GRADE 9 2nd Quarter Reviewer

TOPIC: ATOMS, MOLECULES, AND IONS

All the elements listed on the periodic table are made up of atoms. An atom is the
smallest particle of an element that retains the characteristics of that element. Imagine that you
are tearing a piece of aluminum foil into smaller and smaller pieces. Now imagine that you have
a microscopic piece so small that it cannot be divided any further. Then you would have a single
atom of aluminum.

Dalton’s Atomic Theory

1. All matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms.
2. All atoms of a given element are the same and different from atoms of other elements.
3. Atoms of two or more different elements combine to form compounds. A particular
compound is always made up of the same kinds of atoms and always has the same
number of each kind of atom.
4. A chemical reaction involves the rearrangement, separation, or combination of atoms.

Atoms are neither created nor destroyed during a chemical reaction. Dalton’s atomic theory
formed the basis of current atomic theory, although we have modified some of Dalton’s statements.
We now know that atoms of the same element are not completely identical to each other and consist
of even smaller particles. However, an atom is still the smallest particle that retains the properties
of an element. Although atoms are the building blocks of everything, we see around us, we cannot
see an atom or even a billion atoms with the naked eye. However, when billions and billions of
atoms are packed together, the characteristics of each atom are added to those of the next until we
can see the characteristics we associate with the element. For example, a small piece of the element
gold consists of many, many gold atoms. A special kind of microscope called a scanning tunneling
microscope (STM) produces images of individual atoms.

Components of the Atom

Electrical Charges in an Atom
By the end of the 1800s, experiments with electricity showed that
atoms were not solid spheres but were composed of smaller bits of matter
called subatomic particles, three of which are the proton, neutron, and
electron. Two of these subatomic particles were discovered because they
have electrical charges. An electrical charge can be positive or negative.

Mass of the Atom

All the subatomic particles are extremely small compared with the
things you see around you.
One proton has a mass of 1.67 * 10-24 g, and the neutron is about
the same. However, the electron has a mass 9.11* 10-28 g, which is much
less than the mass of either a proton or neutron. Because the masses of subatomic particles are so
small, chemists use a
very small unit of
mass called an atomic
mass unit (amu). An
amu is defined as
one-twelfth of the

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mass of a carbon atom, which has a nucleus containing six protons and six neutrons. On the amu
scale, the proton and neutron each have a mass of about 1 amu. Because the electron mass is so
small, it is usually ignored in atomic mass calculations.

Atomic Number and Mass number

The atomic number of an element is equal to the number of protons in every atom of that
element. The atomic number is the whole number that appears above the symbol of each element
on the periodic table.

Atomic number = number of protons in an atom

A mass number, which is the total number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus. However,
the mass number does not appear on the periodic table because it applies to single atoms only.

Mass number = number of protons + number of neutrons

We can calculate the number of neutrons in its nucleus.

Number of neutrons in a nucleus = mass number - number of protons

TOPIC: ELECTRON ENERGY LEVELS

In an atom, each electron has a specific energy known as its energy level, which is assigned
values called principal quantum numbers (n), (n = 1, n = 2, c). Generally, electrons in the lower
energy levels are closer to the nucleus, whereas electrons in the higher energy levels are farther
away. The energy of an electron is quantized, which means that the energy of an electron can only
have specific energy values, but cannot have values between them.

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 An electron can change from one energy level to a
higher level only if it absorbs the energy equal to the
difference in energy levels. When an electron changes
to a lower energy level, it emits energy equal to the
difference between the two levels. If the energy emitted
is in the visible range, we see one of the colors of
visible light. The yellow color of sodium streetlights
and the red color of neon lights are examples of
electrons emitting energy in the visible color range.

Sublevels

Each of the energy levels consists of one or more sublevels, in which electrons with identical
energy are found. The sublevels are identified by the letters s, p, d, and f. The number of sublevels
within an energy level is equal to the principal quantum number, n. For example, the first energy
level (n = 1) has only one sublevel, 1s. The second energy level (n = 2) has two sublevels, 2s and
2p. The third energy level (n = 3) has three sublevels, 3s, 3p, and 3d. The fourth energy level (n =
4) has four sublevels, 4s, 4p, 4d, and 4f. Energy levels n = 5, n = 6, and n = 7 also have as many
sublevels as the value of n, but only s, p, d, and f sublevels are needed to hold the electrons in
atoms of the 118 known elements.

Orbital Capacity and Electron Spin

The Pauli exclusion principle states that each orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons.
According to a useful model for electron behavior, an electron is seen as spinning on its axis, which
generates a magnetic field. When two electrons are in the same orbital, they will repel each other
unless their magnetic fields cancel. This happens only when the two electrons spin
in opposite directions.
We can represent the spins of the electrons in the same orbital with one
arrow pointing up and the other pointing down.

