Chapter 4

Atomic
Structure

IRON ATOMS
Section 4.1 – Defining the Atom
 All matter is composed of atoms.
 An atom is the smallest particle of an
element that retains its identity in a
chemical reaction.
 Democritus believed that

atoms were indivisible and

indestructible.
 Dalton’s Atomic Theory
 All elements are composed of tiny indivisible
particles called atoms.
 Atoms of the same element are identical. The
atoms of any one element differ from those of any
other element.
 Atoms of different elements can physically mix
together or can chemically combine in simple
whole-number ratios to form compounds.
 Chemical reactions occur when atoms are
separated, joined, or rearranged. Atoms of one
element, however, are never changed into atoms of
another element as a result of a chemical reaction.
 Sizing up the Atom
 The radii of most atoms fall within the
range of 5 x 10-11m to 2 x 10-10m.
 If you could line up 100,000,000 copper
atoms side by side, they would produce a
line only 1 cm long!!
 Despite their small size,

individual atoms are

observable with
instruments such as
IRON ATOMS
scanning tunneling microscopes.
 4.1 Section Assessment
1. In your own words, state the main ideas
of Dalton’s atomic theory.
2. According to Dalton’s theory, is it possible
to convert atoms of one element into
atoms of another?
3. A sample of copper with a mass of 63.5g
contains 6.02 x 1023 atoms. Calculate the
mass of a single copper atom.
1 Cu atom x 63.5g = 1.05 x 10-22 g
6.02 x 1023 Cu atoms
 Section 4.2 – Structure of the
Nuclear Atom
 Three kinds of subatomic particles are
electrons, protons, and neutrons.

Subatomic Relative
Symbol Charge Location
Particle Mass

Electron e- -1 1/1840 Electron Cloud

Proton p+ +1 1 Nucleus
Neutron n0 0 1 Nucleus
 Electrons
 In 1897, the English physicist J. J. Thomson
discovered the electron.
 Electrons are negatively charged subatomic
particles.
 Thomson discovered electrons by studying a
cathode ray tube.
 A cathode ray is a glowing beam that travels
from a cathode to an anode.
Cathode Ray Tube
 Protons
 Atoms have no net electric charge; they
are electrically neutral.
 In 1886, Eugen Goldstein found evidence
for positively charged particles with he
found rays traveling in the opposite
direction of the cathode ray.
 These positively charged particles are
called protons.
 Neutrons
 In 1932, the English physicist James
Chadwick confirmed the
existence of neutrons.
 Neutrons are subatomic

particles with no charge.

 Plum Pudding Model
 The plum pudding model shows electrons
dispersed in a large positively charged
area.
 Rutherford’s Experiment
 Rutherford decided to test the plum
pudding model by shooting alpha particles
(helium atoms with no electrons) at a thin
sheet of gold foil.
 The particles should pass through the foil
with slight deflection.
 HOWEVER, many alpha
particles passed straight
through, and some
particles actually bounced
back.
Rutherford’s Experiment
 Rutherford’s Experiment
 Rutherford proposed that the atom is
mostly empty space, thus explaining the
lack of deflection of most of the alpha
particles.
 He concluded that all the positive charge
and most of the mass are concentrated in
a small region and has a positive charge
called the nucleus.
 The nucleus is the tiny central core of an
atom and is composed of protons and
neutrons.
Rutherford’s Experiment
 Atomic Structure
 In the nuclear atom,
the protons and
neutrons are located
in the nucleus.
 The electrons are

distributed around
the nucleus and
occupy almost all
of the volume.
 4.2 Section Assessment
1. What are the three types of subatomic
particles?
2. How does the Rutherford model describe
the structure of atoms?
3. What are the charges and relative
masses of the three main subatomic
particles?
4. Compare Rutherford’s expected outcome
of the gold-foil experiment with the actual
outcome.
 4.2 Section Assessment
5. What experimental evidence led
Rutherford to conclude that an atom is
mostly empty space?
6. How did Rutherford’s model of the atom
differ from Thomson’s plum pudding
model?
Section 4.3 – Distinguishing Among
Atoms
 Elements are different because they
contain different numbers of protons.
 The atomic number of an element is the
number of protons in the nucleus of an
atom of that element.
 The atomic number identifies an element.
 Atoms are electrically neutral, so the
number of protons equals the number of
electrons.
Atomic Mass
 Practice Problems
15. Complete the table.

