratory, a chemist uses analytical balance that measures in 0.00l -kg increments
in order to obtain 2.036 ± 0.001 kg of a chemical. This means that a measurement is between
2.035 and 2.037 kg. The greater number of digits in the mass of the chemical indicates that we
know its mass with more certainty than we know the mass of the rice.
At the end of this module, it is expected that the learner should be able to:
1. Determine the fundamental properties of matter, units of measurement and the metric
prefixes;
2. Identify the importance, factors affecting accuracy and precision in measurement;
3. Identify the rules of significant figures, rounding off and expression of numbers to
scientific notation and vice versa, and
4. Apply the rules of significant figures in computations.
Discussion
Measurement in Scientific Studies
Measurement plays essential role in any physical sciences. In ancient times, body parts
such as length of human feet became the basis of the modern unit foot (ft), distance from
fingertips to the nose were referred to the yard and even the size of barley corn were used as
standards of measurements. These units are collectively known as part of the English System of
Measurement. However, these references were not standard and that it offered some inaccuracy
since no two persons have exactly the same length of body parts. 1
Thankfully, in our modern society, there is already an established measurement system
which began in 1790, when the newly formed National Assembly of France set up a committee
to establish consistent unit standards.
This effort led to the development of the metric system. In 1960, another international
committee met in France to establish the International System of Units, a revised metric system
now accepted by scientists throughout the world. The units of this system are called SI units,
from the French Systeme International d' Unites.
General Features of SI Units
The SI system is based on a set of seven fundamental units, or base units, each of which
is identified with a physical quantity. All other units, called derived units, are combinations of
these seven base units. Derived units that occur as a ratio of two or more base units can be used
as conversion factors.
For example, the derived unit for speed, meters per second (m/s), is the base unit for
length (m) divided by the base unit for time (s).
Table 1. The Fundamental Properties and Their Units.
On the other hand, Table 2, shows the metric prefixes. Because these prefixes are based
on powers of 10, SI units are easier to use in calculations than are English units such as pounds
and inches.
Table 2. The Metric Prefixes

Accuracy and Precision of Measurements
2
Accuracy indicates the closeness of the measurement to the true or accepted value and is
expressed by the error while precision describes the reproducibility of measurements—in other
words, the closeness of results that have been obtained in exactly the same way. Generally, the
precision of a measurement is readily determined by simply repeating the measurement on
replicate samples.
Three terms are widely used to describe the precision of a set of replicate data: standard
deviation, variance, and coefficient of variation. These three are functions of how much an
individual result differs from the mean, called the deviation from the mean
Note that accuracy measures agreement between a result and the accepted value.
Precision, on the other hand, describes the agreement among several results obtained in the same
way. We can determine precision just by measuring replicate samples. Accuracy is often more
difficult to determine because the true value is usually unknown. An accepted value must be used
instead. Accuracy is expressed in terms of either absolute or relative error.
Errors in Measurement
Errors are caused by faulty calibrations or standardizations or by random variations and

uncertainties in results. Frequent calibrations, standardizations, and analyses of known samples
can sometimes be used to lessen all but the random errors and uncertainties. However,
measurement errors are an inherent part of the quantized world in which we live. Because of this,
it is impossible to perform a chemical analysis that is totally free of errors or uncertainties. We
can only hope to minimize errors and estimate their size with acceptable accuracy.
Significant Figures
Every experimental measurement, no matter how precise, has a degree of uncertainty to it

because there is always a limit to the number of digits that can be determined. An analytical
balance, for example, might reach its limit in measuring mass to the fifth decimal place, and
weighing the an empty beaker several times might produce slightly different readings, such as
54.071 39 g, 54.071 38 g, and 54.071 37 g. Also, different people making the same
measurement might come up with slightly different answers.
To indicate the precision of a measurement, the value recorded should use all the digits
known with certainty, plus one additional estimated digit that is usually considered uncertain by
plus or minus (written as ± ). The total number of digits used to express such a measurement is
called the number of significant figures.
The uncertainty of a measured quantity can be expressed with the ± sign, but generally
we drop the sign and assume an uncertainty of one unit in the rightmost digit. The digits we
record in a measurement, both the certain and the uncertain ones, are called significant figures.
There are four significant figures in 2.036 kg and two in 2.0 kg. The greater the number
of significant figures in a measurement, the greater is the certainty. Furthermore, the number of
significant figures in measurement depends on the measuring device. This is illustrated in the
figure below.
3
Figure 1. Graduation affects Accuracy. Shown here are two thermometers measuring
the same temperature. The one in the left side is graduated in 0.1 °C and reads 32.33
°C. The one on the right side reads 32.3 since it is graduated in 1 °C.
When you take measurements or use them in calculations, you must know the number of
digits that are significant. In general, all digits are significant, except zeros that are not measured
but are used only to position the decimal point. Here is a simple procedure that applies this
general point:
1 . Make sure that the measured quantity has a decimal point.

2 . Start at the left of the number and move right to the first nonzero digit.
3. Count that digit and every digit to its right as significant.
Zero may be considered significant or not significant, depending in its position in the
number. The following rules are helpful for determining the number of significant figures when
zeros are present:
RULE 1. Zeros in the middle of a number are like any other digit; they are
always significant. Thus, 84.092 g has five significant figures.
RULE 2. Zeros at the beginning of a number are not significant; they act only to
locate the decimal point. Thus, 0.0834 cm has three significant figures, and
0.0003207 mL has four.
RULE 3. Zeros at the end of a number and after the decimal point are
significant. It is assumed that these zeros would not be shown unless they were
significant. Thus, 137.600 m and 100.000 mg have six significant figures.
RULE 4. Zeros at the end of a number and before an implied decimal point may
or may not be significant. We cannot tell whether they are part of the
measurement or whether they act only to locate the unwritten but implied
decimal point. Thus, 23,000 kg may have two, three, four, or five significant
figures. Adding a decimal point at the end would indicate that all five numbers
are significant. Thus, 11.030 mL has five significant figures, and 13000. L has
five significant figures also. If there is no decimal point, as in 13000 L, we
assume that the zeros are not significant; therefore, has two significant figures
only
Significant Figures in Calculations
Measurements often contain differing numbers of significant figures. In a calculation, we

keep track of the number of significant figures in each quantity so that we don ' t clai m more
significant figures (more certainty) in the answer than in the original data. If we have too many
significant figures, we round off the answer to obtain the proper number of them. The general
4
rule for rounding is that the least certain measurement sets the limit on certainty for the entire
calculation and determines the number of significant figures in the final answer.
For example, you are to determine the density of a rock sample. If, for instance, the
mass reading using the laboratory balance shows 3.8056 g and upon measuring the volume using
the graduated cylinder, 2.5 mL of water was observed to be displaced. In this case., the mass has
five significant figures, but the volume has only two. Should you report the density as 3 . 8056
g/2.5 mL = 1 .5 222 g/mL or as 1 .5 g/mL? The answer with five significant figures implies more
certainty than the answer with two. But you didn't measure the volume to five significant figures,
so you can't possibly know the density with that much certainty. Therefore, you should report the
answer as 1 .5 g/mL.
To further understand this concept, the following two rules tell how many significant
figures to show based on the arithmetic operations.
Significant Figures and Arithmetic Operations
1. For multiplication and division. The answer contains the same number of
significant figures as in the measurement with the fewest significant figures.
Suppose you want to find the volume of a sheet of a new graphite composite. For
example, the length (9.2 cm) and width (6.8 cm) are obtained with a meterstick and the
thickness (0.3744 cm) with a set of fine calipers. The volume calculation is Volume
(cm3) = 9.2 xm X 6.8 cm X 0.3744 cm = 23 cm3.
The calculator shows 2 3 .4225 cm3, but you should report the answer as 23 cm 3 ,
with two significant figures, because the length and width measurements determine the
overall certainty, and they contain only two significant figures .
2 . For addition and subtraction. The answer has the same number of decimal places
as there are in the measurement with the fewest decimal places.
Suppose you are to get the sum of volumes of two liquids. If there is 103. 5 mL of
water in a graduated cylinder and add 43.28 mL of hydrochloric acid from a buret, the
total volume is Volume (mL) = 103.5 mL + 43 .28 mL = 146.78 mL Here the
calculator shows 146.78 mL, but you report the volume as 146.8 mL, with one decimal
place, because the measurement with fewer decimal places (103.5 mL) has one
decimal place.
Scientific Notation
In scientific studies, analysts typically handle measurement in very great quantity (such
as the total number of atoms in matter) or very minute quantity such as the size of the atomic
radius. Avogadro’s Number, which tells the number of atoms present in a mole of a particular
matter, is equal to 60,210,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 while the radius of Hydrogen atom is
0.0000000000037 m. With such very big and very small numbers, forgetting to write a single
zero may offer inaccuracy of data. Also, writing them is even time consuming.
Rather than write very large or very small numbers in their entirety, it is more convenient
to express them using scientific notation. A number is written in scientific notation as the
product of a number between 1 and 10, times the number 10 raised to a power.
5
Thus, 3215 is written in scientific notation as 3.215 x 103. Notice that in this case, where
the number is larger than 1, the decimal point has been moved to the left until it follows the first
digit. The exponent on the 10 tells how many places we had to move the decimal point to
position it just after the first digit:
3215 = 3.215 x 1000 = 3.215 x (10 x 10 x10) = 3.215 x 103
3 is a number greater than 1 but less than 10 and the decimal

point is moved three places from its original position.
To express a number smaller than 1 in scientific notation, we have to move the decimal
point to the right until it follows the first digit. The number of places moved is the negative
exponent of 10. For example, the number 0.00215 can be rewritten as 2.15 x 10-3:
To convert a number written in scientific notation to standard notation, the process is

reversed. For a number with a positive exponent, the decimal point is moved to the right a
number of places equal to the exponent; For a number with a negative exponent, the decimal
point is moved to the left anumber of places equal to the exponent. To illustrate, 215 becomes
2.15 x 102. Decimal point is moved two places to the left, so exponent is 2.
Take note that a positive exponent of 4, means the decimal point is moved to the right
four places. On the other hand, a negative exponent of 8, tells that the decimal point is moved to
the left eight places.
The number of Significant figures in numbers expressed in scientific notation follows the
same rule.. it is important to note that , the number x 10 n are not considered in counting the
number of significant figures. Only the number/s to the left of x 10 n are to be considered.
Hence, 1.234 x 105 has 4 four significant figures, while 9. 87 x 10-6 has three significant figures
in it.
Rules for Rounding Off
In most calculations, you need to round off the answer to obtain the proper number of
significant figures or decimal places . Notice that in calculating the volume of the graphite
composite above, we removed the extra digits, but in calculating the total protein solution
volume, we removed the extra digit and increased the last digit by one. Here are rules for
rounding off:
1. If the digit removed is more than 5, the preceding number is increased by 1 : 5. 379
rounds to 5.38 if three significant figures are retained and to 5.4 if two significant
figures are retained.
2. If the digit removed is less than 5, the preceding number is unchanged: 0.24 1 3
rounds to 0.241 if three significant figures are retained and to 0.24 if two
significant figures are retained.
3 . If the digit removed is 5, the preceding number is increased by 1 if it is odd and

remains unchanged if it is even: 17 .75 rounds to 17. 8 , but 17 .65 rounds to 17 .6.
If the 5 is followed only by zeros, rule 3 is followed; if the 5 is followed by
nonzeros, rule 1 is followed: 17.6500 rounds to 17.6, but 17.651 3 rounds to 17.7 .
6
4 . Always carry one or two additional significant figures through a multistep
calculation and round off the final answer only. Don't be concerned if you string
together a calculation to check a sample or follow-up problem and find that your
answer differs in the last decimal place from the one in the book. To show you the
correct number of significant figures in text calculations, we round off intermediate
steps, and this process may sometimes change the last digit.
A calculator usually gives answers with too many significant figures. For example, if your
calculator displays ten digits and you divide 5.600 by 9.1, it will show 1.714285714 . Obviously,
most of these digits are not significant; the answer should be rounded off to 1.7 so that it has two
significant figures, the same as in 9.1.
Exact Numbers
Some numbers are called exact numbers because they have no uncertainty associated
with them. Some exact numbers are part of a unit definition : there are 60 minutes in 1 hour,
1000 micrograms in 1 milligram, and 2.54 centimeters in 1 inch. Other exact numbers result
from actually counting individual items: there are exactly 3 quarters in my hand, 26 letters in the
English alphabet, and so forth. Because they have no uncertainty, exact numbers do not limit the
number of significant figures in the answer. Put another way, exact numbers have as many
significant figures as a calculation requires.
Reflection
Guide Questions:
1. How important is the significant figure in scientific reporting of data?

2. How can errors be avoided or minimized?
Suggested Readings
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introchem/chapter/accuracy-precision-and-error/
Resources and Additional Resources
Silberberg, Martin S. (2007). Principles of general chemistry I Martin S. Silberberg. - 1st ed.
McGraw Hill Companies. USA.
Skoog D., West D., Holler F., and Crouch S. (2014).Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry 9Ed.
Brooke/Cole , Cengage Learning.USA..
7
NAME ____________________________________ SECTION/COURSE ___________
Exercises
I. Determine the number of significant figure in the following :
1.0.0001025 ___________ 6. 1245000 ___________

2.110.55050 ___________ 7. 999.560 ___________
3.49909000 ___________ 8. 0.000999900 ___________
4.105.89056 ___________ 9. 15.506940 ___________
5.40920495 ___________ 10. 0.05025096 ___________
II. (a)Write the following data in Scientific Notation with the correct significant figures, as
indicated inside the parenthesis and (b)determine the property of matter being described by
the data and (c) identify if the unit used is fundamental or derived
(a) (Scietific Notation) (b) fundamental (c) unit used
property of matter fundamental?or
described derived?
2
1. 0.000560350 m ____________ ( 5 SF) ___________ ___________
2. 100.25378 L ____________ ( 5 SF) ___________ ___________
3. 267000 ftlb ____________ ( 3 SF) ___________ ___________
4. 0.000019990 ᵒC ____________ ( 2 SF) ___________ ___________
5. 0.000256935 in ____________ ( 1 SF) ___________ ___________
III. Perform the operation and express your answer using the rules of significant figures.
1. (1.234 x0.22560) –( 0.23+ 2.110+2.0 – 10) 3. 2.25 + 2.2500 +2.5 +2500 + 2.500
2. ( 2.25 / 2.0) - ( 5.2560 x 10.10) 4. (1.80 +2.35) + (2 x8.9 )– (9.0-2.25)

100.10 5.2
8
Welcome to the
World of
Chemistry
MEASUREMENTS
The Language of Chemistry
• CHEMICAL _____________ -
– pure substances that cannot be decomposed by
ordinary means to other substances.
Aluminum
Bromin
Sodium
e
SI measurement
• Le Système international
d'unités
• The only countries that have not
officially adopted SI are Liberia
(in western Africa) and Myanmar
(a.k.a. Burma, in SE Asia), but Information from U.S. Metric
now these are reportedly using Association
metric regularly
• Metrication is a process that
does not happen all at once, but
is rather a process that happens
over time.
• Among countries with non-
metric usage, the U.S. is the only
country significantly holding
out. The U.S. officially adopted
SI in 1866.
Standards of Measurement
When we measure, we use a measuring tool to

compare some dimension of an object to a standard.
For example, at one time the
standard for length was the
king’s foot. What are some
problems with this standard?
What is Scientific Notation?
• Scientific notation is a way of

expressing really big numbers or
really small numbers.
• For very large and very small
numbers, scientific notation is
more concise.
Scientific notation consists of
two parts:
• A number between 1 and 10
• A power of 10
Nx 10x
To change standard form to
scientific notation…
• Place the decimal point so that there is
one non-zero digit to the left of the
decimal point.
• Count the number of decimal places
the decimal point has “moved” from
the original number. This will be the
exponent on the 10.
• If the original number was less than 1,
then the exponent is negative. If the
original number was greater than 1,
then the exponent is positive.
Examples
• Given: 289,800,000
• Use: 2.898 (moved 8 places)
• Answer: 2.898 x 108
• Given: 0.000567
• Use: 5.67 (moved 4 places)
• Answer: 5.67 x 10-4
To change scientific notation
to standard form…
• Simply move the decimal point to
the right for positive exponent 10.
• Move the decimal point to the left
for negative exponent 10.
(Use zeros to fill in places.)

Example
• Given: 5.093 x 106

• Answer: 5,093,000 (moved 6 places
to the right)
• Given: 1.976 x 10-4

• Answer: 0.0001976 (moved 4 places
to the left)
Learning Check
• Express these numbers in

Scientific Notation:
1) 405789
2) 0.003872
3) 3000000000
4) 2
5) 0.478260
Stating a Measurement
In every measurement there is a
♦Number followed by a
♦ Unit from a measuring device

The number should also be as precise as the measurement!
UNITS OF MEASUREMENT
Use SI units — based on the metric
system
Length Meter, m
Mass Kilogram, kg
Volume Liter, L
Time Seconds, s
Temperature Celsius degrees, ˚C
kelvins, K
Mass vs. Weight
• Mass: Amount
of Matter (grams,
measured with a Can you hear
me now?
BALANCE)
• Weight: Force
exerted by the
mass, only
present with
gravity (pounds,
measured with a
SCALE)
Some Tools for Measurement
Which tool(s)
would you use to
measure:
A. temperature
B. volume
C. time
D. weight
Learning Check
Match L) length M) mass V) volume
M A.
____ A bag of tomatoes is 4.6 kg.
L B.
____ A person is 2.0 m tall.
M C.
____ A medication contains 0.50 g Aspirin.
V D.
____ A bottle contains 1.5 L of water.
Learning Check
What are some U.S. units that are used to

measure each of the following?
A. length
B. volume
C. weight
D. temperature
Metric Prefixes
• Kilo- means 1000 of that unit
–1 kilometer (km) = 1000 meters (m)
• Centi- means 1/100 of that unit
–1 meter (m) = 100 centimeters (cm)
–1 dollar = 100 cents
• Milli- means 1/1000 of that unit
–1 Liter (L) = 1000 milliliters (mL)
Metric Prefixes
Metric Prefixes
Learning Check
1. 1000 m = 1 ___ a) mm b) km c) dm
2. 0.001 g = 1 ___ a) mg b) kg c) dg
3. 0.1 L = 1 ___ a) mL b) cL c) dL
4. 0.01 m = 1 ___ a) mm b) cm c) dm
Units of Length
• ? kilometer (km) = 500 meters (m)
• 2.5 meter (m) = ? centimeters (cm)
• 1 centimeter (cm) = ? millimeter (mm)
• 1 nanometer (nm) = 1.0 x 10-9 meter
O—H distance
=
9.4 x 10-11 m
9.4 x 10-9 cm
0.094 nm
Learning Check
Select the unit you would use to measure
1. Your height
a) millimeters b) meters c) kilometers
2. Your mass
a) milligrams b) grams c) kilograms
3. The distance between two cities
4. The width of an artery
Conversion Factors
Fractions in which the numerator and

denominator are EQUAL quantities expressed
in different units
Example: 1 in. = 2.54 cm
Factors: 1 in. and 2.54 cm

2.54 cm 1 in.
Learning Check
Write conversion factors that relate each of

the following pairs of units:
1. Liters and mL
2. Hours and minutes
3. Meters and kilometers

How many minutes are in 2.5 hours?
Conversion factor
2.5 hr x 60 min = 150 min

1 hr
cancel
By using dimensional analysis / factor-label method,

the UNITS ensure that you have the conversion right
side up, and the UNITS are calculated as well as the
numbers!
Steps to Problem Solving
1. Write down the given amount. Don’t forget the units!
2. Multiply by a fraction.
3. Use the fraction as a conversion factor. Determine if
the top or the bottom should be the same unit as the
given so that it will cancel.
4. Put a unit on the opposite side that will be the new unit.
If you don’t know a conversion between those units
directly, use one that you do know that is a step toward
the one you want at the end.
5. Insert the numbers on the conversion so that the top
and the bottom amounts are EQUAL, but in different
units.
6. Multiply and divide the units (Cancel).
7. If the units are not the ones you want for your answer,
make more conversions until you reach that point.
8. Multiply and divide the numbers. Don’t forget “Please
Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally”! (order of operations)
Sample Problem
• You have $7.25 in your pocket in

quarters. How many quarters do you
have?
7.25 dollars 4 quarters

X 1 dollar = 29 quarters
Learning Check
A rattlesnake is 2.44 m long. How

long is the snake in cm?
a) 2440 cm
b) 244 cm
c) 24.4 cm
Solution
A rattlesnake is 2.44 m long. How

long is the snake in cm?
b) 244 cm
2.44 m x 100 cm = 244 cm

1m
Learning Check
How many seconds are in 1.4 days?
Unit plan: days hr min seconds
1.4 days x 24 hr x ??
1 day
Wait a minute!
What is wrong with the following setup?
1.4 day x 1 day x 60 min x 60 sec

24 hr 1 hr 1 min
English and Metric Conversions
• If you know ONE conversion for

each type of measurement, you
can convert anything!
• You must memorize and use these
conversions:
–Mass: 454 grams = 1 pound
–Length: 2.54 cm = 1 inch
–Volume: 0.946 L = 1 quart
Learning Check
An adult human has 4.65 L of blood. How

many gallons of blood is that?
Unit plan: L qt gallon
Equalities: 1 quart = 0.946 L

1 gallon = 4 quarts
Your Setup:
Equalities
State the same measurement in two different

units
length
10.0 in.
25.4 cm
Steps to Problem Solving
■ Read problem
■ Identify data
■ Make a unit plan from the initial unit to the
desired unit
■ Select conversion factors
■ Change initial unit to desired unit
■ Cancel units and check
■ Do math on calculator
■ Give an answer using significant figures
Dealing with Two Units – Honors Only
If your pace on a treadmill is 65 meters

per minute, how many seconds will it
take for you to walk a distance of 8450
feet?
What about Square and Cubic units? –
Honors Only
• Use the conversion factors you already

know, but when you square or cube the
unit, don’t forget to cube the number
also!
• Best way: Square or cube the ENITRE
conversion factor
• Example: Convert 4.3 cm3 to mm3
4.3 cm3 10 mm 3 4.3 cm3 103 mm3

( 1 cm
) =
13 cm3
= 4300 mm3
Learning Check
• A Nalgene water
bottle holds 1000
cm3 of dihydrogen
monoxide
(DHMO). How
many cubic
decimeters is
that?
Solution
1000 cm3 1 dm 3
(
10 cm ) = 1 dm3
So, a dm3 is the same as a Liter !