Number of Electrons in Sublevels

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 There is a maximum number of electrons that can occupy each sublevel. An s sublevel
holds one or two electrons. Because each p orbital can hold up to two electrons, the three p orbitals
in a p sublevel can accommodate six electrons. A d sublevel with five d orbitals can hold a
maximum of 10 electrons. With seven f orbitals, an f sublevel can hold up to 14 electrons.
As mentioned earlier, higher energy levels such as n = 5, 6, and 7 would have 5, 6, and 7
sublevels, but those beyond
sublevel f are not utilized by
the atoms of the elements
known today. The total
number of electrons in all the
sublevels adds up to give the
electrons allowed in an
energy level. The number of
sublevels, the number of
orbitals, and the maximum
number of electrons for
energy levels 1 to 4 are
shown in the table.
ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS

Orbital Diagram
An orbital diagram shows the placement of the electrons in
the orbitals in order of increasing energy. In this energy diagram, we
see that the electrons in the 1s orbital have the lowest energy level.
The energy level is higher for the 2s orbital and is even higher for
the 2p orbitals.
The orbitals in an atom fill in order of increasing energy
beginning with 1s.To draw an orbital diagram, the lowest energy
orbitals are filled first. For example, we can draw the orbital
diagram for carbon. The atomic number of carbon is 6, which means
that a carbon atom has six electrons. The first two electrons go into
the 1s orbital; the next two electrons go into the 2s orbital. In the
orbital diagram, the two electrons in the 1s and 2s orbitals are shown
with opposite spins; the first arrow is up, and the second is down.
The last two electrons in carbon begin to fill the 2p sublevel, which
has the next lowest energy.
However, there are three 2p orbitals of equal energy. Because the negatively charged
electrons repel each other, they are placed in separate 2p orbitals. With few exceptions (which will
be noted later in this chapter) lower energy sublevels are filled first, and then the “building” of
electrons continues to the next lowest energy sublevel that is available until all the electrons are
placed.

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Electron Configurations
Chemists use a notation called the electron configuration to indicate the placement of the
electrons of an atom in order of increasing energy. The electron configuration is written with the
lowest energy sublevel first, followed by the next
lowest energy sublevel. The number of electrons
in each sublevel is shown as a superscript.

Other examples:

TOPIC: VALENCE ELECTRONS

The chemical properties of representative elements are mostly due to the valence electrons, which
are the electrons in the outermost energy level. These valence electrons occupy the s and p sublevels with
the highest principal quantum number n. The group numbers indicate the number of valence (outer)
electrons for the elements in each vertical column. For example, the elements in Group 1A (1), such as
lithium, sodium, and potassium, all have one electron in an s orbital. Looking at the sublevel block, we can
represent the valence electron in the alkali metals of Group 1A (1) as ns. All the elements in Group 2A (2),
the alkaline earthmetals, have two valence electrons, ns2 . The halogens in Group 7A (17) have seven
valence electrons, ns2 np5 . We can see the repetition of the outermost s and p electrons for the
representative elements for Periods 1 to 4 in TABLE 4.10. Helium is included in Group 8A (18) because it
is a noble gas, but it has only two electrons in its complete energy level.

Lewis Symbols
A Lewis symbol is a convenient way to represent the valence electrons, which are shown
as dots placed on the sides, top, or bottom of the symbol for the element. One to four valence
electrons are arranged as single dots. When there are five to eight electrons, one or more electrons

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are paired. Any of the following would be an acceptable Lewis symbol for magnesium, which has
two valence electrons:

TOPIC: IONIC AND COVALENT COMPOUNDS

Ionic bonding is the complete transfer of valence electron(s) between atoms. It is a type of
chemical bond that generates two oppositely charged ions. In ionic bonds, the metal loses electrons
to become a positively charged cation, whereas the nonmetal accepts those electrons to become a
negatively charged anion. Ionic bonds require an electron donor, often a metal, and an electron
acceptor, a nonmetal.
Ionic bonding is observed because metals have few electrons in their outer-most orbitals.
By losing those electrons, these metals can achieve noble gas configuration and satisfy the octet
rule. Similarly, nonmetals that have close to 8 electrons in their valence shells tend to readily accept
electrons to achieve noble gas configuration. In ionic bonding, more than 1 electron can be donated
or received to satisfy the octet rule. The charges on the anion and cation correspond to the number
of electrons donated or received. In ionic bonds, the net charge of the compound must be zero.

The sodium atom is donating its 1 valence electron to the chlorine atom. This creates a sodium
cation and a chlorine anion. Notice that the net charge of the resulting compound is 0.

Formula for ionic compound:

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Covalent Bonding
Covalent bonding is the sharing of electrons between atoms. This type of bonding occurs
between two atoms of the same element or of elements close to each other in the periodic table.
This bonding occurs primarily between nonmetals; however, it can also be observed between
nonmetals and metals.

A phosphorous atom is sharing its three unpaired electrons with three chlorine atoms. In the end
product, all four of these molecules have 8 valence electrons and satisfy the octet rule.

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