COMBINED SCIENCE NOTES: CHEM INTRODUCTION

An atom is the smallest particle of an element having the nature of the element.
An element is a substance composed of one type of an atom.

An atom is made up of a very small, dense nucleus in which most of the mass is contained.
The nucleus contains protons and neutrons.
The proton is a particle which has a positive charge.
The neutron is a particle with a neutral charge.
Protons, neutrons and electrons are sub-atomic particles.

The masses of a proton and a neutron are approximately the same.

Electrons circle around the nucleus and define the volume of the atom.
The electron is a particle with a negative charge.
Electrons are located in shells around the nucleus.

The number of protons is equal to the number of electrons in an atom.

Therefore an atom is electrically neutral. This means that each proton’s positive charge attracts a
single electron’s negative charge

Sub-atomic Location Symbol Relative Mass Charge

Particle
Proton Nucleus
Neutron Nucleus
Electron Shells

1p,
0n 6p,
6n

Hydrogen atom
Carbon atom

Above to the left is a model of a hydrogen atom with one proton, one electron and no neutrons. To
the right is a model of a carbon atom with six protons, six neutrons and six electrons.

The proton number (atomic number) is the number of protons in a nucleus of an atom.
The mass number (nucleon number) is the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an
atom.
Both the proton and mass numbers have got no units.

Nuclide Notation

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Below is the nuclide notation which among other things, is used to identify and understand the
nature of the elements listed in the Periodic Table.

stands for the mass number

stands for the proton number
represents the symbol for the element.

For example, represents hydrogen with proton number 1 and mass number 1. represents
carbon with proton number 6 and mass number 12.

In some cases, atoms with the same proton number might have different numbers of neutrons and
hence masses. These atoms are known as isotopes
Isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.
Another way to define isotopes would be that isotopes are atoms with the same proton numbers but
different mass numbers.
Only the number of neutrons in isotopes varies.
The table below shows the list of isotopes of hydrogen.

Hydrogen Nuclide Proton Number of Mass Number of

Isotope notation number neutrons number electrons
Protium
Deuterium
Tritium

The following is a list of isotopes of various elements:

Elements Isotopes
Oxygen
Chlorine
Carbon

The isotopes of carbon listed above can sometimes be referred to as carbon-12 and carbon-14. The
same approach can be applied to the other elements.

Mixtures and Compounds

 A mixture is a group of elements and substances which are physically combined.

 A compound is a group of elements and substances which are chemically combined.
 A molecule is the smallest part of a compound having the nature of the compound.

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 An example of a mixture is of iron fillings and sulphur. The iron fillings can be separated by
using a magnet, which is a physical process. The sulphur and the iron fillings retain their
respective physical properties in a mixture.
 An example of a compound is the chemical reaction between iron fillings and sulphur
resulting in the formation of iron sulphide. The reaction is shown in the word equation
below:

 The sulphur and the iron fillings do not retain their respective physical properties in a
compound. The iron sulphide is not attracted by a magnet.

Differences between mixtures and compounds

Compound Mixture
Can only be separated via chemical means. Can only be separated via physical means.
The properties of the constituent substances are Individual elements/substances retain their
different from that of the compound. respective properties.
There is a heat change during the formation of a There is no heat change during the formation of
compound. Heat is given out or taken in. a mixture.
The formation of a compound is a chemical The formation of a mixture is a physical change.
change.
New substance is formed during the formation No new substance is formed during the
of a compound. formation of a mixture.

Periodic Table

The Periodic Table is a list of elements according to their proton numbers.

The Periodic Table is given as an insert to these notes.

The first element is hydrogen, followed by helium and so forth.
The Periodic Table is arranged in Groups and Periods. The Groups are the columns on the
Periodic Table and the Periods are the rows on the Periodic Table.

 The Groups denote the number of electrons in the valence shell of an atom.
 The Periods denote the number of shells contained by the atom.
 The Valence Shell of an atom is the outermost shell of electrons of that atom.

Group Number of electrons in the valence shell

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
0 (except 2 for helium)

 Hydrogen and helium are in period 1. Lithium, beryllium up to neon are in Period 2. Sodium,
magnesium up to argon are in Period 3.

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 Metals are listed to the left section of the Periodic Table with non-metals being listed to the
right section of the Periodic Table.
 Metals are positive ions in a sea of electrons.
 Elements in a particular group have similar properties. For example, Group I elements have
got similar properties. It is mainly the number of valence electrons which determine the
nature of an element.
 Hydrogen is not placed in any Group.