A cm3 is the same as a milliliter.
Temperature Scales
• Fahrenheit
• Celsius
• Kelvin
Anders
Celsius
1701-1744
Lord Kelvin
(William
Thomson)
1824-1907
Temperature Scales
Fahrenheit Celsius Kelvin
Boiling point
of water 212 100 373
˚F ˚C K
180˚ 100˚ 100
F C K
Freezing point 32 0 ˚C 273
of water
˚F K
Notice that 1 kelvin = 1 degree

Celsius
Calculations Using
Temperature
• Generally require temp’s in kelvins
• T (K) = t (˚C) + 273.15

• Body temp = 37 ˚C + 273 = 310 K
• Liquid nitrogen = -196 ˚C + 273 = 77 K

Fahrenheit Formula – Honors Only
180°F = 9°F = 1.8°F 100°C

5°C 1°C
Zero point: 0°C = 32°F
°F = 9/5 °C + 32
Celsius Formula – Honors Only
Rearrange to find T°C

°F = 9/5 °C + 32
°F - 32 = 9/5 °C ( +32 - 32)
°F - 32 = 9/5 °C
9/5 9/5
(°F - 32) * 5/9 = °C
Temperature Conversions – Honors Only
A person with hypothermia has a body

temperature of 29.1°C. What is the body
temperature in °F?
°F = 9/5 (29.1°C) + 32
= 52.4 + 32
= 84.4°F
Learning Check – Honors Only
The normal temperature of a chickadee is

105.8°F. What is that temperature in °C?
1) 73.8 °C
2) 58.8 °C
3) 41.0 °C
Learning Check – Honors Only
Pizza is baked at 455°F. What is that in °C?

1) 437 °C
2) 235°C
3) 221°C
Can you hit the bull's-eye?
Three targets
with three
arrows each to
shoot.
How do Both Precise Neither

they accurate but not accurate
and precise accurate nor precise
compare?
Can you define accuracy and precision?

Significant Figures
■The numbers reported in a

measurement are limited by the
measuring tool
■Significant figures in a
measurement include the known
digits plus one estimated digit
Counting Significant Figures
RULE 1. All non-zero digits in a measured number

are significant. Only a zero could indicate that
rounding occurred.
Number of Significant Figures
38.15 cm 4
5.6 ft 2
65.6 lb ___
122.55 m ___
Leading Zeros
RULE 2. Leading zeros in decimal numbers are

NOT significant.
0.008 mm 1
0.0156 oz 3
0.0042 lb ____
0.000262 mL ____
Sandwiched Zeros
RULE 3. Zeros between nonzero numbers are significant.

(They can not be rounded unless they are on an end of a
number.)
50.8 mm 3
2001 min 4
0.702 lb ____
0.00405 m ____
Trailing Zeros
RULE 4. Trailing zeros in numbers without

decimals are NOT significant. They are only
serving as place holders.
25,000 in. 2
200. yr 3
48,600 gal ____
25,005,000 g ____
Learning Check
A. Which answers contain 3 significant figures?

1) 0.4760 2) 0.00476 3) 4760
B. All the zeros are significant in
1) 0.00307 2) 25.300 3) 2.050 x 103
C. 534,675 rounded to 3 significant figures is

1) 535 2) 535,000 3) 5.35 x 105
Learning Check
In which set(s) do both numbers

contain the same number of
significant figures?
1) 22.0 and 22.00
2) 400.0 and 40
3) 0.000015 and 150,000
Learning Check
State the number of significant figures in each of the

following:
A. 0.030 m 1 2 3
B. 4.050 L 2 3 4
C. 0.0008 g 1 2 4
D. 3.00 m 1 2 3
E. 2,080,000 bees 3 5 7
Significant Numbers in Calculations
■ A calculated answer cannot be more precise than

the measuring tool.
■ A calculated answer must match the least precise
measurement.
■ Significant figures are needed for final answers
from
1) adding or subtracting
2) multiplying or dividing
Adding and Subtracting
The answer has the same number of decimal

places as the measurement with the fewest
decimal places.
25.2 one decimal place

+ 1.34 two decimal places
26.54
answer 26.5 one decimal place
Learning Check
In each calculation, round the answer to the

correct number of significant figures.
A. 235.05 + 19.6 + 2.1 =
1) 256.75 2) 256.8 3) 257
B. 58.925 - 18.2 =
1) 40.725 2) 40.73 3) 40.7
Multiplying and Dividing
Round (or add zeros) to the calculated

answer until you have the same number
of significant figures as the measurement
with the fewest significant figures.
Learning Check
A. 2.19 X 4.2 =
1) 9 2) 9.2 3) 9.198
B. 4.311 ÷ 0.07 =
1) 61.58 2) 62 3) 60
C. 2.54 X 0.0028 =
0.0105 X 0.060
1) 11.3 2) 11 3) 0.041
Reading a Meterstick
. l2. . . . I . . . . I3 . . . .I . . . . I4. . cm
First digit (known) =2 2.?? cm

Second digit (known) = 0.7 2.7? cm
Third digit (estimated) between 0.05- 0.07
Length reported = 2.75 cm
or 2.74 cm
or 2.76 cm
Known + Estimated Digits
In 2.76 cm…
• Known digits 2 and 7 are 100% certain

• The third digit 6 is estimated (uncertain)
• In the reported length, all three digits
(2.76 cm) are significant including the
estimated one
Learning Check
. l8. . . . I . . . . I9. . . .I . . . . I10. . cm

What is the length of the line?
1) 9.6 cm
2) 9.62 cm
3) 9.63 cm
How does your answer compare with your
neighbor’s answer? Why or why not?
Zero as a Measured Number
. l 3. . . . I . . . . I4 . . . . I . . . . I5. . cm
What is the length of the line?
First digit 5.?? cm
Second digit 5.0? cm
Last (estimated) digit is 5.00 cm
Always estimate ONE place past the smallest mark!
DENSITY - an important
and useful physical property
Platinu
Mercur
m
y
Aluminum
13.6 g/cm3 21.5 g/cm3 2.7 g/cm3

Problem A piece of copper has a mass
of 57.54 g. It is 9.36 cm long, 7.23 cm
wide, and 0.95 mm thick. Calculate
density (g/cm3).
Strategy
1. Get dimensions in common units.
2. Calculate volume in cubic centimeters.
3. Calculate the density.

SOLUTION
1. Get dimensions in common units.
2. Calculate volume in cubic centimeters.
(9.36 cm)(7.23 cm)(0.095 cm) = 6.4 cm3

Note only 2 significant figures in the answer!
3. Calculate the density.
DENSITY
• Density is an
INTENSIVE property
of matter. Styrofoam Brick
–does NOT depend
on quantity of
matter.
–temperature
• Contrast with
EXTENSIVE
–depends on
quantity of matter.
–mass and volume.
PROBLEM: Mercury (Hg) has a density
of 13.6 g/cm3. What is the mass of 95 mL
of Hg in grams? In pounds?
PROBLEM: Mercury (Hg) has a density of
13.6 g/cm3. What is the mass of 95 mL of Hg?
First, note that 1 cm3 = 1 mL

Strategy
1. Use density to calc. mass (g) from
volume.
2. Convert mass (g) to mass (lb)
Need to know conversion factor
= 454 g / 1 lb
PROBLEM: Mercury (Hg) has a density of 13.6
g/cm3. What is the mass of 95 mL of Hg?
1. Convert volume to mass
2. Convert mass (g) to mass (lb)

Learning Check
Osmium is a very dense metal. What is its

density in g/cm3 if 50.00 g of the metal occupies
a volume of 2.22cm3?
1) 2.25 g/cm3
2) 22.5 g/cm3
3) 111 g/cm3
Solution
2) Placing the mass and volume of the osmium

metal into the density setup, we obtain
D = mass = 50.00 g =
volume 2.22 cm3
= 22.522522 g/cm3 = 22.5 g/cm3

Volume Displacement
A solid displaces a matching volume of

water when the solid is placed in water.
33 mL
25 mL
Learning Check
What is the density (g/cm3) of 48 g of a metal if

the metal raises the level of water in a graduated
cylinder from 25 mL to 33 mL?
1) 0.2 g/ cm3 2) 6 g/m3 3) 252 g/cm3
33 mL
25 mL
Learning Check
Which diagram represents the liquid layers in the

cylinder?
(K) Karo syrup (1.4 g/mL), (V) vegetable oil (0.91
g/mL,) (W) water (1.0 g/mL)
1) 2) 3)
V W K
K V
W
K V W
Learning Check
The density of octane, a component of

gasoline, is 0.702 g/mL. What is the
mass, in kg, of 875 mL of octane?
1) 0.614 kg
2) 614 kg
3) 1.25 kg
Learning Check
If blood has a density of 1.05 g/mL, how

many liters of blood are donated if 575 g
of blood are given?
1) 0.548 L
2) 1.25 L
3) 1.83 L
Learning Check
A group of students collected 125 empty

aluminum cans to take to the recycling center.
If 21 cans make 1.0 pound of aluminum, how
many liters of aluminum (D=2.70 g/cm 3) are
obtained from the cans?
1) 1.0 L 2) 2.0 L 3) 4.0 L

Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683

Course Code Chem 1
Topic
Density and Specific Gravity
Introduction
A Styrofoam coffee cup is “light,” but a lead car battery is “heavy.” Actually, by themselves
these terms, light and heavy, are not very useful because a truckload of Styrofoam would be
quite heavy. The volume and mass of a substance are extensive properties that depend on the
size of the sample.
Some physical properties such as odor, color, and physical state can be determined by
observation. Others, such as melting or boiling point, must be determined by measurements.
Another important intensive physical property that is obtained from measurements is density.
Density as a Physical Property
The physical property of density is an intensive property that allows us to compare the
mass of substances for a specific volume. Density is the ratio of the mass (usually in grams)
to the volume (usually in milliliters for a solid or liquid or liters for a gas). The Greek letter
rho , ρ, is used to represent density:
Density (ρ) = mass / Volume
The density of a substance does not depend on the amount present. The density of lead will
always be greater than the density of Styrofoam, no matter how much is present.
The density of a pure substance is a property that can be used to identify a particular
element or compound. The densities of several liquids and solids are listed in Table 1. (Because
the volume of liquids and solids expand slightly as the temperature rises, densities are usually
given at a specific temperature. In this case, 20°C is the reference temperature.) Because 1 mL
is the same as 1 cm3, density is also expressed as g/cm3.
You can prove that the density of a substance does not depend on sample size with a
simple demonstration. If you had a beaker of water, you could measure its volume and mass
and from those two measurements calculate its density. If your lab partners were evaluating
some water in a smaller beaker, they would measure an appropriately smaller mass and smaller
volume. If you compared the results, you would find that the density of water is the same
regardless of the original amount present.
The calculation of density from the two measurements is discussed in the following
two examples. Usually, the volume of an unknown sample is often measured by the
displacement of water. When a substance is added to water it will either sink or float depending
on its density. (Assuming that it doesn’t dissolve in or react with water.) If the unknown is less
dense than water, it will float and it is said to be buoyant in water. If it is denser, it sinks. In
the example that follows, the unknown sinks, so we can conclude that it is denser than water
and we can measure its volume by the volume of water that is displaced.
Table 1. Density values of some materials
Density, the ratio of mass/volume, has many applications in the chemical industry. The
relationship between mass and volume is an important aspect of the characterization and
specification of both solids and liquids. For example, valuable metals and gem stones are
characterized by their densities. Bulk chemicals are shipped in drums and totes weighing
hundreds of pounds. Conversion of pounds to gallons or into metric equivalents is a critical
aspect of trade. Shipping costs are most often determined by weight.
Density can be used to quantify the dissolved solids in liquids. For example, high
concentrations of salt in brines increase the density of these solutions. 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝜌 = 𝑚 /V ,
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉 = 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 .
The most common laboratory units for density are g/cm3 (g/mL), while industrially, a
variety of different units are encountered: lb/gal, lb/ft3 , and lb/in3 .
Density of Solids
Measurement of the density of an unknown solid is relatively easy. Determine both the mass
and the volume of a substance, then divide the mass by the volume to calculate its density.
Specific Gravity
On the other hand, specific gravity is the density of a substance divided by the density
of water. The density units cancel, leaving specific gravity a unitless number. Since we often
assume the density of pure water to be 1.0 g/mL, the specific gravity usually agrees closely
with density. Temperature changes affect the density of water, resulting in differences between
density and specific gravity of the material being tested.
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 / 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
Archimedes (ca. 287-212 BC) was a Greek mathematician who is credited with first
discovering and characterizing the mass-to-volume relationship of materials. The king Hiero
supposedly challenged Archimedes to find out if his goldsmith had replaced some of the king’s
gold with silver when making a wreath-like crown. But, of course, the king will not allow
Archimedes to ruin the crown by cutting into it. While struggling with this, he notices that as
he gets into a bathtub, the water rises up (overflows) by a volume equal to his own body’s
volume. Realizing he has found a way to measure the volume of irregular objects such as the
crown, he jumps from the tub and runs through the streets screaming “Eureka! Eureka!” (“I’ve
found it!” I’ve found it.”)
Knowing the mass and the volume allows the calculation of density. For water, there
is 1 g of water for every 1 ml of water, hence, its density is 1g/mL. Other materials, have
different vaules . So, in the case of water, the mass of the water displaced is essentially also the
volume of water displaced (assuming 1 mL of pure water has a mass of 1 gram.)
Pycnometer Measurement of Specific Gravity
A pycnometer is a simple container used to compare the densities of liquids. A simple

pycnometer could be a graduated cylinder or volumetric flask. However, most often it is a
carefully designed container than can be easily filled with an exact, fixed volume of liquid. A
few of the most common designs are shown below
Figure 1. Examples of available pycnometers
Pycnometers are calibrated by filling completely with pure water and weighing the net
mass of water. The density of water is then used to calculate the exact volume of the
pycnometer. After cleaning and drying, an unknown liquid is added to the pycnometer and
weighed. The net mass is then used to calculate the density of the unknown liquid:
There is a noticeable difference between density and specific gravity, even though both
are used to represent mass and are used to compare different substances. Density is the property
of matter represented by a ratio of mass to a unit volume of matter. Specific gravity which is
also called as relative density is a measure of density with respect to a density of pure water.
There are many properties of water, such as conductivity of water and many more Mathematic
is represented as:
specific gravity substance = ρsubstance / ρreference
Difference Between Density and Specific Gravity
Density Specific Gravity (Relative Density)
It is the mass of an object per unit Relative density is the ratio of a

volume substance’s weight to the weight of the
same volume of water.
To calculate density, we need to know We can get this by dividing the density of
the weight and volume of the a substance with the density of water.
substance.
It is represented in absolute term It is represented in relative term
Its symbol is ρ is represented in It does not have a SI unit

kilogram per cubic meter
It is used in many domestic and It is used in industries to measure the

commercial applications concentration of solutions.
Sample Computations
Example 1 Identifying a Substance from Density
A person was interested in purchasing a ring of pure gold having a mass of 89.9 g. Being wise,
she wished to confirm that it was actually gold before she paid for it. With a quick test using a
graduated cylinder like that shown in the previous example, she found that the ring had a
volume of 7.96 mL. Was it made of gold?
PROCEDURE
By calculating the density of the ring, we can provide evidence as to its identity. Density is a
constant and unchanging property of a pure element or compound (at a specific temperature).
From the volume and the mass, the density can be calculated by dividing the mass by the
volume. Compare this value to that of gold in Table 3-1.
SOLUTION
density of the ring = 89.9 g , 7.96 mL = 11.3 g/mL
A N A LY S I S
Is the ring pure gold? Should she buy it? Comparing the result to the values in Table 3-1, we
see that it’s not pure gold.
Pure gold would have a density of 19.3 g/Ml
Example 2 Determining the Mass from the Volume Using Density
What is the volume in milliliters occupied by 485 g of table salt?
PROCEDURE
Use the density of table salt as a conversion factor from mass to volume.
1. The unit map for the conversion is

g  mL
2. The density of table salt is given in Table 3-1 as 2.16 g/mL. We need to invert this
relationship so that g is in the denominator and mL is in the numerator. This factor then converts
mass to the equivalent volume. The factor for this conversion is
1 mL
2.16 g
SOLUTION
485 g x 1 mL = 2.25 mL
2.16 g
A N A LY S I S
To check your answer, you can plug it back into the density formula.
density = mass ÷ volume
density = 485 g ÷ 225 mL = 2.16 g/ml
This is the original reported density. The answer checks out.

