School of Graduate Studies

Module No. 1

Introduction to Chemistry

Name: Isabel L. Parro

Course Code: SCI 205

Week/Period: August 22, 2021

Course Title: Chemistry

Name of Faculty: Maria Wendy M. Solomo

Term: 1st Term

Assessment Tasks Title: Atomic Theory and Atomic Structure

Tasks:

1. Explain classical and modern atomic theory and present the atomic models in the evolution of
each theory.

2. Identify the subatomic particles.

3. Give the different energy levels, sublevels and atomic orbitals.

4. Write the electron configuration of atoms and ions.

Procedure:

1. After reading all the learning resources posted in our LMS about Atomic Theory and the Discovery of
Atomic Structure, do the following:

a. Summarize the evidence used by John Joseph Thomson to argue that cathode rays consist of
negatively charged particles.

Answer:

Thompson used what’s called a cathode ray tube. It’s a big tube of glass that is kind of like a bottle.
It’s sealed all over and all the air is pumped out and at the end there are two pieces of metal.
Thompson connected the two pieces of metal into a power source and what happened is that a
ray shot from the piece of metal across the tube and created a glowing spot on the opposite end
of the tube. Thompson sees this ray and he gets curious as to what it’s made of and so he asks on
what the cathode ray is made of and does it have an electrical charge? Here’s how he attempts
to answer that question. He takes two metal plates and puts them in either side of the cathode
ray tube and then he turns on electricity which makes the top plate positively charged and the
bottom plate negatively charged. When he turns on the power the cathode ray bends up towards
the positively charged plate. Based on this his reasons that the cathode ray is must be made of
stuff that is negatively charged since it is attracted to the positively charged piece of metal and he
knows that opposite charges attract. He tries to check this another way he uses a magnet. If
something has an electrical charge and it’s moving a magnet will push it in particular directions.
So he takes a cathode ray tube and surrounds it with a magnet and the cathode ray bends in the
other direction and moves down and this is just a further confirmation that whatever makes up
the cathode ray probably is negatively charged. He takes the data that he gets from the
experiment and he’s able to draw a few important conclusions about cathode rays and what
makes up atoms.

1. Cathode rays must be made of stuff that is negatively charged.

2. Particles that make up cathode rays are 1,000 times smaller than hydrogen atom.

3. All different metals give off cathode rays.

Summary:

J.J. Thomson performed experiments to probe the properties of cathode rays using a partially
evacuated glass tube called a cathode ray tube. In order to determine if the cathode ray consisted
of charged particles, Thomson used magnets and charged plates to deflect the cathode ray. He
observed that cathode rays were deflected by a magnetic field in the same manner as a wire
carrying an electric current, which was known to be negatively charged. J.J. Thomson used the
cathode ray tube to determine that atoms had small negatively charged subatomic particles inside
of them, which he called “electrons.”

b. What happens to most of the alpha particles that strike the gold foil in Rutherford’s
experiment? Why do they behave that way?

As we know that Thompson model suggested that an atom is a sphere of positive charge with
negative electrons embedded inside it that means that it is expected that the alpha particles will
pass right through the atoms and hit the detector straight because the mass of alpha particles is
heavier than the mass of positive charge. That means they should directly hit the atom and
move ahead through it. The result was not as expected. Rutherford found that the fast moving
alpha particles passed straight to the gold foil and hit the detector. However, some particles got
deflected by small angles. And lastly few alpha particles also rebounded. These three
observations wherein most alpha particles non-deflected, some alpha particles deflected, & few
alpha particles rebounded made Rutherford think that the plum-pudding model is not really
correct. Based on the conclusions he had he put forward the new hypothesis explaining atoms.
Most of the space inside the atom is empty. Positive charges occupy a small space inside the
atom. A few alpha particles get deviated that means there is a possibility that this hit the edge of
a positive center and one more possibility is they get deviated because the positive center
repels the alpha particles as they are also positively charged also a very small number of alpha
particles rebounded that means there is a possibility that these alpha particles had directly hit
the positive center but since the number of this rebounding particles is too small it explains that
the volume occupied by the positive center is also very small if the space occupied would have
been big enough then the number of alpha particles bouncing back would also be greater. These
results compel Rutherford to come up with a new nuclear model and formulate the following
hypothesis:

1.There is a positively charged center in an atom called nucleus. Nearly all mass of an
atom resides in the nucleus.

2. the electrons revolve in an atom in circular path.

3. The size of the nucleus is very small compared to the size of an atom.

c. Explain how the existence of line spectra is consistent with Bohr’s theory of quantized
energies for the electron in the Hydrogen atom.

Quantized energy means that only certain energies can be gained or lost during excitation of an
electron within an atom. If not true, all colors would be generated, not line spectra of certain
colors (energies). When applied to atoms, the notion of quantized energies means that only
certain energies can be gained or lost, only certain values of E (change in internal energy of a
system) are allowed. The allowed values of E (change in internal energy of a system) are
represented by the lines in the emission spectra of excited atoms.

d. Determine whether each the following statements is true or false:

c.1. The nucleus has most of the mass and comprises most of the volume of an atom.

Answer: FALSE

The nucleus has most of the mass but the volume of an atom depends on the distance
between the nucleus and the position of the electrons. The nucleus has most of the
mass in a small volume thus making it very dense. But the volume is given by the atomic
radius that is the distance between the center of the nucleus and the electrons in
different atomic orbitals.

c.2. Every atom of a given element has the same number of protons.

Answer: TRUE
 They may have different number of neutrons and so you have isotopes but the number
of protons remain the same for a given element. Every atom of an element has the
same atomic number. Atomic number is the total number of protons in an atom.

c.3. The number of electrons in an atom equals the number of neutrons in the atom.
Answer: FALSE

The number of electrons in an atom equals the number of protons in the atom. The
electrons are negatively charged which compensate the positively charged protons not
the neutrons which do not have a charge (they are neutral). In a neutral atom the
number of electrons is equal to the number of protons. Neutrons are neutral in charge.

c.4. The protons in the nucleus of the helium atom are held together by a force called
the strong nuclear force.

Answer: TRUE

All protons are positively charged and similar charges repel each other with electrostatic
forces of repulsion but the nuclear forces overcome the repulsive forces and stabilize
the protons in the nucleus of the atom.

e. Fill in the gaps in the following table, assuming each column represents a neutral atom except
for the last column (Calcium).

65 101 87 108 235 40

Symbol
Zn30 Ru44 Sr38 Zn47 U92 Ca20 2+

Protons 30 44 38 47 92 20

Neutrons 35 57 49 61 143 20

Electrons 30 44 38 47 92 18

Atomic 30 44 38 47 92 20
No.

Mass 65 101 87 108 235 40

No.

2. Now, write the electron configuration, draw the orbital diagram of the following atoms, and
indicate how many unpaired electron/s each has:
a. Ga, 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p1

b. Ca, 1s22s22p63s23p64s2

c. V, 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d3

d. Y, 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p65s24d1

e. Pt, 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p64d105s25p64f145d96s1

f. Lu 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p64d105s25p64f145d16s2
ORBITAL DIAGRAM indicating the number of unpaired e-