 It is mentioned above that atoms are electrically neutral. An atom will become positively
charged when the number of protons exceeds the number of electrons. An atom will
become negatively charged when the number of electrons exceeds the number of
protons..
 An ion is a charged atom.
 A cation is a positively charged ion.
 An anion is a negatively charged ion.
 Metal atoms form cations and non-metal atoms form anions. Charged compounds are
also known as ions.
Examples of metallic elements Examples of non-metallic elements
Sodium Carbon
Magnesium Oxygen
Potassium Helium
Calcium Chlorine
Iron Fluorine
Lead Phosphorus
Zinc Nitrogen

 Atoms lose or gain electrons in order to achieve a full valence shell (octet state) thereby
forming ions.
 Group I atoms lose one electron. Group II atoms lose two electrons. Group III atoms lose
three electrons. Group V atoms gain three electrons. Group VI atoms gain two electrons.
Group VII atoms gain one electron. Group 0 atoms already have a full valence shell and
hence do not form ions under normal conditions. Group IV can lose or gain four
electrons to form a full valence shell.

The nature of ions

Group Electrons Electric charge of Nuclide notation Example of nuclide
lost/gained ion notations
I 1 lost ,
II 2 lost ,
III 3 lost ,
IV 4 lost/gained or ,
V 3 gained ,
VI 2 gained ,
VII 1 gained ,
0 None lost/gained ,
 Below are dot-and-cross diagrams of the sodium atom, sodium ion, chlorine atom and
chlorine ion. Take note of the number of electrons in the valence shell.

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Electronic configuration
 The electronic configuration of an atom or ion is a representation of the number and
arrangement of the electrons in the atom or ion.

 In each atom/ion the first shell has a maximum of 2 electrons with the other shells
having a maximum of 8 electrons.
 The electronic configuration for carbon atom is 2.4 because it has got 6 electrons while
for the calcium atom is 2.8.8.2 because it has got 20 electrons. The electronic
configuration for the magnesium ion is 2.8 because the magnesium atom has lost two
electrons to become an magnesium ion. The electronic configuration for the chloride ion
is 2.8.8 because the chlorine atom has gained one electron to become a chloride ion.

Element Symbol Proton Number of Mass number Electronic

number neutrons configuration
Hydrogen H 1 0 1 1
Helium He 2 2 4 2
Lithium Li 3 4 7 2.1
Beryllium Be 4 5 9 2.2
Boron B 5 6 11 2.3
Carbon C 6 6 12 2.4
Nitrogen N 7 7 14 2.5
Oxygen O 8 8 16 2.6
Fluorine F 9 10 19 2.7
Neon Ne 10 10 20 2.8
Sodium Na 11 12 23 2.8.1
Magnesium Mg 12 12 24 2.8.2
Aluminium Al 13 14 27 2.8.3
Silicone Si 14 14 28 2.8.4
Phosphorus P 15 16 31 2.8.5

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Sulphur S 16 16 32 2.8.6
Chlorine Ch 17 18 35 2.8.7
Argon Ar 18 22 40 2.8.8
Potassium K 19 20 39 2.8.8.1
Calcium Ca 20 20 40 2.8.8.2

Common ions
Ion Chemical Formula Charge
Sulphate ion
Nitrate ion
Carbonate ion
Hydroxide ion
Chloride ion
Bromide ion
Iodide ion
Oxide ion
Potassium ion
Calcium ion
Sodium ion

Chemical Formula

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 The chemical formula of compounds is devised from the name of the compound as
follows

 From the name of the compound write down the name of the chemical symbols of the
elements present including the charges of their ions leaving a space for writing the
subscripts on the elements:

Magnesium Chloride
The magnitude of the charge on one ion becomes the subscript of the other ion. The
subscript for becomes 1 and that for becomes 2. The subscripts must be
expressed in their lowest terms. The subscript for a particular element denotes the
number of atoms/ions present in one molecule of the compound. If the subscript is 1
then there is no need to write it down. For example the subscript for is 1 hence it
was omitted:

Ionic and Covalent Bonding

Ionic Bonding
Ionic bonding is the electrostatic attraction between positive and negative ions.
Ionic bonding results in the formation of ionic compounds.
Ionic bonding occurs between metals and non-metals.
In the formation of ionic bonds electrons are transferred from metal atoms to the non-metal
atoms.
The overall ionic compound has no charge.
For example the bonding in sodium chloride (common salt) is ionic bonding. An electron is
transferred from the sodium metal to the chlorine non-metal.

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Properties of ionic compounds

Ionic compounds have got high melting and boiling points.
Ionic compounds are usually soluble in water.
Ionic compounds conduct electricity, when melted (molten state) or dissolved in water.
They are usually hard substances.
They have no smell.

Below is the ionic bonding in magnesium chloride

Covalent bonding
Covalent bonding is the attraction between atoms because they are sharing electrons.
Covalent bonding occurs between non-metals only.
Covalent bonding results in the non-metals having a stable ‘octet state’ of the valence
electrons.
This means that each atom will have a full valence shell of electrons.
The electrons are shared in pairs in covalent bonding.
Below are diagrams showing covalent bonding in hydrogen, chlorine and water molecules.

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The properties of covalent compounds depend upon the type of the covalent bonding but in
general the following properties should apply to most covalent compounds.

Properties of covalent compounds

Strong intermolecular forces of attraction.
Mainly soluble in organic solvents and insoluble in water.
They are formed between non-metals only.
Most are bad conductors of electricity and heat.
Many have low melting and boiling points.

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