As shown below, the mass is obtained by placing the substance on an electronic balance, while
the volume is measured from the volume differences of the water.
ANALYSIS
The problem stated that the sample was a pure substance. With the information given to you in
Table1, can you determine the substance? (Yes. Table 1 indicates that aluminum has a density
of 2.70 g/mL. Therefore, the sample is most likely aluminum.)
Specific Gravity
In place of density, certain applications, especially in the medical field, use the term
specific gravity. Specific gravity is the ratio of the mass of a substance to the mass of an equal
volume of water under the same conditions. Since the mass of water is 1.00 g/mL, specific
gravity has the same value as density, only expressed without units. For example, the density
of aluminum is 2.70 g/mL, so its specific gravity is simply 2.70.
Sources:
//jersey.uoregon.edu/~mstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQuerry7.html
https://byjus.com/physics/difference-between-density-and-specific-gravity/
http://faculty.weber.edu/ewalker/Chem2990/Chem%202990%20Specific%20Gravity%20Rea
dings%20Rev2%20.pdf
Exercises
Solve the following:

1. A handful of sand has a mass of 208 g and displaces a volume of 80.0 mL. What is its
density?
2. A 125-g quantity of iron has a volume of 15.8 mL. What is its density?
3. A given liquid has a volume of 0.657 L and a mass of 1064 g. What might the liquid be?
(Refer to Table -1.)
4. A 25.0-g quantity of magnesium has a volume of 14.4 mL. What is its density? What is
the volume of 1.00 kg of magnesium?
5. What is the mass of 1 gal of carbon tetrachloride in grams? In pounds?
MODULE WEEK NO.4
Republic of the Philippines

SELF LEARNING MODULE 2 – MATTER AND ITS PROPERTIES
President Ramon Magsaysay State University

[email protected] I (047) 811-1683
College of Engineering
COURSE CODE: General Chemistry I
Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021
Introduction
Welcome to the General Chemistry 1 Self Learning Module (SLM) on Matter and its
Properties. This module discusses concepts about matter that will help you understand
things around you.
All of the objects around you— this paper, your pen or pencil, and the things of nature
such as rocks, water, and plant and animal substances—constitute the matter of the
universe. Each of the particular kinds of matter, such as a certain kind of paper or plastic
or metal, is referred to as a material. We can define chemistry as the science of the
composition and structure of materials and of the changes that materials undergo.
Advice for Learning and Studying Chemistry
Learning chemistry requires both the assimilation of many concepts and the development
of analytical skills. There is some justification for this text. For one thing, chemistry has a
very specialized vocabulary. At first, studying chemistry is like learning a new language.
Furthermore, some of the concepts are abstract. Nevertheless, with diligence you can
complete this course successfully, and you might even enjoy it. Science courses, and
chemistry in particular, make different demands on your learning skills than do other types
of courses. Here are some suggestions to help you form good study habits and for success
in your study of chemistry:
Focus your study. The amount of information you will be expected to learn may
seem overwhelming. It is essential to recognize those concepts and skills that are
particularly important.
Keep good lecture notes. Your lecture notes will provide you with a clear and
concise record of what your instructor regards as the most important material to
learn. Using your lecture notes in conjunction with this text is the best way to
determine which material to study.
Learn the language of chemistry. As you study chemistry, you will encounter
many new words. It is important to pay attention to these words and to know their
meanings or the entities to which they refer.
1
Prepared by: Maricel M. Tabligan
MODULE WEEK NO.4
Think critically. Ask yourself if you really understand the meaning of a term or the use of
an equation. A good way to test your understanding is to explain a concept to a

classmate or some other person
Use online resources. Some things are more easily learned by discovery, and others are
best shown in three dimensions. The bottom line is to work hard, study effectively, and use
the tools available to you.
If you follow these suggestions and stay up-to-date with your assignments, you should find that
chemistry is challenging, but less difficult and much more interesting than you expected.
Rationale
This module discusses concepts about matter that will help you understand these things around you.
At the end of this module, you should be able to:

➢ Describe the three states of matter
➢ Understand the properties of matter and its various form
➢ Classify the properties of matter as:
a. Physical or chemical
b. Intensive or extensive;
➢ Differentiate between pure substances and mixtures
Activity
Before you start with the different activities, answer this Pre-assessment to check your
prior knowledge about the topic.
Directions: Answer the following questions by selecting the letter that corresponds to the
best answer.
1. 1.
AnyAny sample
sample of matter
of matter has masshas
andmass
takesand takesThe
up space. up main
space. Thefor
reason main reason
this is fora)this
because: is because:
All matter is heavy b)
Matter canmatter
a) All be a gasisc)heavy
Matter is made up of tiny particles that have mass and take up space d) The Earth is made of
matter 2. Water
b) Matter candrops
be stay together on wax paper and they don’t break apart easily. This is mainly because: a) Water
a gas
molecules
c) Matter is made up ofmolecules
are small b) Water are in motion
tiny particles c) Water
that have massmolecules
and takeareupattracted
space to each other d) Water
molecules are wet 3. When you
d) The Earth is made of matter bring two drops of water near each other and allow them to touch, they combine
immediately and become one drop. This is mainly because: a) Water molecules are made of atoms b) Water molecules
are attracted to each other c) Water molecules are magnetic d) Water is a liquid 4. If you put food coloring in room
temperature water, the coloring spreads throughout the water. The water causes the color to spread mainly because: a)
Water molecules are warm b) Water molecules are in motion c) Water is more dense than food coloring d) Food
coloring molecules are small 5. Food coloring spreads out faster in hot water than in cold water. This is mainly
because: a) The water molecules in hot water move more quickly b) The molecules in hot water are larger c) The food
2
coloring molecules are small d) Hot water is less dense 6. When a thermometer is heated, the redPrepared liquid inside the M. Tabligan
by: Maricel
thermometer moves up. This is mainly because: a) The red liquid is thin. b) The molecules of the liquid move faster
and get a little further apart c) Hot liquid is lighter d) The glass of the thermometer gets hot 7. When a thermometer is
cooled, the red liquid inside the thermometer moves down. This is mainly because: a) Cold liquids sink b) The glass of
the thermometer gets cold c) The molecules of the liquid move slower and get a little closer together d) The red liquid
MODULE WEEK NO.4
2. Water drops stay together on wax paper and they don’t break apart easily. This is
mainly because:
a) Water molecules are small
b) Water molecules are in motion
c) Water molecules are attracted to each other
d) Water molecules are wet
3. When you bring two drops of water near each other and allow them to touch, they
combine immediately and become one drop. This is mainly because:
a) Water molecules are made of atoms
b) Water molecules are attracted to each other
c) Water molecules are magnetic
d) Water is a liquid
4. If you put food coloring in room temperature water, the coloring spreads throughout
the water. The water causes the color to spread mainly because:
a) Water molecules are warm
b) Water molecules are in motion
c) Water is more dense than food coloring
d) Food coloring molecules are small
5. Food coloring spreads out faster in hot water than in cold water. This is mainly
because: a) The water molecules in hot water move more quickly
b) The molecules in hot water are larger
c) The food coloring molecules are small
d) Hot water is less dense
6. When a thermometer is heated, the red liquid inside the thermometer moves up. This is
mainly because:
a) The red liquid is thin.
b) The molecules of the liquid move faster and get a little further apart
c) Hot liquid is lighter
d) The glass of the thermometer gets hot
7. When a thermometer is cooled, the red liquid inside the thermometer moves down.
This is mainly because:
a) Cold liquids sink
b) The glass of the thermometer gets cold
c) The molecules of the liquid move slower and get a little closer together
d) The red liquid is thick
8. When you heat a sample of a solid, the particles that make up the solid:
a) Get bigger
b) Loose mass
c) Move faster
d) Slow down
3
MODULE WEEK NO.4
9. When you heat a sample of a solid, the sample gets a little bigger. This is mainly because:
a) The particles move faster and get a little further apart
b) Heat helps the particles grow
c) Heating the sample makes it lighter
d) Heating helps the particles slide past each other
10. When you heat a sample of gas, what happens to the particles that make up the gas? a)
The particles move faster
b) The particles break apart
c) The particles get smaller
d) The particles become more dense
For questions 11-13, circle all the correct answers.
11. To describe a liquid, you could say:

a) The particles of a liquid are attracted to one another
b) The particles of a liquid are in motion
c) The particles of a liquid are able to move past one another
d) A liquid has mass and takes up space
12. To describe a solid, you could say:

a) The particles of a solid are attracted to each other
b) The particles of a solid can move past one another
c) The particles of a solid vibrate but do not move past one another
d) A solid has mass and takes up space
13. To describe a gas, you could say:

a) The particles are very attracted to each other
b) The particles are not very attracted to each other
c) The particles are close together like a liquid
d) The particles of a gas are further apart than the particles in a liquid or solid
14. Which of the following is an extensive property?

a) combustibility
b) boiling point
c)density
d) mass
15. Which property of table sugar does NOT change with different samples of the
substance?
a) mass
b) volume
c) thickness
d) melting point
16. Which physical property of matter is shown when a piece of material is turned
into a thin sheet?
a) flexibility
b) stiffness 4
c) malleability Prepared by: Maricel M. Tabligan
d) elasticity
17. Copper wires are usually used for electrical wire installations because it is ____
MODULE WEEK NO.4
16. Which physical property of matter is shown when a piece of material is turned
into a thin sheet?
e) flexibility c) malleability
f) stiffness d) elasticity
17. Copper wires are usually used for electrical wire installations because it is ____
a) ductile c) brittle
b) malleable d) cheap
18. Which of the materials below is a poor conductor of heat?

a) iron c) gold
b) wood d) copper
19. Which of the following property is the characteristic or trait of matter that does not
depend on the amount?
a) Intensive Physical Property
b) Chemical Property
c)Extensive Physical Property
d) Physical Property
20. Which of the following is the characteristic or trait of matter that can be observed or
perceived with our senses easily without changing its chemical composition?
a) Intensive Physical Property
b) Chemical Property
c) Extensive Physical Property
d) Physical Property
CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER
We defined chemistry at the beginning of the chapter as the study of matter and the changes it
undergoes. Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass. Matter includes things we can see and
touch (such as water, earth, and trees), as well as things we cannot (such as air). Thus, everything in the
universe has a “chemical” connection.
Chemists distinguish among several subcategories of matter based on composition and properties.
The classifications of matter include substances, mixtures, elements, and compounds, as well as atoms
and molecules.
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SUBSTANCES AND MIXTURES

A substance is a form of matter that has a definite (constant) composition and distinct properties.
Examples are water, ammonia, table sugar (sucrose), gold, and oxygen. Substances differ from one
another in composition and can be identified by their appearance, smell, taste, and other properties.
A mixture is a combination of two or more substances in which the substances retain their distinct
identities. Some familiar examples are air, soft drinks, milk, and cement. Mixtures do not have constant
composition. Therefore, samples of air collected in different cities would probably differ in composition
because of differences in altitude, pollution, and so on.
Mixtures are either homogeneous or heterogeneous. When a spoonful of sugar dissolves in water
we obtain a homogeneous mixture in which the composition of the mixture is the same throughout. If
sand is mixed with iron fi lings, however, the sand grains and the iron filings remain separate. This type
of mixture is called a heterogeneous mixture because the composition is not uniform.
Any mixture, whether homogeneous or heterogeneous, can be created and then separated by
physical means into pure components without changing the identities of the components. Thus, sugar
can be recovered from a water solution by heating the solution and evaporating it to dryness. Condensing
the vapor will give us back the water component. To separate the iron-sand mixture, we can use a magnet
to remove
the iron filings from the sand, because sand is not attracted to the magnet. After separation, the
components of the mixture will have the same composition and properties as they did to start with.
PURE SUBSTANCES AND MIXTURES
A pure chemical substance is any matter that has a fixed chemical composition and characteristic
properties. Oxygen, for example, is a pure chemical substance that is a colorless, odorless gas at 25°C.
Very few samples of matter consist of pure substances; instead, most are mixtures, which are
combinations of two or more pure substances in variable proportions in which the individual substances
retain their identity. Air, tap water, milk, blue cheese, bread, and dirt are all mixtures. If all portions of a
material are in the same state, have no visible boundaries, and are uniform throughout, then the material
is homogeneous. Examples of homogeneous mixtures are the air we breathe and the tap water we drink.
Homogeneous mixtures are also called solutions. Thus air is a solution of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor,
carbon dioxide, and several other gases; tap water is a solution of small amounts of several substances
in water. The specific compositions of both of these solutions are not fixed, however, but depend on both
source and location.
If the composition of a material is not completely uniform, then it is heterogeneous (e.g., chocolate
chip cookie dough, blue cheese, and dirt). Mixtures that appear to be homogeneous are often found to be
heterogeneous after microscopic examination. Milk, for example, appears to be homogeneous, but when
examined under a microscope, it clearly consists of tiny globules of fat and protein dispersed in water.
The components of heterogeneous mixtures can usually be separated by simple means. Solid-liquid
mixtures such as sand in water or tea leaves in tea are readily separated by filtration, which consists of
passing the mixture through a barrier, such as a strainer, with holes or pores that are smaller than the
solid particles. In principle, mixtures of two or more solids, such as sugar and salt, can be separated by
microscopic inspection and sorting. More complex operations are usually necessary, though, such as
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when separating gold nuggets from river gravel by panning. First solid material is filtered from river
water; then the solids are separated by inspection. If gold is embedded in rock, it may have to be isolated
using chemical methods.
Figure 1 : A Heterogeneous Mixture. Under a microscope, whole milk is actually a heterogeneous

mixture composed of globules of fat and protein dispersed in water. Figure used with permission from
Wikipedia
Homogeneous mixtures (solutions) can be separated into their component substances by physical
processes that rely on differences in some physical property, such as differences in their boiling points.
Two of these separation methods are distillation and crystallization. Distillation makes use of differences
in volatility, a measure of how easily a substance is converted to a gas at a given temperature. A simple
distillation apparatus for separating a mixture of substances, at least one of which is a liquid.
The most volatile component boils first and is condensed back to a liquid in the water-cooled condenser,
from which it flows into the receiving flask. If a solution of salt and water is distilled, for example, the
more volatile component, pure water, collects in the receiving flask, while the salt remains in the
distillation flask.
Figure 2: The Distillation of a Solution of Table Salt in Water. The solution of salt in water is heated in
the distilling flask until it boils. The resulting vapor is enriched in the more volatile component (water),
which condenses to a liquid in the cold condenser and is then collected in the receiving flask.
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Mixtures of two or more liquids with different boiling points can be separated with a more complex
distillation apparatus. One example is the refining of crude petroleum into a range of useful products:
aviation fuel, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, and lubricating oil (in the approximate order of decreasing
volatility).
Crystallization separates mixtures based on differences in solubility, a measure of how much solid
substance remains dissolved in a given amount of a specified liquid. Most substances are more soluble
at higher temperatures, so a mixture of two or more substances can be dissolved at an elevated
temperature and then allowed to cool slowly. Alternatively, the liquid, called the solvent, may be allowed
to evaporate. In either case, the least soluble of the dissolved substances, the one that is least likely to
remain in solution, usually forms crystals first, and these crystals can be removed from the remaining
solution by filtration.
Figure 3 : The Crystallization of Sodium Acetate from a Concentrated Solution of Sodium Acetate in
Water. The addition of a small “seed” crystal (a) causes the compound to form white crystals, which
grow and eventually occupy most of the flask. Video can be found here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLq5NibwV5g
Most mixtures can be separated into pure substances, which may be either elements or
compounds. An element, such as gray, metallic sodium, is a substance that cannot be broken down into
simpler ones by chemical changes; a compound, such as white, crystalline sodium chloride, contains two
or more elements and has chemical and physical properties that are usually different from those of the
elements of which it is composed. With only a few exceptions, a particular compound has the same
elemental composition (the same elements in the same proportions) regardless of its source or history.
The chemical composition of a substance is altered in a process called a chemical change. The conversion
of two or more elements, such as sodium and chlorine, to a chemical compound, sodium chloride, is an
example of a chemical change, often called a chemical reaction. Currently, about 118 elements are
known, but millions of chemical compounds have been prepared from these 118 elements. The known
elements are listed in the periodic table.
Figure 4: The Decomposition of Water to Hydrogen and Oxygen by Electrolysis. Water is a chemical
compound; hydrogen and oxygen are elements.
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In general, a reverse chemical process breaks down compounds into their elements. For example, water
(a compound) can be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen (both elements) by a process called
electrolysis. In electrolysis, electricity provides the energy needed to separate a compound into its
constituent elements (Figure 4). A similar technique is used on a vast scale to obtain pure aluminum, an
element, from its ores, which are mixtures of compounds. Because a great deal of energy is required for
electrolysis, the cost of electricity is by far the greatest expense incurred in manufacturing pure
aluminum. Thus recycling aluminum is both cost-effective and ecologically sound. The overall
organization of matter and the methods used to separate mixtures are summarized in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Relationships between the Types of Matter and the Methods Used to Separate Mixtures
Exercise
Give an example for each of the following terms: (a) matter, (b) substance, (c)
mixture.
Which of the following are pure substances and which are mixtures?
a.Table sugar
b. Table salt
c.Iodized salt
d. Brown sugar
e. Distilled water
f. Soft drinks
g. Oxygen gas (in tank)
h. Human breath
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LESSON 1 : STATES OF MATTER

Recall that elements and compounds are composed of extremely tiny particles (atoms, molecules,
or ions). Sometimes a sample of matter, such as in a container of argon, is composed of single atoms, but
most matter is made of molecules or ions. The distance between these particles and their relative motion
is what determines the physical state of a sample of matter: solid, liquid, or gas.
A solid is composed of matter where the particles are close together and remain in relatively fixed
positions. Movement of the particles is very restricted and confined mostly to vibrations about these
positions. Because of the fixed positions of the particles, solids have a definite shape and a definite
volume.
A liquid is composed of matter where the particles are close together but are able to move past one
another. Because of the movement of the particles, liquids flow and take the shape of the lower part of a
container. Liquids have a definite volume but not a definite shape.
A gas is made up of atoms or molecules that are not all close to one another and move
independently in all directions with random motion. The particles in gases fill a container uniformly.
Gases have neither a definite volume nor a definite shape
We are already familiar with many examples of all three physical states. Ice, rock, salt, and steel
are substances that exist as solids; water, gasoline, and alcohol are liquids; ammonia, natural gas, and the
components of air are present as gases. However, whether a particular element or compound is a solid,
liquid, or gas depends not only on the nature of the substance but also on the temperature. For example,
at low temperatures (i.e., below 0°C), liquid water freezes to form a solid (ice), and at high temperatures
(i.e., above 100°C), liquid water boils to form a gas (vapor or steam). At very low temperatures (below
-196°C), even the gases that form our atmosphere
condense to liquid.
LESSON 2 : PROPERTIES OF MATTER
Substances are identified by their properties as well as by their composition. Color, melting point,
and boiling point are physical properties. A physical property can be measured and observed without
changing the composition or identity of a substance. For example, we can measure the melting point of
ice by heating a block of ice and recording the temperature at which the ice is converted to water. Water
differs from
ice only in appearance, not in composition, so this is a physical change; we can freeze the water to recover
the original ice. Therefore, the melting point of a substance is a physical property. Similarly, when we
say that helium gas is lighter than air, we are referring to a physical property.
The temperature at which a pure substance changes from one physical state to another is a
fundamental and constant physical property. A substance melts when it changes from the solid to the
liquid state and freezes when it changes from the liquid to the solid state. The melting point is the
temperature at which a particular element or compound changes from the solid state to the liquid state.
For example, ice begins to melt when the temperature is 0°C. In the reverse process, liquid water begins
to change to the solid state when it is cooled to 0°C. This is known as the freezing point.
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At a higher temperature, the liquid begins to boil. Boiling occurs when bubbles of vapor form in
the liquid and rise to the surface. The boiling point is the temperature at which boiling begins. In the
reverse process, the change from the gaseous state to the liquid state is known as condensation. The
formation of dew on the grass on a summer morning is a result of condensation. The boiling point of a
liquid is also a constant, but only at specific atmospheric pressure. For example, water boils at 100°C at
average sea-level pressure but boils at 69°C on the top of Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain.
Boiling-point temperatures are usually listed as the boiling point of the liquid at average sea-level
atmospheric pressure.
These phase changes are summarized as follows:
When a liquid freezes or boils, it undergoes a change to another physical state. However, it is still
the same substance. A physical change in a substance does not involve a change in the composition of
the substance but is simply a change in physical state or dimensions. Liquid water, ice, and steam are all
physical states of the same compound
On the other hand, the statement “Hydrogen gas burns in oxygen gas to form water” describes a
chemical property of hydrogen, because to observe this property we must carry out a chemical change,
in this case burning. After the change, the original chemical substance, the hydrogen gas, will have
vanished, and all that will be left is a different chemical substance—water. We cannot recover the
hydrogen from the water by means of a physical change, such as boiling or freezing.
Every time we hard-boil an egg, we bring about a chemical change. When subjected to a temperature
of about 100°C, the yolk and the egg white undergo changes that alter not only their physical appearance
but their chemical makeup as well. When eaten, the egg is changed again, by substances in our bodies
called enzymes. This digestive action is another example of a chemical change. What happens during
digestion depends on the chemical properties of both the enzymes and the food.
All measurable properties of matter fall into one of two additional categories: extensive properties
and intensive properties. The measured value of an extensive property depends on how much matter is
being considered. Mass, which is the quantity of matter in a given sample of a substance, is an extensive
property. More matter means more mass. Values of the same extensive property can be added together.
For example, two copper pennies will have a combined mass that is the sum of the masses of each penny,
and the length of two tennis courts is the sum of the lengths of each tennis court. Volume, defined as
length cubed, is another extensive property. The value of an extensive quantity depends on the amount
of matter.
The measured value of an intensive property does not depend on how much matter is being
considered. Density, defined as the mass of an object divided by its volume, is an intensive property. So
is temperature. Suppose that we have two beakers of water at the same temperature. If we combine them
to make a single quantity of water in a larger beaker, the temperature of the larger quantity of water will
be the same as it was in two separate beakers. Unlike mass, length, and volume, temperature and other
intensive properties are not additive.
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CHEMICAL CHANGES AND CONSERVATION