16. How many protons and electrons are in

each atom?
a. fluorine
b. calcium
c. aluminum
 Mass Number
 Most of the mass of an atom is
concentrated in the nucleus made of
protons and neutrons.
 The total number of protons and neutrons
is the mass number.
 The number of neutrons in an atom is the
difference between the mass number and
the atomic number.
 Shorthand
 Atomic information can be written in two
forms of shorthand.
 The first form has the symbol of the
element with the mass number as a
superscript and the atomic number as a
subscript.
 The second form is the

element name followed

by the atomic mass.
Ex. gold-197
 Periodic Table
 On the periodic table the element symbol
is in the middle with the atomic number
above and the mass number below.

ATOMIC NUMBER 

ELEMENT SYMBOL 

MASS NUMBER 
Number of Subatomic Particles
 Practice Problems
17. How many neutrons are in each atom?

18. Express the composition of each atom in

the other type of shorthand form.
a. carbon-12
b. fluorine-19
c. beryllium-9
 Isotopes
 Isotopes are atoms that have the same number
of protons but different number of neutrons.
 Because isotopes of an element have different
numbers of neutrons, they also have different
mass numbers.
 Practice Problems
19. Three isotopes of oxygen are oxygen-
16, oxygen-17, and oxygen-18. Write the
symbol for each, including the atomic
number and mass number.

20. Three isotopes of chromium are

chromium-50, chromium-52, and
chromium-53. How many neutrons are in
each isotope?
 Atomic Mass
 An atomic mass unit (amu) is defined as
one twelfth of a carbon-12 atom.
 Atomic mass is measured in amus.
 In nature, most elements occur as a
mixture of two or more isotopes.
 The atomic mass of an element is the
weighted average mass of the atoms in a
naturally occurring sample of the element.
Atomic Mass
 Practice Problems
21. Boron has two isotopes: boron-10 and
boron-11. Which is more abundant, given
that the atomic mass of boron is 10.81
amu?
22. There are three isotopes or silicon; they
have mass numbers of 28, 29, and 30.
The atomic mass of silicon is 28.086 amu.
Comment on the relative abundance of
these three isotopes.
 Atomic Mass
 To calculate the atomic mass of an
element, multiply the mass of each isotope
by its natural abundance, expressed as a
decimal, and then add the products.
 For example, carbon has two stable isotopes:
 Carbon-12 with a mass of 12.000 amu, which has a
natural abundance of 98.89%, and
 Carbon-13 with a mass of 13.003 amu, which has a
natural abundance of 1.11%.
 Atomic Mass

10.012 amu x 0.1991 = 1.993 amu

11.009 amu x 0.8009 = + 8.817 amu
10.810 amu
 Practice Problems
23. The element copper has naturally
occurring isotopes with mass numbers of
63 and 65. The relative abundance and
atomic masses are 69.2% for mass =
62.93 amu, and 30.8% for mass = 64.93
amu. Calculate the average atomic mass
of copper.
24. Calculate the atomic mass of bromine.
The two isotopes of bromine have atomic
masses and relative abundance of 78.92
amu (50.69%) and 80.92 amu (49.31%).
 The Periodic Table
 The periodic table is an arrangement of
elements in which the elements are
separated based on a set of repeating
properties.
 The Periodic Table
 Notice that the elements are listed in order
of increasing atomic number.
 Each horizontal row of the periodic table is
called a period.
 Each vertical column of the periodic table
is called a group.
 Elements within a group have similar
physical and chemical properties.
 4.3 Section Assessment
1. What distinguishes the atoms of one
element from the atoms of another?
2. What equation tells you how to calculate
the number of neutrons in an atom?
3. How do the isotopes of a given element
differ from on another?
4. What does the number represent in the
isotope platinum-194? Write the symbol
for this atom using the other shorthand.
 4.3 Section Assessment
5. The atomic masses of elements are
generally not whole numbers. Explain why.
6. List the number of protons, neutrons, and
electrons in each pair of isotopes.
a. 63Li, 73Li
b. 4220Ca, 4420Ca
c. 7834Se, 8034Se
7. Name two elements that have properties
similar to those of the element calcium.
THE END