Chemistry – Atomic Structure C1 Questions

Summary Questions

1.
a.
i. Neutrons and protons are subatomic particles found in the nucleus of the atom. The
electrons are arranged in shells around said nucleus. NEEDS TO BE SHORTER
ii. Two electrons can occupy the first shell and eight can occupy the second. Therefore,
together there is a maximum of ten electrons in the first two shells. Correct
b.
i. Each atom contains equal numbers of protons and electrons. Therefore, the positive
and negative charges of these subatomic particles cancel each other out, thus
meaning that there is no overall charge on any atom. Correct
ii. Although each atom is supposed to contain equal numbers of protons and electrons,
they can sometimes lose or gain electrons to change their overall charge and
become IONS. If they gain electrons, they will become negative ions because they
now have more electrons than protons. If they lose electrons, they can become
positive ions. If an atom loses 2 electrons, it will have a positive charge that differs
from the neutral charge of a regular atom by two – therefore making it a 2+ ion.
iii. Atomic number is the number of protons in each atom of an element. The mass
number is the number of protons plus neutrons in each atom of an element.
2.
a. A mixture is made up of two or more elements or compounds that are not chemically
bonded together. They can be separated from each-other relatively easily. Correct
b. A compound is two or more atoms of different elements that are chemically bonded
together. There are no chemical bonds between the atoms of different substances in
mixtures. Chemicals in compounds are more difficult to separate seeing as chemical
reactions must be used to do this, whereas substances in mixtures can be separated using
physical means that exploit the different properties of the substances (distillation or
filtration etc). Compounds will always have the same ratio of elements present, but mixtures
have no fixed compositions and the ratios of the different substances involved may vary with
each individual mixture.
c.
i. Copper (II) Sulphate is soluble in water, and so crystallisation can be used to
separate it from its aqueous solution. This can be done by heating the solution in an
evaporating basin above a Bunsen burner, allowing the water to evaporate away
from the solution and leave only the copper sulphate crystals behind in the basin.
ii. Filtration can be used to separate the insoluble precipitate of lead iodide from the
solution that is formed when aqueous solutions of lead nitrate and sodium iodide
are mixed together.
iii. Distillation is used to separate water from a solution with potassium chloride. This is
because potassium chloride is soluble and using crystallisation would produce
potassium chloride crystals instead of the water that is required.
iv. Ethanol and water must be separated using fractional distillation, because they are
both miscible liquids – meaning that they will mix together completely. However,
 they have different boiling points and so we can distil off and collect the liquid with
the lowest boiling point first – in this case, ethanol.
3.
a. Bromine will be a liquid, caesium will be a solid, fluorine will be gaseous, strontium will be a
solid and xenon will be a gas.
b. Caesium exists as a liquid over the widest temperature, seeing as its melting point is 29 oC
and its boiling point is 669oC. This is a range of 640oC.
c. Bromine is represented by the chemical symbol of Br. Caesium is shown as Cs, Fluorine is
simply shown as F. Strontium is demonstrated as Sr and Xenon is Xe.
d. Bromine is a halogen as opposed to a metal. Caesium is an alkali metal, and fluorine is a
halogen like bromine. Strontium is another alkaline metal, and xenon is a noble gas. SAY
NONMETAL
e.
i. Fluorine atoms have nine electrons, and the first two of these are in the first energy
shell. The remaining seven are situated in the second energy shell. Correct
ii. The negative Fluorine ion, F-, has two electrons in its first energy shell and eight in
the second shell. It has the same electronic structure as a neon atom. Correct
4.
a.
i. Neon is a non-metal in group zero on the periodic table. Correct
ii. There are more metals in the periodic table than non-metals or metalloids. Correct
iii. Each atom of Neon contains 10 protons, and this is their atomic number. Correct
iv. Seeing as the mass number of a neon atom is 20, it must contain 10 neutrons –
because the mass number represents the number of neutrons added to the number
of protons. Correct
v. Neon belongs to group zero in the periodic table, and this group is known as the
noble gases. Correct
vi. Helium and Xenon are two other elements that belong to the same group as Neon
and are Noble gases. Correct
vii. Neon atoms have ten electrons. Two electrons are found in the first shell, and the
remaining eight electrons is in the second shell. Correct
viii. The outermost shells of Neon and other elements in the noble gases group are
completely full, which means that they cannot lose or gain electrons from that shell.
This renders them VERY stable and unreactive. Correct
b.
i. Each atom must have the same number of protons as electrons in its structure, and
so seeing as radium as 88 electrons it must also have the same number of protons.
This is also supported by its atomic number on the periodic table. Correct
ii. Radium is in group 2 of the periodic table, and as the number of electrons in the
outermost shell of an atom is equal to the group in which it is placed, radium atoms
must have 2 electrons in their outer shells. Correct
iii. Group 2 elements are alkaline earth metals, therefore demonstrating that radium is
a metallic element like all other members of its group. Correct
iv. All of the isotopes of radium have the same number of protons (88) but will have
differing numbers of neutrons. Radium 224 will have 224 neutrons, Radium 226 will
have 226 and Radium 228 will have 228 neutrons. Correct
v. Calcium is in this same group, and its atomic number is 20. This means that it has 20
electrons in total. Seeing as the group number is equal to the number of electrons in
 the outermost shell, this means that there are two electrons in the outer shell. The
first shell has to have two electrons, and the second and third each contain eight.
This adds up to 20. Correct
vi. All isotopes have the same number of protons because they are all the same
element. The proton number is equal to the atomic number, and so there must be
20 protons in all isotopes of 40Ca. Therefore, it must have 18 electrons when it is in
2+ ion form – because losing two electrons will make it positive. The mass number of
calcium is 40 (and this represents the total number of subatomic particles in its
nucleus), so the number of neutrons must be 20. Correct
5.
a. 2Na + Cl2  2NaCl Correct
b. 4Al + 3O2  2Al2O3 Correct
c. 2Fe2O3 + 3C  4Fe + 3CO2 Correct
d. 2Al(OH)3  Al2O3 + 3H2O Correct
e. 2Ba(NO3)2  2BaO + 4NO2 + O2
f. 2C4H10 + 13O2  8CO2 + 10H2O