OF MASS
Chemical properties of a pure substance refer to its tendency to undergo chemical changes.
Chemical changes transform one substance into one or more other substances. A chemical property of
the element iron is its tendency to react with oxygen from the air in the presence of water to form rust (a
compound composed of iron and oxygen). The conversion of rust back into iron and oxygen is an
involved and difficult chemical process. In some cases, chemical properties relate to the absence of
specific changes. For example, a chemical property of the element gold is that it maintains its lustrous
appearance because it resists rusting or tarnishing.
What happens when a chemical change occurs? In fact, the total mass of the elements and
compounds involved does not change—only the identity of the substances involved. The law of
conservation of mass states that matter is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction. Only three
centuries ago, scientists were still puzzled over the apparent disappearance of mass when wood burned,
since only a small portion of the original mass remained in the form of ashes. At that time, however, the
involvement of gases in chemical reactions was not understood. We now know that most of the solid
compounds of the wood have been simply transformed in the combustion process into gaseous
compounds and smoke that drift away in the atmosphere. The mass of the wood plus the mass of the
oxygen from the air equals the mass of the ashes plus the mass of the gaseous combustion products, as
stated by the law of conservation of mass.
Q
An ice cube is placed in a closed container. On heating, the ice cube first melts and the water
then boils to form steam. Which of the following statements is true?
(a) The physical appearance of the water is different at every stage of change.
(b) The mass of water is greatest for the ice cube and least for the steam.
Exercise
Calcium, an element, is a dull, gray
solid that melts at 839°C. When it is placed in water, bubbles form, as the solid calcium slowly
disappears in the water. When the water is evaporated, a white powder remains, but elemental
calcium is not recovered. Which are the physical properties of calcium? Which is a chemical
property?
In lab you are handed a metallic object and charged with determining its identity. What
types of things can you do to figure out what the object is made from?
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Assessment
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
I. Classify the following properties of matter as intensive physical property, extensive

physical property or chemical property.
1. Fertilizers help to increase agricultural production.

2. Lead is denser than aluminum.
3. Oxygen gas supports combustion.
4. Digestion
5. Boiling point
6. Water freezes at 00C.
7. Silver is usually tarnished when exposed to air forming silver oxide.8. Volume
9. Salt and refined sugar are both white in color.
10. Coal is used to produce electricity by burning them to power the generator.
II. Identify the following as either a physical or a chemical property.

1. Diamond is one of the hardest known substances.
2. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas.
3. Soap is slippery.
4. Silver tarnishes.
5. Gold does not rust.
6. Carbon dioxide freezes at -78°C.
7. Tin is a shiny, gray metal.
8. Sulfur burns in air.
9. Aluminum has a low density
10. Sodium burns in the presence of chlorine gas.
11. Mercury is a liquid at room temperature.
12. Water boils at 100°C at average sea-level pressure.
13. Limestone gives off carbon dioxide when heated.
14. Hydrogen sulfide has a pungent odor.
III. Review Questions

1. Using examples, explain the difference between a physical property and a chemical
property.
2. How does an intensive property differ from an extensive property? Which of the following
properties are intensive, and which are extensive?
(a) length, (b) volume, (c) temperature, (d) mass.
3. Give an example of an element and a compound. How do elements and compounds differ?
Chang, R. (2010). Chemistry. 10th edition. McGraw Hill
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COURSE CODE: Chemistry I
SELF LEARNING MODULE – Atoms
Introduction
What is everything really made of?’ Questions like this have been asked for centuries,
and scientists are continually trying to find the answer. At one time scientists believed that the
smallest ‘building block’ of matter was the atom, a name that comes from the Greek word
meaning ‘incapable of being cut.’ Later it was discovered that though an atom is the smallest unit
that has the chemical properties of an element, even atoms are made up of smaller particles.
Elements are the simplest substances found in nature and they cannot be broken down further
through ordinary chemical means. At least 92 naturally occurring elements have been discovered
so far. The elements are organized in a periodic table based on their different properties.
To understand how elements come together, we must first discuss the smallest component
or building block of an element, the atom. An atom is the smallest unit of matter that retains all
of the chemical properties of an element. For example, one gold atom has all of the properties of
gold in that it is a solid metal at room temperature. A gold coin is simply a very large number of
gold atoms molded into the shape of a coin and containing small amounts of other elements
known as impurities. Gold atoms cannot be broken down into anything smaller while still
retaining the properties of gold.
This module discusses fundamental particles of an atom and an overview of atomic

theory.

➢ describe the structure of an atom of an element;
➢ describe Dalton’s Atomic Theory
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➢ differentiate among atomic number, mass number, and isotopes, and which of these
distinguishes one element from another
➢ distinguish between electron orbitals in the Bohr model versus the quantum
mechanical orbitals
LESSON 1 Early Ideas about the Atom

Matter is basically made up of atoms. This theory started more than 2,400 years ago in Ancient Greece.
But its rapid development only began about 1,000 years ago, when John Dalton presented his own
version of the atomic theory in 1803. In this lesson, we will present the original Greek concept of the
atom, and that of Dalton.
The Greek Concept
During the ancient times (around 440 B.C.), many of the “scientists” were philosophers. They did not
prove or disprove ideas using experiments. Rather, they used good arguments to show that an idea was
true. And so, Leucippus used logical reasoning to support the idea that “all things are basically made
up of atoms”. There were no experiments during his time. Of course, this means that Leucippus did
not convince some philosophers. Those who agreed with Leucippus were called “atomists”. One of the
first atomists was Democritus. He was a student of Leucippus. Later on, another scientist-philosopher,
Epicurus, improved the “atomos” concept
Dalton’s Atomic Theory

John Dalton is considered the Father of the Modern Atomic Theory. He was a chemist who studied the
works of Lavoisier and Proust. Antoine Lavoisier established the Law of Conservation of Mass while
Joseph Proust observed the Law of Definite Proportions. Using these laws, Dalton formulated his
atomic theory. Let us first take a look at these laws.
Law of Conservation of Mass Law of Definite Proportions

“The total mass of materials “The proportion by mass of the
before a chemical reaction elements in a given compound
takes place is exactly equal to is always the same.”
the total mass of the materials It is also known as the “Law of
that result after the reaction is Constant Composition”.
completed.”
John Dalton believed that these two laws supported the idea of atoms. He formulated an atomic
theory that included the observations of Lavoisier and Proust. This atomic theory has these statements:
#1 - All elements are composed of atoms, which are indivisible and indestructible particles. For
example, an element, like gold, is made up of gold atoms. The atoms of gold cannot be destroyed nor
divided to form other atoms. The Law of Conservation of Mass supports this statement.
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#2 - All atoms of the same element are exactly alike. This means that one atom of the element
platinum looks exactly the same as any other atom of platinum. It also means that the mass of one atom
of an element is exactly equal to the mass of
another atom of the same element.
#3 - All atoms of different elements are different. This statement is a follow-up of statement #2. It
means that the atoms of the element silver are different from the atoms of the element oxygen. And
one important difference among different atoms is their masses. The atoms of an element may have a
greater or lesser mass than the atoms of another kind of element. Both statements #2 and #3 agree with
the basic assumption of the Law of Definite Proportions: that the mass of atoms does not change.
#4 - The joining of atoms of two or more elements form compounds. When an atom of one kind of
element is joined with another atom of another kind of element, a compound is formed. Dalton further
stated that in any compound, the atoms of the different elements in the compound are joined in a
definite whole-number ratio. For example, in the compound
water, a particle of water is made up of one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. The ratio of
oxygen to hydrogen is 1:2.
A water molecule
Some elements also show that they form various ratios. For example, iron can form a compound with
oxygen in the ratio of 1:1. This means that for every atom of iron, there is one atom of oxygen. At the
same time, iron can form another compound with oxygen in the ratio of 2:3. This means that for every
two atoms of iron, there will be three atoms of oxygen. In other words, iron can form two different
ratios with oxygen. Other metals like copper and chromium also show this phenomenon. Such
phenomenon resulted to the Law of Multiple Proportions.
Self-Test 1.1
Directions: Answer these questions briefly.

1. Identify the similar ideas between the Greek concept of the atom and the statements in Dalton’s
atomic theory.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain the importance of the works of Lavoisier and Proust to the atomic theory of Dalton.
______________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Lesson 2 Structure of the Atom
An atom is composed of two regions: the nucleus, which is in the center of the atom and
contains protons and neutrons, and the outermost region of the atom which holds its electrons in orbit
around the nucleus, as illustrated in Figure 1. Atoms contain protons, electrons, and neutrons, among
other subatomic particles. The only exception is hydrogen (H), which is made of one proton and one
electron with no neutrons.
Figure 1. Elements, such as helium, depicted here, are made up of atoms. Atoms are made up of protons
and neutrons located within the nucleus, with electrons in orbitals surrounding the nucleus.
Protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass, about 1.67 × 10–24 grams. Scientists
arbitrarily define this amount of mass as one atomic mass unit (amu) or one Dalton, as shown in Table
1. Although similar in mass, protons and neutrons differ in their electric charge. A proton is positively
charged whereas a neutron is uncharged. Therefore, the number of neutrons in an atom contributes
significantly to its mass, but not to its charge. Electrons are much smaller in mass than protons,
weighing only 9.11 × 10–28 grams, or about 1/1800 of an atomic mass unit. Hence, they do not
contribute much to an element’s overall atomic mass. Therefore, when considering atomic mass, it is
customary to ignore the mass of any electrons and calculate the atom’s mass based on the number of
protons and neutrons alone. Although not significant contributors to mass, electrons do contribute
greatly to the atom’s charge, as each electron has a negative charge equal to the positive charge of a
proton. In uncharged, neutral atoms, the number of electrons orbiting the nucleus is equal to the number
of protons inside the nucleus. In these atoms, the positive and negative charges cancel each other out,
leading to an atom with no net charge.
Accounting for the sizes of protons, neutrons, and electrons, most of the volume of an atom—greater
than 99 percent—is, in fact, empty space. With all this empty space, one might ask why so-called solid
objects do not just pass through one another. The reason they do not is that the electrons that surround
all atoms are negatively charged and negative charges repel each other.
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Table 1. Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
Charge Mass (amu) Location
Proton +1 1 nucleus
Neutron 0 1 nucleus
Electron –1 0 orbitals
LESSON 3 The Subatomic Particles

What’s inside the atom? We already know that an atom is not as solid as a toy marble. In fact,
three different subatomic particles inside it have been discovered. “Subatomic” means “inside the
atom”. These are the protons, the electrons, and the neutrons. But first, we must get acquainted with
an instrument that made the discovery of subatomic particles possible: the cathode ray tube.
The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
The CRT is a glass tube with two electrodes. One electrode is positive and it is called the anode. The
other electrode is negative and it is called the cathode.
A gas is usually placed inside this tube and electricity is passed through it. As a result, light rays are
released from the negative electrode (cathode) and hit the positive electrode (anode). These rays are
obviously negatively charged since they come from the cathode and move towards the anode. A
scientist named Julius Plucker first identified the cathode rays, and another scientist named Sir William
Crookes confirmed this. He invented the Crookes tube, which is actually the prototype of the cathode
ray tubes. The cathode ray tube is used in neon signs. Karl Ferdinand Braun further improved the CRT,
and his “Braun tube” is the prototype of today’s television tubes, radar tubes, and computer monitors.
Because of the CRT, Roentgen discovered the x-rays. And still because of the CRT, the subatomic
particles electrons and protons were discovered.
Subatomic Particles
Here is a table comparing the three subatomic particles.

Particles Symbol Charge Mass Discoverer
-
Electron e Negative 9.11 x 10-31 kg J.J Thomson,1897
+
Proton P Positive 1.3626231 x 10-27 kg E. Goldstein, 1886
Neutron N0 No charge 1.6749 x 10-27 kg J. Chadwick, 1932
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All atoms have a positive nuclear charge due to the presence of protons. The number of protons
in an atom determines the positive nuclear charge of an atom. Protons also determine the atomic
number (Z) of an element. We can tell how many protons an atom of an element has by knowing its
atomic number. For example, the element beryllium (Be) has an atomic number of 4. An atom of
beryllium has four protons. The element Krypton (Kr) has an atomic number of 36, and one atom of
Krypton has 36 protons.
The proton is 1,836 times heavier than the electron. When electrons and protons are placed side
by side, the proton will be as big as a house, while the electron will only be one of its light switches.
The difference in the number of protons and number of electrons determines the overall charge
of the atom. For example, if an atom has 4 protons and 4 electrons, the overall charge of the atom is
zero. But if there are 6 protons and 5 electrons, the overall charge of the atom is +1. It is positive
because there are more protons than electrons. If there are 12 protons and 14 electrons, the overall
charge of the atom is –2. It is negative because there are more electrons than protons.
Together with protons, neutrons make up the mass number (A) of an atom. For example, the
element calcium has a mass number of 40 and an atomic number of 20. This means that the calcium
atom has 20 protons. To determine the number of neutrons, use this formula.
Mass number – atomic number = number of neutrons

40 – 20 = 20
The calcium atom also has 20 neutrons.
Let’s try to visualize what the atom looks like.
Activity 1.1 Atom Assembly
Let’s attempt to assemble the composition of the Boron atom. The atomic number of Boron is
5, the mass number is 11, and the overall charge of the atom is zero. This means that Boron has 5
protons, 5 electrons, and 6 neutrons.
In a plate, place 5 pieces of calamansi fruits. These will be our protons. Then place 6 pieces of
lanzones fruits. These will be our neutrons. Then add 5 pieces of rice grains. These will be our
electrons.
Now try to assemble the components of a Fluorine atom. Its atomic number is 9, its mass
number is 19, and its overall charge is –1.
Describe the contents of your plate.

__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
Self Test 2.1
Directions: Fill up this table. Consult a periodic table to know the symbol of the elements.
Element Element Atomic Atomic Charge No. of No. of No. of

Name Symbol Number, Number, of the Protons Electrons Neutrons
Z A Atom
Silicon 14 28 0
Silver 108 47
Strontium 38 36 50
Samarium 62 88
Atomic Number, Atomic Mass and Isotopes
The atomic number (Z) of an element is the number of protons in the nucleus of each atom of that
element. An atom can be classified as a particular element based solely on its atomic number. For
example, any atom with an atomic number of 8 (its nucleus contains 8 protons) is an oxygen atom, and
any atom with a different number of protons would be a different element. The periodic table (see
figure below) displays all of the known elements and is arranged in order of increasing atomic number.
In this table, an element's atomic number is indicated above the elemental symbol. Hydrogen, at the
upper left of the table, has an atomic number of 1. Every hydrogen atom has one proton in its nucleus.
Next on the table is helium, whose atoms have two protons in the nucleus. Lithium atoms have three
protons, beryllium atoms have four, and so on.
Since atoms are neutral, the number of electrons in an atom is equal to the number of protons. Hydrogen
atoms all have one electron occupying the space outside of the nucleus. Helium, with two protons, will
have two electrons.
Figure 1 : The periodic table of the elements.
7
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
Mass Number
Experimental data showed that the vast majority of the mass of an atom is concentrated in its nucleus,
which is composed of protons and neutrons. The mass number is defined as the total number of protons
and neutrons in an atom. Consider the table below, which shows data from the first six elements of the
periodic table.
Table 2. : Atoms of the First Six Elements
View animations showing the atomic structure of the first 11 elements on the periodic table at
http://web.visionlearning.com/custom...imations.shtml
Consider the element helium. Its atomic number is 2, so it has two protons in its nucleus. Its nucleus
also contains two neutrons. Since 2+2=4 , we know that the mass number of the helium atom is 4.
Finally, the helium atom also contains two electrons, since the number of electrons must equal the
number of protons. This example may lead you to believe that atoms have the same number of protons
and neutrons, but a further examination of the table above will show that this is not the case. Lithium,
for example, has three protons and four neutrons, giving it a mass number of 7.
Knowing the mass number and the atomic number of an atom allows you to determine the number of
neutrons present in that atom by subtraction.
Number of neutrons=mass number−atomic number
Atoms of the element chromium (Cr) have an atomic number of 24 and a mass number of 52. How
many neutrons are in the nucleus of a chromium atom? To determine this, you would subtract as shown:
52−24=28neutrons in a chromium atom
The composition of any atom can be illustrated with a shorthand notation using the atomic number and
the mass number. Both are written before the chemical symbol, with the mass number written as a
superscript and the atomic number written as a subscript. The chromium atom discussed above would
be written as:
24
52 𝐶𝑟
Another way to refer to a specific atom is to write the mass number of the atom after the name,
separated by a hyphen. The above atom would be written as chromium-52, with the mass number
8
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
written after the name. The atomic number does not have to be included because all atoms of chromium
have the same number of protons but can vary in the atomic mass.
Isotopes
As stated earlier, not all atoms of a given element are identical. Specifically, the number of neutrons
in the nucleus can vary for many elements. As an example, naturally occurring carbon exists in three
forms, which are illustrated in the figure below.
Figure 3 : Nuclei of the three isotopes of carbon. Almost 99% of naturally occurring carbon is carbon-
12, whose nucleus consists of six protons and six neutrons. Carbon-13 and carbon-14, with seven or
eight neutrons, respectively, have a much lower nuclei abundance.
Each carbon atom has the same number of protons (6), which is equal to its atomic number. Each
carbon atom also contains six electrons, allowing the atom to remain electrically neutral. However, the
number of neutrons varies from six to eight. Isotopes are atoms that have the same atomic number but
different mass numbers due to a change in the number of neutrons. The three isotopes of carbon can
be referred to as carbon-12 (C612) , carbon-13 (C613) , and carbon-14 (C614) . Naturally occurring
samples of most elements are mixtures of isotopes. Carbon has only three natural isotopes, but some
heavier elements have many more. Tin has ten stable isotopes, which is the most of any known element.
The nucleus of a given carbon atom will be one of the three possible isotopes discussed above.
While the presence of isotopes affects the mass of an atom, it does not affect its chemical reactivity.
Chemical behavior is governed by the number of electrons and the number of protons. Carbon-13
behaves chemically in exactly the same way as the more plentiful carbon-12.
Size of Atoms
The graphite in your pencil is composed of the element carbon, a nonmetal. Imagine taking a small
piece of carbon and grinding it until it is a fine dust. Each speck of carbon would still have all of the
physical and chemical properties of carbon. Now imagine that you could somehow keep dividing the
speck of carbon into smaller and smaller pieces. Eventually, you would reach a point where your
carbon sample is as small as it could possibly be. This final particle is called an atom.
Atoms, as you probably know, are extremely small. In fact, the graphite in an ordinary pencil contains
about 5×1020 atoms of carbon. This is an almost incomprehensibly large number. The population of
the entire Earth is about 7×109 people, meaning that there are about 7×1010 times as many carbon
atoms in your pencil as there are people on Earth! For this to be true, atoms must be extremely small.
9
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
We can only see atoms with a modern instrument called a scanning tunneling microscope.
(www.nobelprize.org/educationa...opes/scanning/)
Atomic Mass
The masses of individual atoms are very, very small. However, using a modern device called a mass
spectrometer, it is possible to measure such miniscule masses. An atom of oxygen-16, for example,
has a mass of 2.66×10−23g . While comparisons of masses measured in grams would have some
usefulness, it is far more practical to have a system that will allow us to more easily compare relative
atomic masses. Scientists decided on using the carbon-12 nuclide as the reference standard by which
all other masses would be compared. By definition, one atom of carbon-12 is assigned a mass of exactly
12 atomic mass units (amu) . An atomic mass unit is defined as a mass equal to one twelfth of an atom
of carbon-12. The mass of any isotope of any element is expressed in relation to the carbon-12 standard.
For example, one atom of helium-4 has a mass of 4.0026amu . An atom of sulfur-32 has a mass of
31.972amu .
The carbon-12 atom has six protons and six neutrons in its nucleus for a mass number of 12. Since the
nucleus accounts for nearly all of the mass of the atom, a single proton or single neutron has a mass of
approximately 1amu . However, as seen by the helium and sulfur examples, the masses of individual
atoms are not quite whole numbers. This is because an atom's mass is affected very slightly by the
interactions of the various particles within the nucleus and also includes the small mass added by each
electron.
As stated in the section on isotopes, most elements occur naturally as a mixture of two or more isotopes.
Listed below (see table below) are the naturally occurring isotopes of several elements along with the
percent natural abundance of each.
Table 4 : Atomic Masses and Percent Abundances of Some Natural Isotopes
For some elements, one particular isotope is much more abundant than any other isotopes. For
example, naturally occurring hydrogen is nearly all hydrogen-1, and naturally occurring oxygen is
10
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
nearly all oxygen-16. For many other elements, however, more than one isotope may exist in
substantial quantities. Chlorine (atomic number 17) is yellowish-green toxic gas. About three quarters
of all chlorine atoms have 18 neutrons, giving those atoms a mass number of 35. About one quarter of
all chlorine atoms have 20 neutrons, giving those atoms a mass number of 37. Were you to simply
calculate the arithmetic average of the precise atomic masses, you would get approximately 36.
34.969+36.9662=35.968
As you can see, the average atomic mass given in the last column of the table above is significantly
lower. Why? The reason is that we need to take into account the natural abundance percentages of each
isotope in order to calculate what is called the weighted average. The atomic mass of an element is the
weighted average of the atomic masses of the naturally occurring isotopes of that element. The average
atomic masses are the values we see on the periodic table.
0.7577(34.969)+0.2423(36.966)=35.453
The weighted average is determined by multiplying the percent of natural abundance by the actual
mass of the isotope. This is repeated until there is a term for each isotope. For chlorine, there are only
two naturally occurring isotopes so there are only two terms.
Atomic Mass and Isotopes
In the periodic table, we find “atomic mass”. Is this exactly the same as “mass number”? No, these two
terms are not the same due to the existence of isotopes. What are isotopes?
Activity 2.2 Same But Different
Study two potatoes. These two are the same simply because both are potatoes. But, they are also
different. List four things that make one potato different from another.
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
Just like the potatoes, isotopes are atoms of the same element but they have different mass numbers.
This means that two atoms can have the same number of protons, but have different numbers of
neutrons. For example, the hydrogen element has three different isotopes
Atoms that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons are called isotopes.
In other words, isotopes have the same atomic number, but different mass numbers. Since they have
the same number of protons, isotopes are different forms of the same element. There are two main
ways of depicting isotopes of an element to distinguish between them.
1. Including the isotope’s mass number with the element’s name.

2. Including the isotope’s mass number and atomic number with the element’s symbol.
11
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
Example
Boron atoms contain 5 protons.

There are two isotopes of boron – one containing 5 neutrons and one containing 6 neutrons.
These isotopes therefore have the atomic number 5 and mass numbers 10 and 11 respectively.
They can be written as boron-10 and boron-11, or as ¹⁰₅B and ¹¹₅B.
Almost all elements exist as two or more isotopes.
The proportions of different isotopes are fixed for a particular element, but differ between elements.
For example, naturally occurring boron consists of 20% boron-10 and 80% boron-11; naturally
occurring bromine consists of 51% bromine-79 and 49% bromine-81.
Boron has two isotopes: boron-10 and boron-11
The isotopes of hydrogen are named protium,

deuterium, and tritium. All of them have an atomic
number of 1. This means that all of them have one
proton. But protium has a mass number of 1. It has no
neutron. The deuterium has a mass number of 2. It has
one neutron. And
tritium has a mass number of 3. It has two neutrons.
The existence of isotopes led to the existence of

atomic mass. Atomic mass is determined by how much percentage or relative abundance a certain
isotope exists in nature. This can be computed by using this formula:
Atomic Mass = Σ (mass number of one isotope x relative abundance)
The symbol Σ reads “summation”. It means that we will add the products of the mass
number and relative abundance of the isotopes.
12
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
For example, nitrogen has two isotopes, 14N and 15N. The 14N or N–14 has a relative
abundance of 99.63%, while the 15N or N–15 has a relative abundance of 0.37%. To compute for the
atomic mass,
Atomic mass = (0.9963 x 14) + (0.0037 x 15)

= 13.9482 + 0.0555
= 14.0037
Some Amazing Isotopes
Some isotopes can save lives! Isn’t that amazing? Isotopes are used to find out if a
person is sick or not. This is called radiation detection. Here are some isotopes and their
uses in medicine.
Isotope Uses in Medicine

Iodine – 131 Used to determine the size, shape and activity of the
thyroid gland
Treats cancer located in the thyroid gland
Controls a hyperactive thyroid
Cobalt – 57 Determines whether you have enough intake of
vitamin B12
Cobalt – 60 Used for radiation therapy treatment of cancer
Gadolinium – 153 Used to determine bone mineralization especially for
women who suffer from osteoporosis
Technetium – 99 Used to detect blood flow patterns in the heart
Scans the brain, liver, kidney, and lungs
Carbon –11 With the PET (positron emission tomography
technology, it is used to scan and measure processes that
occur in the body
Chromium – 5 Determines the volume of red blood cells and the total
volume of blood
Phosphorus – 32 Detects skin cancer or cancer of body tissues that have
been exposed to surgery
Electron Shells and the Bohr Model
Niels Bohr proposed an early model of the atom as a central nucleus containing protons and neutrons
being orbited by electrons in shells.
• In the Bohr model of the atom, the nucleus contains the majority of the mass of the atom in its
protons and neutrons.
• Orbiting the positively-charged core are the negatively charged electrons, which contribute
little in terms of mass, but are electrically equivalent to the protons in the nucleus.
• In most cases, electrons fill the lower- energy orbitals first, followed by the next higher energy
orbital until it is full, and so on until all electrons have been placed.
• Atoms tend to be most stable with a full outer shell (one which, after the first, contains 8
electrons), leading to what is commonly called the ” octet rule “.
13
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
• The properties of an element are determined by its outermost electrons, or those in the highest
energy orbital.
• Atoms that do not have full outer shells will tend to gain or lose electrons, resulting in a full
outer shell and, therefore, stability.
• octet rule: A rule stating that atoms lose, gain, or share electrons in order to have a full valence
shell of 8 electrons. (Hydrogen is excluded because it can hold a maximum of 2 electrons in its
valence shell. )
• electron shell: The collective states of all electrons in an atom having the same principal
quantum number (visualized as an orbit in which the electrons move
Electron Shells and the Bohr Model
Figure 4 : Orbitals in the Bohr model: The Bohr model was developed by Niels Bohr in 1913. In this
model, electrons exist within principal shells. An electron normally exists in the lowest energy shell
available, which is the one closest to the nucleus. Energy from a photon of light can bump it up to a
higher energy shell, but this situation is unstable and the electron quickly decays back to the ground
state. In the process, a photon of light is released.
There is a connection between the number of protons in an element, the atomic number that
distinguishes one element from another, and the number of electrons it has. In all electrically-neutral
atoms, the number of electrons is the same as the number of protons. Each element, when electrically
neutral, has a number of electrons equal to its atomic number.
An early model of the atom was developed in 1913 by Danish scientist Niels Bohr (1885–1962). The
Bohr model shows the atom as a central nucleus containing protons and neutrons with the electrons in
circular orbitals at specific distances from the nucleus. These orbits form electron shells or energy
levels, which are a way of visualizing the number of electrons in the various shells. These energy levels
are designated by a number and the symbol “n.” For example, 1n represents the first energy level
located closest to the nucleus.
Electrons fill orbit shells in a consistent order. Under standard conditions, atoms fill the inner shells
(closer to the nucleus) first, often resulting in a variable number of electrons in the outermost shell.
The innermost shell has a maximum of two electrons, but the next two electron shells can each have a
maximum of eight electrons. This is known as the octet rule which states that, with the exception of
the innermost shell, atoms are more stable energetically when they have eight electrons in their valence
shell, the outermost electron shell. Examples of some neutral atoms and their electron configurations
14
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
are shown in. As shown, helium has a complete outer electron shell, with two electrons filling its first
and only shell. Similarly, neon has a complete outer 2n shell containing eight electrons. In contrast,
chlorine and sodium have seven and one electrons in their outer shells, respectively. Theoretically,
they would be more energetically stable if they followed the octet rule and had eight.
Figure 5 : Bohr diagrams: Bohr diagrams indicate how many electrons fill each principal shell. Group
18 elements (helium, neon, and argon are shown) have a full outer, or valence, shell. A full valence
shell is the most stable electron configuration. Elements in other groups have partially-filled valence
shells and gain or lose electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration.
An atom may gain or lose electrons to achieve a full valence shell, the most stable electron
configuration. The periodic table is arranged in columns and rows based on the number of electrons
and where these electrons are located, providing a tool to understand how electrons are distributed in
the outer shell of an atom. As shown in, the group 18 atoms helium (He), neon (Ne), and argon (Ar)
all have filled outer electron shells, making it unnecessary for them to gain or lose electrons to attain
stability; they are highly stable as single atoms. Their non-reactivity has resulted in their being named
the inert gases (or noble gases). In comparison, the group 1 elements, including hydrogen (H), lithium
(Li), and sodium (Na), all have one electron in their outermost shells. This means that they can achieve
a stable configuration and a filled outer shell by donating or losing an electron. As a result of losing a
negatively-charged electron, they become positively-charged ions. When an atom loses an electron to
become a positively-charged ion, this is indicated by a plus sign after the element symbol; for example,
Na+. Group 17 elements, including fluorine and chlorine, have seven electrons in their outermost
shells; they tend to fill this shell by gaining an electron from other atoms, making them negatively-
charged ions. When an atom gains an electron to become a negatively-charged ion this is indicated by
a minus sign after the element symbol; for example, F-. Thus, the columns of the periodic table
represent the potential shared state of these elements’ outer electron shells that is responsible for their
similar chemical characteristics.
Electron Orbitals
Electron orbitals are three-dimensional representations of the space in which an electron is likely to be
found.
15
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
• The Bohr model of the atom does not accurately reflect how electrons are spatially distributed
around the nucleus as they do not circle the nucleus like the earth orbits the sun.
• The electron orbitals are the result of mathematical equations from quantum mechanics known
as wave functions and can predict within a certain level of probability where an electron might
be at any given time.
• The number and type of orbitals increases with increasing atomic number, filling in various
electron shells.
• The area where an electron is most likely to be found is called its orbital.
• electron shell: The collective states of all electrons in an atom having the same principal
quantum number (visualized as an orbit in which the electrons move).
• orbital: A specification of the energy and probability density of an electron at any point in an
atom or molecule.
Although useful to explain the reactivity and chemical bonding of certain elements, the Bohr model
of the atom does not accurately reflect how electrons are spatially distributed surrounding the
nucleus. They do not circle the nucleus like the earth orbits the sun, but are rather found in electron
orbitals. These relatively complex shapes result from the fact that electrons behave not just like
particles, but also like waves. Mathematical equations from quantum mechanics known as wave
functions can predict within a certain level of probability where an electron might be at any given
time. The area where an electron is most likely to be found is called its orbital.
First Electron Shell

The closest orbital to the nucleus, called the 1s orbital, can hold up to two electrons. This orbital is
equivalent to the innermost electron shell of the Bohr model of the atom. It is called the 1s orbital
because it is spherical around the nucleus. The 1s orbital is always filled before any other orbital.
Hydrogen has one electron; therefore, it has only one spot within the 1s orbital occupied. This is
designated as 1s1, where the superscripted 1 refers to the one electron within the 1s orbital. Helium
has two electrons; therefore, it can completely fill the 1s orbital with its two electrons. This is
designated as 1s2, referring to the two electrons of helium in the 1s orbital. On the periodic table,
hydrogen and helium are the only two elements in the first row (period); this is because they are the
sole elements to have electrons only in their first shell, the 1s orbital.
Second Electron Shell

The second electron shell may contain eight electrons. This shell contains another spherical s orbital
and three “dumbbell” shaped p orbitals, each of which can hold two electrons. After the 1s orbital is
filled, the second electron shell is filled, first filling its 2s orbital and then its three p orbitals. When
filling the p orbitals, each takes a single electron; once each p orbital has an electron, a second may
be added. Lithium (Li) contains three electrons that occupy the first and second shells. Two electrons
fill the 1s orbital, and the third electron then fills the 2s orbital. Its electron configuration is 1s 22s1.
Neon (Ne), on the other hand, has a total of ten electrons: two are in its innermost 1s orbital, and
eight fill its second shell (two each in the 2s and three p orbitals). Thus, it is an inert gas and
energetically stable: it rarely forms a chemical bond with other atoms.
16
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
Figure 26 : Diagram of the S and P orbitals: The s subshells are shaped like spheres. Both the 1n and
2n principal shells have an s orbital, but the size of the sphere is larger in the 2n orbital. Each sphere
is a single orbital. p subshells are made up of three dumbbell-shaped orbitals. Principal shell 2n has a
p subshell, but shell 1 does not.
Third Electron Shell

Larger elements have additional orbitals, making up the third electron shell. Subshells d and f have
more complex shapes and contain five and seven orbitals, respectively. Principal shell 3n has s, p, and
d subshells and can hold 18 electrons. Principal shell 4n has s, p, d, and f orbitals and can hold 32
electrons. Moving away from the nucleus, the number of electrons and orbitals found in the energy
levels increases. Progressing from one atom to the next in the periodic table, the electron structure can
be worked out by fitting an extra electron into the next available orbital. While the concepts of electron
shells and orbitals are closely related, orbitals provide a more accurate depiction of the electron
configuration of an atom because the orbital model specifies the different shapes and special
orientations of all the places that electrons may occupy.
Sources;
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_General_Bi
ology_(Boundless)/2%3A_The_Chemical_Foundation_of_Life/2.1%3A_Atoms%2C_Isotopes%2
C_Ions%2C_and_Molecules/2.1E%3A_Electron_Shells_and_the_Bohr_Model
https://www.goodscience.com.au/year-9-chemistry/atomic-number-mass-number-and-isotopes/
https://www.toppr.com/guides/chemistry/structure-of-atom/introduction-to-structure-of-
atom/#:~:text=Atom%20is%20the%20smallest%20unit,chemical%20properties%20of%20an%20
element.
17
MODULE WEEK NO.5-6
Exercises
Atomic Number, Isotopes and Atomic Mass
I. A. Give the identity of the following hypothetical elements designated by the

following symbols, complete the following table.
Atomic 92 66
Number
Name Dy-162
Symbol of N-15
Isotope
Number of 43
Protons
Number of 87
Electron
Number of 146 55 135
Neutrons
Symbol
Notation
B. Compute / Explain
1. Argon has three naturally occurring isotopes: argon -36, argon-38, and argon-40. Based on
argon’s reported atomic mass, which isotope do you think is the most abundant in nature?
Explain.
2. Copper is made of two isotopes. Copper-63 is 69.17% abundant and it has a mass of 62.9269
amu. Copper-65 is 30.83% abundant and it has a mass of 64.9278 amu. What is the weighted
average mass of these two isotopes?
3. Calculate the atomic mass of silicon. The three silicon isotopes have atomic masses and relative
abundance of 27.9769amu (92.229%), 28.9765 amu (4.6832%) and 29.9738 amu (3.0872%).
18
Chemistry: Atoms
2.2 SUBATOMIC PARTICLES AND ATOMIC STRUCTURE
In the late 1800’s, many scientists were doing research involving

radiation, the emission and transmission of energy in the form of
waves.
They commonly used a cathode ray tube, which consists of two

metal plates sealed inside a glass tube from which most of the air
has been evacuated.
SUBATOMIC PARTICLES AND ATOMIC STRUCTURE
When metal plates are connected to a high-voltage source, the

negatively charged plate, or cathode, emits an invisible ray.
The cathode ray is drawn to the anode where it passes through a

small hole.
Although invisible, the path is revealed when the ray strikes a

phosphor-coated surface producing a bright light.
Researches discovered that like charges repel each other, and

opposite charges attract one another.
J. J. Thomson (1856-1940) noted the rays were repelled by a

plate bearing a negative charge, and attracted to a plate bearing a
positive charge.
This prompted him to propose the rays were actually a stream of

negatively charged particles.
These negatively charged particles are called electrons.
By varying the electric field and measuring the degree of

deflection of cathode rays, Thomson determined the charge-to-
mass ratio of electrons to be 1.76×108 C/g. (C is coulomb, the
derived SI unit of electric charge.)
R. A. Millikan (1868-1953) determined the charge on an electron

by examining the motion of tiny oil drops.
The charge was determined to be -1.6022×10-19 C.

Knowing the charge, he was then able to use Thomson’s charge-

to-mass ratio to determine the mass of an electron.
charge −1.6022  10 −19 C −28

mass of an electron = = = 9.10  10 g
charge / mass −1.76  10 C/g
8
Wilhelm Rontgen (1845-1923) discovered X-rays. They were not
deflected by magnetic or electric fields, so they could not consist of
charged particles.
Antoine Becquerel (1852-1908) discovered radioactivity, the

spontaneous emission of radiation.
Radioactive substances, such as uranium, can produce three types of

radiation.
Alpha (α) rays consist of positively charged particles, called α

particles.
Beta (β) rays, or β particles, are electrons so they are deflected away
from the negatively charged plate.
Gamma (γ) rays, like X-rays, have no charge and are unaffected by
external electric or magnetic fields.
Ernest Rutherford used α

particles to prove the
structure of atoms.
The majority of particles

penetrated the gold foil
undeflected.
Sometimes, α particles were

deflected at a large angle.
Sometimes, α particles
bounced back in the direction
from which they had come.
Rutherford proposed a new

model for the atom:
Positive charge is concentrated

in the nucleus.
The nucleus accounts for most

of an atom’s mass and is an
extremely dense central core
within the atom.
➢ A typical atomic radius is
about 100 pm
➢ A typical nucleus has a
radius of about 5×10–3 pm
➢ 1 pm = 1×10–12 m
2.1 ATOMS FIRST
An atom is the smallest quantity of matter that still retains the

properties of matter.
An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into two or
more simpler substances by any means.
➢ Examples: gold, oxygen, helium
Atoms
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What are atoms made of?
Protons: positively charged particles that are housed in the nucleus

of an atom and have significant mass
Neutrons: neutral particles that are housed in the nucleus. They act to
hold the protons in place since like charges repel each
other. Neutrons have significant mass
Electrons have negligible mass, have a negative charge and are allowed
to roam freely in the electron cloud so they take up significant
volume in the atom
Taylor 2010
2.3 ATOMIC NUMBER, MASS NUMBER, AND ISOTOPES
All atoms can be identified by the number of protons and neutrons

they contain.
The atomic number (Z) is the number of protons in the nucleus.

➢ Atoms are neutral, so it’s also the number of electrons.
➢ Protons determine the identity of an element. For example,
nitrogen’s atomic number is 7, so every nitrogen has 7 protons.
The mass number (A) is the total number of protons and neutrons.
➢ Protons and neutrons are collectively referred to as nucleons.
Mass number
(number of protons + neutrons) A
Atomic number Z X Elemental symbol
(number of protons)
ATOMIC NUMBER, MASS NUMBER, AND ISOTOPES
Most elements have two or more isotopes, atoms that have the
same atomic number (Z) but different mass numbers (A).
1 proton 1 proton 1 proton

0 neutrons 1 neutron 2 neutrons
Isotopes of the same element exhibit similar chemical properties,

forming the same types of compounds and displaying similar
reactivities.
Worked Example 2.1
Determine the numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons in each of the
35 37 41
following species: (a) 17 Cl, (b) Cl, (c) K, and (d) carbon-14.
Strategy Recall the superscript denotes the mass number (A) and the subscript
denotes the atomic number (Z). If no subscript is shown, the atomic number can
be deduced from the elemental symbol or name. Atoms are neutral so the number
of electrons equals the number of protons.
Solution
(a) Z = 17, so 17 protons
A = 35, so 35 - 17 = 18 neutrons
# of electrons = # of protons, so 17 electrons
(b) Element is chlorine again, so Z must be 17; 17 protons

A = 37, so 37 - 17 = 20 neutrons
17 protons, so 17 electrons
Worked Example 2.1 (cont.)
35 37 41
Solution
(c) Potassium’s atomic number is 19, so 19 protons
A = 41, so 41 - 19 = 22 neutrons
# of electrons = # of protons, so 19 electrons
Worked Example 2.1 (cont.)
35 37 41
Solution
(d) Carbon-14 can also be represented as 14 C
Carbon’s atomic number is 6, so 6 protons
A = 14, so 14 - 6 = 8 neutrons
6 protons, so 6 electrons
Think About It Verify that the number of protons and the number of neutrons
for each example sum to the mass number that is given. In part (a), there are 17
protons and 18 neutrons, which sum to give a mass number of 35, the value
given in the problem. In part (b), 17 protons + 20 neutrons = 37. In part (c),
19 protons + 22 neutrons = 41. In part (d), 6 protons + 8 neutrons = 14.
Do You Understand Isotopes?
14
How many protons, neutrons, and electrons are in 6 C ?
6 protons, 8 (14 - 6) neutrons, 6 electrons
11
How many protons, neutrons, and electrons are in 6 C ?
6 protons, 5 (11 - 6) neutrons, 6 electrons
2.3
Ions
Atoms are neutral—meaning that the number of protons
is equal to the number of electrons
If an atom loses or gains electrons the atom is

No longer neutral but has a charge.
An ion is an atom, or group of atoms, that has a net
positive or negative charge.
cation – ion with a positive charge
If a neutral atom loses one or more electrons
it becomes a cation.
11 protons 11 protons
Na 11 electrons Na+ 10 electrons
anion – ion with a negative charge

If a neutral atom gains one or more electrons
it becomes an anion.
17 protons 17 protons
Cl 17 electrons Cl- 18 electrons
A monatomic ion contains only one atom
Na+, Cl-, Ca2+, O2-, Al3+, N3-
A polyatomic ion contains more than one atom

OH-, CN-, NH4+, NO3-
NUCLEAR SYMBOL OF IONS
A C
X = element symbol
A = atomic number
X Z = mass number
Z C = charge of Ion
Number of Protons = Z
Numbers of Neutrons = A – Z
Number of electrons = Z - C
Do You Understand Ions?
27 3+
How many protons, neutrons and electrons are in Al ?
13
Protons = 13
Neutrons = 27-13 = 14
Electrons = 13 – 3 = 10
78 2-
How many protons, neutrons and electrons are in 34Se ?
Protons = 34
Neutrons = 78 – 34 = 44
Electrons = 34 – (-2) = 36
Taylor 2012
Micro World Macro World
atoms & molecules grams
Atomic mass is the mass of an atom in

atomic mass units (amu)
By definition:
1 atom 12C “weighs” 12 amu
On this scale
1H = 1.008 amu
16O = 16.00 amu
3.1
2.4 AVERAGE ATOMIC MASS
Atomic mass is the mass of an atom in atomic mass units (amu).

1 amu = 1/12 the mass of a carbon-12 atom
The average atomic mass on the periodic table represents the

average mass of the naturally occurring mixture of isotopes.
Natural
Isotope Isotopic mass (amu)
abundance (%)
12C 12.00000 98.93
13C 13.003355 1.07
Average mass (C) = (0.9893)(12.00000 amu) + (0.0107)(13.003355 amu)

= 12.01 amu
WORKED EXAMPLE 2.2
Oxygen is the most abundant element in both Earth’s crust and the human body.
16 17
The atomic masses of its three stable isotopes, 8O (99.757 percent), 8O (0.038
percent), 188O (0.205 percent), are 15.9949, 16.9991, and 17.9992 amu,
respectively. Calculate the average atomic mass of oxygen using the relative
abundances given in parentheses.
Strategy Each isotope contributes to the average atomic mass based on its
relative abundance. Multiplying the mass of each isotope by its fractional
abundance (percent value divided by 100) will give its contribution to the
average atomic mass.
Solution
(0.99757)(15.9949 amu) + (0.00038)(16.9991 amu) + (0.00205)(17.992 amu)
= 15.9994 amu
Think About It The average atomic mass should be closest to the atomic mass
of the most abundant isotope (in this case, oxygen-16) and, to four significant
figures, should be the same number that appears in the periodic table on the
inside front cover of your textbook (in this case, 16.00 amu).
Natural lithium is:
7.42% 6Li (6.015 amu)
92.58% 7Li (7.016 amu)
Average atomic mass of lithium:
(7.42 x 6.015) + (92.58 x 7.016)

= 6.941 amu
100
3.1
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8

SELF LEARNING MODULE – QUANTUM MECHANICS

COURSE CODE: General Chemistry
Introduction
Quantum theory led to the explosion in technological developments in the twentieth

century, including remarkable new light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are
now being used as high-quality, low-energy-consumption light sources in many applications, and
lasers, which have revolutionized so many aspects of our lives. Quantum theory also led to the
development of the solid-state electronics that are at the heart of computers, cellular telephones,
and countless other electronic devices.
In this module, we explore quantum theory and its importance in chemistry. We begin by
looking at the nature of light and how our description of light was changed by quantum theory.
We will explore some of the tools used in quantum mechanics, the “new” physics that had to be
developed to describe atoms correctly. We will then use quantum theory to describe the arrange-
ments of electrons in atoms—what we call the electronic structure of atoms. The electronic
structure of an atom refers to the number of electrons in the atom as well as their distribution
around the nucleus and their energies. We will see that the quantum description of the electronic
structure of atoms helps us to understand the arrangement of the elements in the periodic table—
why, for example, helium and neon are both unreactive gases, whereas sodium and potassium are
both soft, reactive metals

➢ Recognize the contribution of scientists to the development of the Quantum Mechanical
Model of the Atom
➢ Describe the relationships among the wavelengths of light, energy, and color.
➢ Describe the relationship between emission spectra and the electronic structure of the
hydrogen atom as explained by Bohr’s model.
➢ Use quantum numbers to describe an electron in an atom.
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MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
The Wave Nature of Light
Much of our present understanding of the electronic structure of atoms has come from
analysis of the light either emitted or absorbed by substances. To understand electronic structure,
therefore, we must first learn more about light. The light we see with our eyes, visible light, is one
type of electromagnetic radiation. Because electromagnetic radiation carries energy through
space, it is also known as radiant energy.
There are many types of electromagnetic radiation in addition to visible light. These
different types—radio waves, infrared radiation (heat), X rays—may seem very different from one
another, but they all share certain fundamental characteristics.
All types of electromagnetic radiation move through a vacuum at 2.998 * 108 m>s, the
speed of light. All have wave-like characteristics similar to those of waves that move through water.
Water waves are the result of energy imparted to the water, perhaps by a dropped stone or the
movement of a boat across the water’s surface. This energy is expressed as the up-and-down
movements of the water.
A cross section of a water wave (Figure 1) shows that it is periodic, which means that the
pattern of peaks and troughs repeats itself at regular intervals. The distance between two adjacent
peaks (or between two adjacent troughs) is called the wavelength. The number of complete
wavelengths, or cycles, that pass a given point each second is the frequency of the wave.
Fig. 1 Water waves. The wavelength is the distance between two

adjacent peaks or two adjacent troughs.
Just as with water waves, we can assign a frequency and wavelength to electromagnetic
waves, as illustrated in Figure 2. These and all other wave characteristics of electromagnetic
radiation are due to the periodic oscillations in the intensities of the electric and magnetic fields
associated with the radiation.
Fig. 2 Electromagnetic waves. Like water waves, electromagnetic radiation can be

characterized by a wavelength. Notice that the shorter the wavelength, ʎ, the greater the frequency,
ν. The wavelength in (b) is half as long as that in (a), and the frequency of the wave in (b) is
therefore twice as great as that in (a).
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MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
The speed of water waves can vary depending on how they are created—for example, the waves
produced by a speed boat travel faster than those produced by a rowboat. In contrast, all
electromagnetic radiation moves at the same speed, namely, the speed of light. As a result, the
wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic radiation are always related in a straightforward

way. If the wavelength is long, fewer cycles of the wave pass a given point per second, and so the
frequency is low. Conversely, for a wave to have a high frequency, it must have a short
wavelength. This inverse relationship between the frequency and wavelength of electromagnetic
radiation is expressed by the equation
ʎν = c
where ʎ (lambda) is wavelength, ν (nu) is frequency, and c is the speed of light.
Why do different types of electromagnetic radiation have different properties? Their

differences are due to their different wavelengths. Figure 3 shows the various types of
electromagnetic radiation arranged in order of increasing wavelength, a display called the
electromagnetic spectrum. Notice that the wavelengths span an enormous range. The wavelengths
of gamma rays are comparable to the diameters of atomic nuclei, whereas the wavelengths of
radio waves can be longer than a football field. Notice also that visible light, which corresponds
to wavelengths of about 400 to 750 nm 14 * 10 - 7 to 7 * 10 - 7 m2, is an extremely small portion
of the electromagnetic spectrum. The unit of length chosen to express wavelength depends on the
type of radiation, as shown in Table 6.1.
Frequency is expressed in cycles per second, a unit also called a hertz (Hz). Because it is
understood that cycles are involved, the units of frequency are normally given simply as “per
second,” which is denoted by s - 1 or /s. For example, a frequency of 698 megahertz (MHz), a
typical frequency for a cellular telephone, could be written as 698 MHz, 698,000,000 Hz,
698,000,000 s - 1, or 698,000,000>s.
Figure 3 The electromagnetic spectrum.* Wavelengths in the spectrum range from

very shortgamma rays to very long radio waves.
3
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
TABLE .1 Common Wavelength Units for Electromagnetic Radiation

Quantized Energy and Photons
Although the wave model of light explains many aspects of the behavior of light, several
observations cannot be resolved by this model. Three of these are particularly pertinent to our
understanding of how electromagnetic radiation and atoms interact: (1) the emission of light from
hot objects (referred to as blackbody radiation because the objects studied appear black before
heating), (2) the emission of electrons from metal surfaces on which light shines (the photoelectric
effect), and (3) the emission of light from electronically excited gas atoms (emission spectra). We
examine the first two phenomena here and the third in Section 6.3.
Hot Objects and the Quantization of Energy
When solids are heated, they emit radiation, as seen in the red glow of an electric stove
burner or the bright white light of a tungsten light bulb. The wavelength distribution of the
radiation depends on temperature; a red-hot object, for instance, is cooler than a yellowish or
white-hot one. During the late 1800s, a number of physicists studied this phenomenon, trying to
understand the relationship between the temperature and the intensity and wavelength of the
emitted radiation. The prevailing laws of physics could not account for the observations.
In 1900, a German physicist named Max Planck (1858–1947) solved the problem by
making a daring assumption: He proposed that energy can be either released or absorbed by atoms
only in discrete “chunks” of some minimum size. Planck gave the name quantum (meaning “fixed
amount”) to the smallest quantity of energy that can be emitted or absorbed as electromagnetic
radiation. He proposed that the energy, E, of a single quantum equals a constant times the
frequency of the radiation
E = hν
The constant h is called the Planck constant and has a value of 6.626 x 10 - 34 joule-second (J-s).
According to Planck’s theory, matter can emit and absorb energy only in whole number
multiples of hν, such as hν, 2hν, 3hν, and so forth. If the quantity of energy emitted by an atom is
3hn, for example, we say that three quanta of energy have been emitted (quanta being the plural
of quantum).
tities.
4
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
Because the energy can be released only in specific amounts, we say that the allowed energies are
quantized—their values are restricted to certain quantities. Planck’s revolutionary proposal that
energy is quantized was proved correct, and he was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for
his work on quantum theory.
If the notion of quantized energies seems strange, it might be helpful to draw an analogy
by comparing a ramp and a staircase. As you walk up a ramp, your potential energy increases in a
uniform, continuous manner. When you climb a staircase, you can step only on individual stairs,
not between them, so that your potential energy is restricted to certain values and is therefore
quantized.
If Planck’s quantum theory is correct, why are its effects not obvious in our daily lives?
Why do energy changes seem continuous rather than quantized, or “jagged”? Notice that the
Planck constant is an extremely small number. Thus, a quantum of energy, hν, is an extremely
small amount. Planck’s rules regarding the gain or loss of energy are always the same, whether
we are concerned with objects on the scale of our ordinary experience or with microscopic objects.
With everyday objects, however, the gain or loss of a single quantum of energy is so small that it
goes completely unnoticed. In contrast, when dealing with matter at the atomic level, the impact
of quantized energies is far more significant.
The Photoelectric Effect and Photons
A few years after Planck presented his quantum theory, scientists began to see its
applicability to many experimental observations. In 1905, Albert Einstein (1879–1955) used
Planck’s theory to explain the photoelectric effect (Figure 6.7). Light shining on a clean metal
surface causes electrons to be emitted from the surface. A minimum frequency of light, different
for different metals, is required for the emission of electrons. For example, light with a frequency
of 4.60 x 1014 s - 1 or greater causes cesium metal to emit electrons, but if the light has frequency
less than that, no electrons are emitted.
To explain the photoelectric effect, Einstein assumed that the radiant energy striking the
metal surface behaves like a stream of tiny energy packets. Each packet, which is like a “particle”
of energy, is called a photon. Extending Planck’s quantum theory, Einstein deduced that each
photon must have an energy equal to the Planck constant times the frequency of the light:
Energy of photon = E = hν
Thus, radiant energy itself is quantized.
Fig. 4 The photoelectric effect.

5
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
Under the right conditions, photons striking a metal surface can transfer their energy to
electrons in the metal. A certain amount of energy—called the work function is required for the
electrons to overcome the attractive forces holding them in the metal. If the photons striking the
metal have less energy than the work function, the electrons do not acquire sufficient energy to
escape from the metal. Increasing the intensity of the light source doesn’t lead to emission of
electrons from the metal; only changing the frequency of the incoming light has that effect. The
intensity (brightness) of the light is related to the number of photons striking the surface per unit
time but not to the energy of each photon. When the frequency is such that photons have energy
greater than the work function of the particular metal, electrons are emitted; any excess energy of
the photon is converted into kinetic energy of the emitted electron. Einstein won the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1921 primarily for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
If electrons are ejected from a given metal when irradiated with a 10-W red laser pointer, what will
happen when the same metal is irradiated with a 5-W green laser pointer? (a) Electrons will be
ejected, (b) electrons will not be ejected, (c) more information is needed to answer this question.
To better understand what a photon is, imagine you have a light source that produces
radiation of a single wavelength. Further suppose that you could switch the light on and off faster
and faster to provide ever-smaller bursts of energy. Einstein’s photon theory tells us that you would
eventually come to the smallest energy burst, given by E = hν. This smallest burst consists of a
single photon of light.
The idea that the energy of light depends on its frequency helps us understand the diverse
effects that different kinds of electromagnetic radiation have on matter. For example, because of
the high frequency (short wavelength) of X rays (Figure 3), X-ray photons cause tissue damage,
which is why warning signs are posted around X-ray equipment.
Although Einstein’s theory of light as a stream of photons rather than a wave explains the
photoelectric effect and a great many other observations, it also poses a dilemma. Is light a wave,
or does it consist of particles? The only way to resolve this dilemma is to adopt what might seem
to be a bizarre position: We must consider that light possesses both wave-like and particle-like
characteristics and, depending on the situation, will behave more like waves or more like particles.
Line Spectra and the Bohr Model
The work of Planck and Einstein paved the way for understanding how electrons are
arranged in atoms. In 1913, the Danish physicist Niels Bohr (Figure 5) offered a theoretical
explanation of line spectra, another phenomenon that had puzzled scientists during the nineteenth
century. We will see that Bohr used the ideas of Planck and Einstein to explain the line spectrum
of hydrogen.
Fig. 5 Niels Bohr (1885–1962).

This 1960s-era Danish postage stampcommemorates Bohr’s atomic model.
6
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
Line Spectra
A particular source of radiant energy may emit a single wavelength, as in the light from a
laser. Radiation composed of a single wavelength is monochromatic. However, most common
radiation sources, including incandescent light bulbs and stars, produce radiation containing many
different wavelengths, polychromatic radiation. A spectrum is produced when radiation from a
polychromatic source is separated into its component wavelengths, as shown in Figure 6. The
resulting spectrum consists of a continuous range of colors—violet merges into indigo, indigo into
blue, and so forth, with no (or very few) blank spots. This rainbow of colors, containing light of all
wavelengths, is called a continuous spectrum. The most familiar example of a continuous spectrum
is the rainbow produced when raindrops or mist acts as a prism for sunlight.
Not all radiation sources produce a continuous spectrum. When a high voltage is applied to
tubes that contain different gases under reduced pressure, the gases emit different colors of light. The
light emitted by neon gas is the familiar red-orange glow of many “neon” lights, whereas sodium
vapor emits the yellow light characteristic of some modern streetlights. When light coming from such
tubes is passed through a prism, only a few wavelengths are present in the resultant spectra (Figure
7). Each colored line in such spectra represents light of one wavelength. A spectrum containing
radiation of only specific wavelengths is called a line spectrum.
Screen
Prism
Slit
Light Source
Figure 6 Creating a spectrum. A continuous visible spectrum is produced when a narrow beam
of white light is passed through a prism. The white light could be sunlight or light from an
incandescent lamp.
Fig. 7 Line spectra of hydrogen and neon. The colored lines occur at wavelengths present in
the emission. The black regions are wavelengths for which no light is produced in the emission.
7
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
When scientists first detected the line spectrum of hydrogen in the mid-1800s, they were
fascinated by its simplicity. At that time, only four lines at wavelengths of 410 nm (violet), 434 nm
(blue), 486 nm (blue-green), and 656 nm (red) were observed (Figure 7). In 1885, a Swiss
schoolteacher named Johann Balmer showed that the wavelengths of these four lines fit an
intriguingly simple formula that relates the wavelengths to integers. Later, additional lines were found
in the ultraviolet and infrared regions of hydrogen’s line spectrum. Soon Balmer’s equation was
extended to a more general one, called the Rydberg equation, which allows us to calculate the wave-
lengths of all the spectral lines of hydrogen:
In this formula, ʎ is the wavelength of a spectral line, RH is the Rydberg constant (1.096776 x
7 -1
10 m ), and n1 and n2 are positive integers, with n2 being larger than n1. How could the remarkable
simplicity of this equation be explained? It took nearly 30 more years to answer this question.
Bohr’s Model
Rutherford’s discovery of the nuclear atom suggested that an atom might be thought of as a
“microscopic solar system” in which the electrons orbit the nucleus. To explain the line spectrum of
hydrogen, Bohr assumed that electrons in hydrogen atoms move in circular orbits around the nucleus,
but this assumption posed a problem. According to classical physics, a charged particle (such as an
electron) moving in a circular path should continuously lose energy. As an electron loses energy,
therefore, it should spiral into the positively charged nucleus. This behavior, however, does not
happen—hydrogen atoms are stable. So how can we explain this apparent violation of the laws of
physics? Bohr approached this problem in much the same way that Planck had approached the
problem of the nature of the radiation emitted by hot objects: He assumed that the prevailing laws of
physics were inadequate to describe all aspects of atoms. Furthermore, he adopted Planck’s idea that
energies are quantized.
Bohr based his model on three postulates:
1. Only orbits of certain radii, corresponding to certain specific energies, are permitted for the electron
in a hydrogen atom.
2. An electron in a permitted orbit is in an “allowed” energy state. An electron in an allowed energy

state does not radiate energy and, therefore, does not spiral into the nucleus.
3. Energy is emitted or absorbed by the electron only as the electron changes from one allowed energy
state to another. This energy is emitted or absorbed as a photon that has energy E = hν.
8
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
The Ground State and Excited States
Under normal conditions, the single electron in a hydrogen atom occupies the lowest energy
level, which is the orbit closest to the nucleus. This is called the ground state. When energy is
supplied to a hydrogen atom, such as when it is heated, the electron can absorb the appropriate
amount of energy needed to “jump” from the ground state (i.e., the n = 1 level) to a higher energy
level (i.e., n = 2, 3, 4, etc.). Because of its new position in a higher energy level, the electron now
has potential energy, just like a weight suspended above the ground. Energy levels higher than the
ground state are called excited states. What is most significant, according to Bohr, is what happens
when the electron “falls” back down to lower excited states or all the way to the ground state. He
suggested that the electron gives up this extra energy in the form of light when it falls back. Since
energy levels are quantized, the difference in energy between any two levels is also quantized. When
an electron falls back to a lower energy level, it must emit a discrete amount of energy. Since this
energy is emitted as light, the light would have a discrete energy, a discrete wavelength, and a
discrete color (if the light is in the visible region of the spectrum), thus explaining the line spectrum
of hydrogen. (See Figure 8.)
This is the qualitative explanation of the discrete spectrum. The real significance of Bohr’s
model is that he was able to calculate the expected wavelength of light in the hydrogen spectrum
from the mathematical relationships. The experimental values correspond well with those computed
by Bohr. Bohr’s model worked specifically for the hydrogen atom. Calculations of the wavelengths
of the lines in the discrete spectra of other elements had to await more sophisticated models.
Fig. 8 Light Emitted from a Hydrogen Atom An electron in an excited state emits energy in
the form of light when it drops to a lower energy level.
Limitations of the Bohr Model
Although the Bohr model explains the line spectrum of the hydrogen atom, it can not explain
the spectra of other atoms, except in a crude way. Bohr also avoided the problem of why the
negatively charged electron would not just fall into the positively charged nucleus, by simply
assuming it would not happen. Furthermore, we will see that Bohr’s model of an electron orbiting
the nucleus at a fixed distance is not a realistic picture. The electron exhibits wave-like properties,
a fact that any acceptable model of electronic structure must accommodate.
As it turns out, the Bohr model was only an important step along the way toward the
development of a more comprehensive model. What is most significant about Bohr’s model is that
it introduces two important ideas that are also incorporated into our current model:
1. Electrons exist only in certain discrete energy levels, which are described by
quantum numbers.
2. Energy is involved in the transition of an electron from one level to another.
We will now start to develop the successor to the Bohr model, which requires that we take a
closer look at the behavior of matter. 9
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
Quantum Mechanics
The spectacular success of Bohr’s theory was followed by a series of disappointments. Bohr’s
approach did not account for the emission spectra of atoms containing more than one electron, such
as atoms of helium and lithium. Nor did it explain why extra lines appear in the hydrogen emission
spectrum when a magnetic field is applied. Another problem arose with the discovery that electrons
are wavelike: How can the “position” of a wave be specified? We cannot define the precise location
of a wave because a wave extends in space.
To describe the problem of trying to locate a subatomic particle that behaves like a wave,
Werner Heisenberg formulated what is now known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: it is
impossible to know simultaneously both the momentum p (defined as mass times velocity) and the
position of a particle with certainty. Stated mathematically,
where x and p are the uncertainties in measuring the position and momentum of the particle,
respectively. The  signs have the following meaning. If the measured uncertainties of position and
momentum are large (say, in a crude experiment), their product can be substantially greater than h/4
(hence the  sign). The significance of Equation is that even in the most favorable conditions for
measuring position and momentum, the product of the uncertainties can never be less than h/4 (hence
the = sign). Thus, making measurement of the momentum of a particle more precise (that is, making
p a small quantity) means that the position must become correspondingly less precise (that is, x
will become larger ). Similarly, if the position of the particle is known more precisely, its momentum
measurement must become less precise.
Applying the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to the hydrogen atom, we see that in reality the
electron does not orbit the nucleus in a well-defined path, as Bohr thought. If it did, we could
determine precisely both the position of the electron (from its location on a particular orbit) and its
momentum (from its kinetic energy) at the same time, a violation of the uncertainty principle. To be
sure, Bohr made a significant contribution to our understanding of atoms, and his suggestion that the
energy of an electron in an atom is quantized remains unchallenged. But his theory did not provide a
complete description of electronic behavior in atoms. In 1926, Erwin Schrodinger, an Austrian
physicist, formulated a mathematical equation that describes the behavior and energies of
submicroscopic particles. The Schrodinger equation incorporates particle behavior and wave
behavior, treating the electron as a standing wave. The solution to the Schrodinger equation is a wave
function called ψ (psi).
The wave functions are also called atomic orbitals (as distinguished from the Bohr orbits)
Aside from the wave functions, energies are also obtained from solving the equation.
The wave function itself has no physical meaning. However, the probability of finding the
electron in a particular volume element in space is proportional to ψ2. In wave theory, the intensity
of light is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the wave or ψ2. Similarly, the most likely
place to find the particle is where the value of ψ2 is greatest.
The Schrodinger equation began a new field in physics and chemistry referred to as quantum
mechanics or wave mechanics. The Schrodinger equation can be solved exactly for the hydrogen atom
but not for atoms with more than one electron. For many-electron atoms, approximation methods are
used to solve the Schrodinger equation. 10
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
Quantum Numbers
In the mathematical solution of the Schrodinger equation, three quantum numbers are
obtained. These are the principal quantum number (n), the angular quantum number (ℓ) and the
magnetic quantum number (ml). They describe the atomic orbitals. A fourth quantum number, the
spin quantum number (ms) completes the description of the electrons in the atoms.
The Principal Quantum Number (n)
a. Determines the energy of an orbital

b. Determines the orbital size
c. Is related to the average distance of the electron from the nucleus in a particular orbital; the larger
the n value, the farther the average distance of the electron from the nucleus
d. Can have the values: n = 1, 2, 3, …
e. Orbitals with the same n are said to be in the same shell.
The Angular Momentum Quantum Number (ℓ)
a. Describes the “shape” of the orbitals

b. Can have the following values: ℓ = 0, 1, 2, up to n-1.
Examples
n value ℓ value
1 0
2 0, 1
3 0, 1, 2
c. Orbitals with the same n and values belong to the same subshell.
d. It is usually designated by letters s, p, d, f, … which have a historical origin from spectral lines. The
designations are as follows
ℓ 0 1 2 3 4 5
_____________________________________________________
name of orbital s p d f g h
The Magnetic Quantum Number (ml)
a. Describes the orientation of the orbital in space

b. Can have the values:
- ℓ, (-ℓ + 1), … 0, … (+ ℓ -1), + ℓ
The Electron Spin Quantum Number (ms)
a. The first three quantum numbers describe the energy, shape and orientation of orbitals. The 4th
quantum number refers to two different spin orientations of electrons in a specified orbital.
11
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
b. When lines of the hydrogen spectrum are examined at very high resolution, they are found to
be closely spaced doublets and called as the Zeeman effect. This splitting is called fine
structure, and was one of the first experimental evidences for electron spin. The direct
observation of the electron's intrinsic angular momentum was achieved in the Stern–Gerlach
experiment.
c. Uhlenbeck, Goudsmit, and Kronig (1925) introduced the idea of the self-rotation of the
electron. The spin orientations are called "spin-up" or "spin-down" and is assigned the number
ms = ½ ms = -½, respectively.
d. The spin property of an electron would give rise to magnetic moment, which was a requisite
for the fourth quantum number. The electrons are paired such that one spins upward and one
downward, neutralizing the effect of their spin on the action of the atom as a whole. But in the
valence shell of atoms where there is a single electron whose spin remains unbalanced, the
unbalanced spin creates spin magnetic moment, making the electron act like a very small
magnet. As the atoms pass through the in-homogeneous magnetic field, the force moment in
the magnetic field influences the electron's dipole until its position matches the direction of the
stronger field.
The four quantum numbers compose the numbers that describe the electron in an atom. The
quantum numbers shall be in the order: energy level (n), sub-level or orbital type (ℓ), the
orientation of the orbital specified in ℓ (mℓ), and the orientation of the spin of the electron (ms). It is
written in the order (n, ℓ, mℓ, ms ).
For example
1. An electron is found in the first energy level. What is the allowed set of quantum numbers for
this electron?
a. The energy level, n = 1.

b. The orbital type is only s, its designation is 0, thus, ℓ = 0
c. From ℓ, the orbital type is s. There is only one orientation of an s orbital, designated as 0, thus,
mℓ = 0.m
d. An electron in the 1s orbital can have an up-spin or a down-spin. Therefore, ms could be +1/2
or -1/2.
So the allowed set of quantum numbers for 1s electron are:

(1,0,0,1/2) and (1,0,0,-1/2)
How does (1,0,0,1/2) differ from (1,0,0,-1/2)? The first set corresponds to the electron with spin
up and the second set refers to the electron with spin down.
12
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
THE QUANTUM NUMBERS AND THE CORRESPONDING ATOMIC ORBITALS

The quantum numbers and corresponding atomic orbitals are given in the following table.
Self-Test 6.1
1. What is the total number of orbitals associated with the principal quantum number n=1?
2. What is the total number of orbitals associated with the principal quantum number n=2?
3. Give the n and ℓ values for the following orbitals
a. 1s _______________________________
b. 3p_______________________________
4. What is the mℓ values for the following types of orbitals?
a. s _______________________________
b. p_______________________________
ELECTRON CONFIGURATION
The four quantum numbers n, ℓ, ml, and ms are very useful in labelling an electron in any orbital
in an atom much like giving the address of an electron in an atom.
In the case of hydrogen, there is only one electron. In the ground state, the one electron of
hydrogen will occupy the 1s orbital, the one with the lowest energy. This electron is represented by
the set of quantum numbers: n = 1, ℓ =0, ml = 0, and ms = ½ or -½. By convention, the set of quantum
numbers is written as (1, 0, 0, ½) or (1, 0, 0, -½). The ms value does not affect the energy, orientation,
or size of the orbital but is important in describing the arrangement of electrons in the atom.
It is possible to represent this arrangement of the electron in hydrogen in terms of the electron
configuration or in terms of the orbital diagram. The electron configuration shows how the electrons
13
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
of an atom are distributed among the atomic orbitals. The orbital diagram shows the spin of the
electron. For the electron in the ground state of hydrogen, the electron configuration is given as
In an orbital diagram, a 1s orbital can be represented as a box with 1 arrow up (up-spin) or arrow
down (down-spin)
In filling up the orbitals, the lower energy levels are filled up first before the higher energy
levels. For many-electron atoms, the Pauli Exclusion Principle is used. This states that in an atom or
molecule, no two electrons can have the same four electronic quantum numbers. Consequently, an
orbital can contain a maximum of only two electrons, the two electrons must have opposing spins. This
means if one is assigned an up-spin (+1/2), the other must be down-spin (-1/2).
Consider the case of He with 2 electrons.
Self Test 7.1
1. What are the sets of quantum numbers that describe the first and second electrons
in Cases A, B, and C?
2. Why do Case A and Case B violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle?
3. Why is the arrangement in Case C acceptable?
HUND’S RULE
For carbon, the electronic configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p2. But the orbital diagram shows three
ways in which the last electron can be placed in the orbitals which do not violate the Pauli’s exclusion
principle as shown in the following:
14
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
However, each arrangement provides a different energy value. The one with the lowest energy has the
greatest stability. Hund’s rule is the guide in determining the most stable distribution. Hund’s rule:
The most stable arrangement of electrons in the subshells is the one with the most number of
parallel spins.
Based on Hund’s rule, the third option is the most favorable arrangement for the electron to attain
the greatest stability. In the first option, the presence of two electrons with opposing spins in one orbital
results in a greater mutual repulsion than when they occupy separate orbitals. Hund’s Rule is followed
in d and f orbitals as well.
Pauli’s Exclusion Principle can be tested by simple observation. Measurements of magnetic
properties provide the most direct evidence for specific electronic configurations of elements.
Paramagnetic materials are those that contain unpaired electrons or spins and are attracted by a
magnet. Diamagnetic materials are those with paired spins and are repelled by a magnet.
Any atom with an odd number of electrons will contain one or more unpaired spins, and are
therefore attracted by a magnet, thus, can be classified as paramagnetic. For an even number of
electrons like helium, if the two electrons in the 1s orbitals had parallel spins, their net magnetic fields
should strengthen each other. But experimental results showed that the helium atom in its ground state
has no net magnetic field.
This observation supports the pairing of two electrons with opposite spins in the 1s orbital. Thus,
helium gas is diamagnetic. Lithium, on the other hand, has an unpaired electron and is
paramagnetic. The orbital diagram provides information on the diamagnetic or paramagnetic
characteristic of an element.
AUFBAU PRINCIPLE
The Aufbau principle dictates that as protons are added one by one to the nucleus to build up the
elements, electrons are similarly added to the atomic orbitals. The order of filling up the atomic orbitals
is from lowest energy to highest energy. Within the same principal quantum number, the order of
energies of the atomic orbitals is
s"<"p"<"d"<"f"
For example, for n = 3, the order is E3s < E3p < E 3d.
For multi-electron atoms, the general order of filling up orbitals can be diagrammed as
follows:
15
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
The electron configuration of elements higher than hydrogen and helium can be represented using the
noble gas core. In the periodic table, the noble gases are found in the last column named as Group 8A
(or Group 18 in the IUPAC convention). These are 2He, 10Ne, 18Ar, 36Kr, 54Xe, 86Rn.
The smallest noble element is helium, so the shortened electronic configuration can be written as
follows for the given elements:
The elements in the 4th period, starting from potassium will have argon as the noble gas core
1
19K: [Ar]4s
2
20Ca: [Ar] 4s
The 4s orbital has lower energy than the 3d orbitals; it is first filled with electrons before the 3d
orbitals.
16
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
Elements scandium to copper are transition metals. These elements will have incompletely filled d
subshells or readily gives electrons and form cations that have incomplete filled d subshells. There will
be some irregularities in the electron distribution of this series as seen in Cr and Cu.
21Sc: [Ar]4s23d1
3 2
22Ti: [Ar]4s2 d
1 5
24Cr: [Ar]4s 3d
1 10
29Cu: [Ar]4s 3d
2 10
30Zn: [Ar] 4s 3d
The irregularities in Cr and Cu are due to experimental results that show that there is a greater
stability associated with the half-filled (3d5) and the completely filled (3d10) subshells. Similar
observations are also found in the higher d and f-orbitals.
Gallium is the next element after Zn, its electronic configuration is:
31Ga: [Ar] 4s23d104p1
Important data that can be gathered from the shortened electronic configuration are the
following:
a. Valence configuration: The electronic configuration representing the outermost subshells.

b. Valence electrons: the number of electrons in the outermost subshells.
THE QUANTUM NUMBERS AND THE ARRANGEMENTS OF ELEMENTS IN THE

PERIODIC TABLE
It was mentioned earlier that the complete set of quantum numbers specifies the address of an
electron in an atom. This can be seen in the arrangement of elements in the periodic table. The periodic
table is designed such that elements with valence configurations in the s orbitals are found in the first
two columns on the left, the ones with p-orbitals are found on the right. The transition metals have d-
orbitals and are found at the middle and the elements with f-orbitals as valence configurations are
found at the bottom.
17
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
In this module, you have learned the following important concepts:
A wave has five properties: crest, trough, wavelength, amplitude, and frequency.
The energy of electromagnetic radiation is proportional to its wavelength.
When heated, the electrons of an atom absorb energy and jump from one energy level to a higher
energy level, transforming from the ground state into the excited state.
The light released by an element that is heated is called its emission spectrum. This light is the one
that is detected by a simple spectroscope.
Absorption spectroscopy detects the ability of an atom’s electrons to absorb a certain amount of
energy called the absorption spectrum
The Bohr model of the hydrogen atom describes the location of the electron in discrete energy
levels
In the Bohr model, the energy of the electron is quantized and indicated by a principal quantum
number
The electron in the hydrogen atom is either in the ground state or higher excited states.
The distribution of electrons among the orbitals of an atom is its electron configuration.
The s, p, d, and f are called sublevels; they are smaller "subdivisions" of energy within the primary
levels. You refer to different energy levels using a number for the primary level plus a letter for
the sublevel; for example, you might speak of an electron in a "3p" state or orbital. Each primary
level has one more sublevel than the one below: the first primary level has only s orbitals, the second
18
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
SELF LEARNING MODULE – QUANTUM MECHANICS has s and p, the third s, p, and d, and so forth
Sources:
Chang, Raymond and Goldsby, Kenneth A. (2016). Chemistry (12th ed). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Petrucci, Herring, Madura, and Bissonnette (2011). General Chemistry and Modern
Applications, 10th Ed. Pearson Canada, Inc.
Theodore E. Brown et al. - Chemistry_ The Central Science (2017, Pearson)
19
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8

Exercises
Quantum Mechanics
I. Fill in the blanks
Long wavelengths of light have _______ (high/low) frequencies and _______(high/low)

energies. The color of visible light with the highest energy is _______, and the color of visible light
with the longest wavelength is _______. White light contains all colors of light, called a _______
spectrum. Light from heated gaseous element sources gives off only discrete energies to form a
_______ spectrum. Niels Bohr suggested that the orbits of an electron were _______ or set to
specific values. The lowest energy state is the _______ state, and the higher states are the _______
states.
II. A. Write the full and shorthand (condensed) electron configurations for each of the following
atoms.
a. phosphorus
b. beryllium
c. fluorine
d. calcium
e. zinc
f. tellurium
g. sodium
h. nickel
i. oxygen
j. iron
B. Determine which elements have the following electron configurations:
a. 1s22s22p63s23p4
b. 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p65s1
c. [Kr] 5s24d105p3
d. [Xe] 6s24f145d6
e. [Rn] 7s25f11
III A. Give the n and ℓ values for the following orbitals

a. 1s _______________________________
b. 3p _______________________________
c. 5f _______________________________
d. 4d _______________________________
B. What is the mℓ values for the following types of orbitals?

a. s _______________________________
b. p _______________________________
20
MODULE WEEK NO.7-8
c. d _______________________________
d. f _______________________________
C. What is the maximum electron pairs that can occupy an:

a. s orbital _______________________________
b. the subshell of p orbitals _______________________________
c. the subshell of d orbitals _______________________________
d. the subshell of f orbitals _______________________________
e. the subshell of g orbitals _______________________________
21
Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683
College / Department College of Engineering

Course Code Chem 1
The Historical Development of the Periodic Table
Introduction
The discovery of certain elements like copper, sulphur, silver, tin, antimony, gold and
mercury in the ancient times prove that science and technology relied much in the field of
chemistry. In 1669, phosphorus is considered as the first ever scientifically discovered element
chemically prepared from urine by Hennig Brandt. Two centuries after, in 1869, the modern
periodic table was invented after Dmitrii Mendeleev published his works on the periodic law.
From then on, new elements were discovered and synthesized adding to the rosters of elements
in the table.
The modern periodic table of elements that we know today lists and displays the 118
elements known to mankind in an arrangement based on their properties, atomic number ,
valence electron, to name a few. There are 18 groups and 7 periods but blank spaces are still
available that wait to be filled up by new elements that soon shall be discovered and or
synthesized. However, before it finally was accepted and approved this way, various designs
governed by certain principles of groupings were attempted by different scientists and these shall
be discussed in details in the succeeding part of this module.
At the end of this module, it is expected that the learner should be able to:
1. Trace back the history of the development of the periodic table;
2. Name the personalities that contributed in the development of the periodic table;
3. Describe the features of the proposed periodic tables;
4. Compare and contrast each model from one another; and
5. Highlight turn of events in the life of Dmitrii Mendeleev.
Discussion
First Attempts in Designing a Periodic Table
As more and more elements were discovered in the early 1800s, chemists started looking
for some relations in their physical and chemical properties. Up to this time, the elements were
placed in lists with no particular order. One early attempt to organize the elements was by the
German chemist Johann Döbereiner in 1817. Döbereiner noticed that certain sets of three
elements had similar chemical properties. For example, lithium, sodium, and potassium, which
had recently been discovered by electrolysis, have similar chemical properties. He called such
groups triads. Some other triads known at that time were chlorine, bromine, and iodine; calcium,
strontium, and barium; and sulfur, selenium, and tellurium.
1
Law of Triads
Dobereiner noticed that the atomic weight of strontium fell midway between the weights
of calcium and barium, elements possessing similar chemical properties. In 1829, after
discovering the halogen triad composed of chlorine, bromine, and iodine and the alkali metal
triad of lithium, sodium and potassium he proposed that nature contained triads of elements the
middle element had properties that were an average of the other two members when ordered by
the atomic weight (the Law of Triads).
This new idea of triads became a popular area of study. Between 1829 and 1858 a
number of scientists (Jean Baptiste Dumas, Leopold Gmelin, Ernst Lenssen, Max von
Pettenkofer, and J.P. Cooke) found that these types of chemical relationships extended beyond
the triad. During this time, fluorine was added to the halogen group; oxygen, sulfur, selenium
and tellurium were grouped into a family while nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and
bismuth were classified as another. Unfortunately, research in this area was hampered by the fact
that accurate values of were not always available.
Döbereiner’s ideas were not taken too seriously by other chemists because only a few
elements fit into the triad scheme. As more and more elements were discovered, scientists found
other groups with similar chemical properties. However, none yielded a useful unifying
principle. One reason was that not enough elements had been discovered yet to discern a pattern
for organizing them in a systematic manner. Furthermore, the state of atomic masses was a mess
in the early 1800s. At the time, chemists thought that the formula for water was HO and that of
ammonia was NH, which led to oxygen having an atomic mass of 8 instead of 16 and nitrogen
having an atomic mass of 4.7 instead of 14 on our current scale.
The Dobereiner Triads
Two of Döbereiner’s triads and the atomic masses of the elements. Notice that the atomic
mass of the middle element is the average of the one above and below it.
The “First” Periodic Table
If a periodic table is regarded as an ordering of the chemical elements demonstrating the

periodicity of chemical and physical properties, credit for the first periodic table (published in
1862) probably should be given to a French geologist, A.E. Beguyer de Chancourtois. De
Chancourtois transcribed a list of the elements positioned on a cylinder in terms of increasing
atomic weight. When the cylinder was constructed so that 16 mass units could be written on the
cylinder per turn, closely related elements were lined up vertically. This led de Chancourtois to
propose that "the properties of the elements are the properties of numbers." De Chancourtois was
first to recognize that elemental properties reoccur every seven elements, and using this chart, he
was able to predict the stoichiometry of several metallic oxides. Unfortunately, his chart included
some ions and compounds in addition to elements.
2
Chancourtois Design for Periodic Table of Elements
The Systematic Determination of Atomic Masses Provided a Basis for More Modern Tables
In 1860, over 60 elements had been discovered, and at an international conference, the
Italian chemist Stanislao Cannizzaro presented a revised self-consistent system of atomic masses.
Many new classification schemes using Cannizzaro’s masses were proposed based on arranging
the elements by their atomic masses and their chemical properties.
Between 1863 and 1865, the British chemist John Newlands showed that when the
elements known at the time were arranged in order of increasing atomic mass, many of their
chemical and physical properties repeated for each eighth element. Newlands referred to this
pattern as the law of octaves. His table worked fine through calcium, but there was no chemical
relationship between the metals in the remaining columns and those in the first two columns. His
ideas were treated with less than enthusiasm; at a meeting of the Chemical Society in London, he
was ridiculed by being asked if he had considered arranging the elements alphabetically because
coincidences among the positions were likely to be found in almost any arrangement.
Nevertheless, there was certainly a glimmer of insight in his attempt.
The organization of Elements Based on Newland’s Law of Octaves
Mendeleev’s Table Predicted Several New Elements
The 1860s saw several significant advances over Newlands’s proposal, but it was a
Siberian-born Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev (Chapter 3 Frontispiece), who proposed a
periodic table much like the one we use today (Figures B.1 and B.2). As a 26-year-old,
Mendeleev attended the 1860 chemical conference in which Cannizzaro set forth what was
3
finally a correct list of atomic masses (with a few small exceptions). In the following years,
Mendeleev toyed with a number of arrangements, and in 1869 he published his final thoughts in
an obscure Russian journal, but a German translation appeared shortly thereafter that gave his
periodic arrangement a wide scientific audience. He also incorporated his periodic table into his
popular textbook, Principles of Chemistry, which ran through many editions in Russian, German,
English, and French.
In designing his table, Mendeleev made a number of modifications based on his chemical
knowledge. For instance, beryllium was thought to have a mass of 14 because of the mistaken
formula Be2O3(s), instead of BeO(s). This placed it incorrectly into the same group as
aluminum. Realizing that the chemistry of beryllium was similar to that of the alkaline-earth
metals, he assumed that the formula of the oxide was actually BeO(s) instead of Be2O3(s),
giving beryllium an atomic mass of 9.4 and correctly placing beryllium before magnesium in his
table. In addition, he had the good judgment to interchange the positions of tellurium and iodine
even though their atomic masses are 127.6 and 126.9, respectively.
More impressively, he left gaps in his table where it seemed that the periodicity did not
occur. He had the brilliant insight that these gaps represented elements that had not yet been
discovered. In particular, he selected three gaps, one that occurred after calcium and two that
occurred below aluminum and silicon, and predicted the properties of the presumed
undiscovered elements based upon the properties of the elements just above and below the gaps.
Using the Sanskrit prefix eka, meaning one, he named the “undiscovered” elements eka-boron,
eka-aluminum, and eka-silicon. Table B.2 compares his predicted properties of eka-silicon with
those of what we now call germanium, which was discovered about 20 years later.
Mendeleev’s notes showing the periodic table he first published in 1869.
The arrangement of the elements in the table is based on chemical properties and atomic
mass. As you can see, Mendeleev arranged his table vertically by mass rather than horizontally
as we do today.
Mendeleev’s predictions proved astonishingly accurate. In 1875 the French chemist Paul-
Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered a metal that he named gallium. Mendeleev suggested
that this was probably his predicted eka-aluminum. Lecoq, afraid that Mendeleev was claiming
priority for his discovery, adamantly argued that his element had different physical properties
4
from those Mendeleev had predicted. However, later measurements showed Lecoq’s
measurements of these properties in error and Mendeleev’s predictions for these correct to within
a percent, much to Lecoq’s chagrin. This much publicized debate over gallium helped bring
Mendeleev’s table to the attention of the general public.
Mendeleev’s table rotated to show the periods as rows rather than columns.
Not all of Mendeleev’s predictions proved true. At the time only six of the fourteen rare-
earth metals had been discovered and so Mendeleev erroneously squeezed these into the body of
his table, resulting in erroneous gaps that were never filled.
Mendeleev was not the only person to develop a fairly complete periodic table during this
period. About the same time that Mendeleev published his table, a German chemist, Lothar
Meyer published one that was very similar to Mendeleev’s, including the gaps that occurred after
calcium and below aluminum and silicon. Meyer paid more attention to the periodicity of the
physical properties of the elements, whereas Mendeleev focused on the periodicity of their
chemical properties. Mendeleev was a little more adventurous in predicting the chemical
properties of the presumably undiscovered elements and also made allowances for a few
discrepancies in atomic masses. Nevertheless, their tables were very similar and it is likely that
both benefited from each other’s work. Although both men are entitled to the honor of the
discovery of the periodic table and each acknowledged this, Mendeleev has emerged as the
primary author. It is interesting that Mendeleev lived until 1907, and so was eligible for a Nobel
Prize, which was instituted in 1901, but never received one in spite of creating what is perhaps
the best-known icon in all of science. Finally, in 1997 Mendeleev was awarded an even rarer
distinction. Element 101, mendelevium (Md), was named in his honor.
Element 101 of the Modern Periodic Table is named in honor of Dmitrii Mendeleev
5
Mendeleev’s Biographical Account
Dmitrii, born on February 08, 1834 at the Siberian town in Tobolks, Russia, is the last of
the surviving 14 children of Maria Dmitriyevna Kornileva (d. 1851), and Ivan Pavlovich
Mendeleev (d. 1848), who was the headmaster of a local secondary school. Dmitri was the last of
her 14 children. When Dmitrii was 13, his father went blind from cataracts and was forced to
retire on an inadequate pension. Having to support the family, her mother became the manager of
her family’s glass factory. In 1848 the factory burned down and shortly afterwards Ivan died of
consumption and the family moved to St. Petersburg.
At St. Petersburg, there a friend of Ivan’s helped Dmitrii enter a science teacher training
program with a government scholarship in 1850. He attended the Main Pedagogical Institute in
St. Petersburg and graduated in 1855. After teaching in the Russian cities of Simferopol and
Odessa. After a time as a teacher, he was admitted to graduate work at St. Petersburg University
where he earned a Master's degree in 1856. Mendeleev continued to studied abroad, with two
years at the University of Heidelberg. After spending 1859 and 1860 in Germany furthering his
chemical studies, he secured a position as professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg University, a
position he retained until 1890.
While writing his book , The Principles of Chemistry in 1860’s, he made the discovery
that led to his most famous achievement – The Periodic Law of the Chemical Element. While
writing a textbook on systematic inorganic chemistry, a copy of Mendeleev's table was published
in suppl. VIII, 133 (1871).
Discovery of the Noble Gases
In 1895 Lord Rayleigh reported the discovery of a new gaseous element named argon
which proved to be chemically inert. This element did not fit any of the known periodic groups.
In 1898, William Ramsey suggested that argon be placed into the periodic table between chlorine
and potassium in a family with helium, despite the fact that argon's atomic weight was greater
than that of potassium. This group was termed the "zero" group due to the zero valency of the
elements. Ramsey accurately predicted the future discovery and properties of neon.
Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
Although Mendeleev's table demonstrated the periodic nature of the elements, it

remained for the discoveries of scientists of the 20th Century to explain why the properties of the
elements recur periodically. In 1911 Ernest Rutherford published studies of the scattering of
alpha particles by heavy atom nuclei which led to the determination of nuclear charge (view the
paper here). He demonstrated that the nuclear charge on a nucleus was proportional to the atomic
weight of the element. Also in 1911, A. van den Broek in a series of two papers (1, 2)proposed
that the atomic weight of an element was approximately equal to the charge on an atom. This
charge, later termed the atomic number, could be used to number the elements within the
periodic table. In 1913, Henry Moseley (see a picture) published the results of his measurements
of the wavelengths of the x-ray spectral lines of a number of elements which showed that the
ordering of the wavelengths of the x-ray emissions of the elements coincided with the ordering
of the elements by atomic number. With the discovery of isotopes of the elements, it became
apparent that atomic weight was not the significant player in the periodic law as Mendeleev, 6
Meyers and others had proposed, but rather, the properties of the elements varied periodically
with atomic number. The question of why the periodic law exists was answered as scientists
developed an understanding of the electronic structure of the elements beginning with Niels
Bohr's studies of the organization of electrons into shells through G.N. Lewis' (see a picture)
discoveries of bonding electron pairs.
New Discoveries Led to the Arrangement of Elements in the Modern Periodic Table
Following Mendeleev, the periodic table was to undergo further revisions. The first was
the discovery of the noble gases by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay in 1893, which added a
whole new family of elements to the table. The noble gases are assigned the far right-hand
column in the modern periodic table. It was a great achievement that this entire new group of
elements was so readily incorporated into the periodic table.
Although the periodic properties of the elements are displayed when the elements are
arranged in order of increasing atomic mass, there are occasional exceptions, such as with cobalt
and nickel and with tellurium and iodine, where the order must be reversed. The order did not
seem to be strictly in terms of increasing atomic mass, but it was not clear just what it was. It
became common practice to assign numbers to the elements based on their position in the table,
with hydrogen assigned the number 1. No significance was attributed to these numbers at the
time. Nevertheless, the system was fairly widely used, and they were called atomic numbers.
In 1913, the English physicist Henry Moseley analyzed the X-ray spectra of all the ele-
ments known at the time and found that the square roots of certain X-ray frequencies were
directly proportional to the position of the elements in the periodic table or to their atomic
number. It turned out that the atomic numbers were more fundamental than the atomic masses.
Shortly thereafter, it was demonstrated that the atomic number of an element is equal to the
number of protons in the nucleus. This discovery finally elucidated the fundamental order
underlying Mendeleev’s table—when ordered according to atomic number, the whole table fell
into place.
A further understanding of chemical order and periodicity came with the advent of
modern quantum theory, showing that the chemical properties of elements in the same families
are derived from similar outer-electron configurations. We shall study this in detail in Chapters 4
and 5.
The Modern Periodic Table

The final arrangement of the periodic table came in the 1940s when the American
chemist Glenn Seaborg demonstrated that the newly discovered transuranium (actinide) metals
were chemically similar to the rare-earth (lanthanide) metals, and should be placed below them
in the table. Prior to that, this entire set of elements was placed in the bulk of the periodic table,
which led to a number of inconsistencies.
The last major changes to the periodic table resulted from Glenn Seaborg's work in the
middle of the 20th Century. Starting with his discovery of plutonium in 1940, he discovered all
the transuranic elements from 94 to 102. He reconfigured the periodic table by placing the
actinide series below the lanthanide series. In 1951, Seaborg was awarded the Nobel Prize in
chemistry for his work. Element 106 has been named seaborgium (Sg) in his honor.
7
Exercise
My Element in the Modern Periodic Table
Choose an element in the periodic table which may “attributed” to your name (the
element may have a symbol similar to the first two letters of your name, surname or any
combination possible from your name). Make a brief explanation why is it associated to your
name. Then, create a digital poster about it. Information may include, but is not limited to:
properties, uses, etymology of the name, the details of its time and place of discovery, and the
life and works of a personality who discovered “your” element.
Reflection
Dmitrri Mendeleev is coined as the father of the periodic table although Lothar Meyer
has been using it beforehand. How do you feel about it? What important lessons could be
learned from this specific historical breakthrough?
McQuarrie, Rock, and Gallogly . General Chemsitry. 4th Ed. retrieved from www.uscibooks.com
Western Oregon University( ). A Brief History of the Development of the Periodic. USA
8

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Gen Chem

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CHAPTER 1

1) Inorganic Chemistry- primarily deals with

1) Organic Chemistry- essentially all substances

1) Biochemistry- Chemistry of living things

1) Physical Chemistry- describes the behavior of

1) Nuclear Chemistry - dealing with radioactivity,

Boundaries not firm – they overlap and interact

• Everyone and everything around us

• perfume, steel, ceramics,

• materials for artery

Let’s examine some information from a graph.

After lead was banned in gasoline and public water

• In the 1500s, a shift started

• Recognize problem (observation)

• A logical approach to solving

• We deal with variables, or factors

• “controlled” experiment- designed to test the

• Natural Law (or Scientific Law)

A law summarizes what

Using your senses to The procedure that is used

• When scientists share ideas

College / Department College of Agriculture and Forestry /

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

Evolution of Modern Chemistry

Beginning of the 300 BC - The Advent Influenced greatly by Aristotle's ideas,

Radioactive Marie Curie discovered uranium and thorium

James Chadwick discovers the neutron.

The Scientific Field of Chemistry and its Branches

College / Department College of Agriculture and Forestry /

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

1. Identify the different steps in scientific methods;

The Step The Key Question / Tasks

Scientific Method Vocabulary Words

Name __________________________________________ SCORE__________

Data Recording Observation Prediction

1. The students have seen formation of turbid solution after _____________________

II. Determine whether the following are QUANTITATIVE or QUALITATIVE observations

1. Clear pink solution was obtained in 250 mL beaker __________________

College / Department College of Agriculture and Forestry /

In supermarket, a weighing scale that measures in 0.1 kg increments is perfectly

Intended Learning Outcomes

Measurement in Scientific Studies

General Features of SI Units

Table 1. The Fundamental Properties and Their Units.

Table 2. The Metric Prefixes

Errors are caused by faulty calibrations or standardizations or by random variations and

Every experimental measurement, no matter how precise, has a degree of uncertainty to it

1 . Make sure that the measured quantity has a decimal point.

Significant Figures in Calculations

Measurements often contain differing numbers of significant figures. In a calculation, we

Significant Figures and Arithmetic Operations

3215 = 3.215 x 1000 = 3.215 x (10 x 10 x10) = 3.215 x 103

3 is a number greater than 1 but less than 10 and the decimal

To convert a number written in scientific notation to standard notation, the process is

Rules for Rounding Off

3 . If the digit removed is 5, the preceding number is increased by 1 if it is odd and

1. How important is the significant figure in scientific reporting of data?

Name ________________________________ SCORE

1.0.0001025 _ 6. 1245000 _