Unit 1: Atoms, Elements, and compound

All substances are made from tiny particles called atoms.

Atom:
It’s the smallest building unit (part) of an element, that can take place in a
chemical reaction without being changed. An atom should have the same number
of electrons and protons.
The atoms of each element are represented by a chemical symbol that:
 Consist of one or two letters
 And start with upper case (capital) letter
An atom consists of three subatomic particles:
Atom structure:

1
The exact mass of an electron is 1840
Chemical Symbol:
Element:
It’s a substance made of atoms that cannot be broken down into simpler
 Atoms should have the same number of protons
Any element in the periodic table consists of a Mass number and atomic number

The mass number is always larger than the

atomic number.

 The mass number is also the nucleon

number, and it’s the total number of protons and neutrons in an atomic
nucleus.
 And the atomic number is proton number and electrons
So,
number of protons = atomic number
number of electrons = atomic number
number of neutrons = mass number - atomic number
For Example:
The atomic number of a sodium atom is 11 and its mass number is 23. Calculate
the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons it contains.
Answer:
Atomic number = protons number so protons = 11
Electrons = atomic number so Electrons = 23
Neutrons= (mass number - atomic number) = 23 - 11 = 12
Electronic Structure:
it’s the number of electrons that can be held on the shell and its 2,8,8
For Example:
The atoms number of Na (sodium) is 11 so we will divide it into (2,8,1)

Compound:
It’s a substance consisting of two or more elements in a fixed ratio, that are
chemically bonded. For example; sodium chloride has the same number of
sodium ions and chloride ions, so its formula is NaCl.
Mixture:
It’s a substance consisting of two or more different elements in a different ratio
that are not chemically joined. For example; see water
Note: when atom is neutral number of electrons same as number of protons
Note: when you go more down in periodic table melting point increase
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Ions:
When an atom or group of atoms loses or gains one or more electrons, there are
two types of ions:
 Positive ions: that lose electrons and are called cations, and it has more
protons than electrons.
 Negative ions: that gain electron and are called anions, and it has more
electrons than protons.
 Radical ions: a group of atoms joins together to act as one atom in a
chemical reaction such as SO4
Positive ions are metals

Negative ions are non– metals

Charges on ions:

Positive ion names don’t change such as; sodium ion, magnesium ion, and
aluminum ion.
But negative ions became oxidized such as; Nitride, oxide, and chloride.
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Isotope:
Atoms with the same element that have the same number of protons and
electrons but different numbers of neutrons.
Such as; hydrogen isotope

There are two types of isotopes:

 Radioactive isotopes
 Non-radioactive isotopes
Radioactive isotopes:
Is when there is a large difference between the number of neutrons and protons
so it makes the atom unstable, so it breaks down and emits radiation.
Industrial uses of isotope:
 Smoke detectors
 Thickness monitoring of sheets and glass
Medical uses of isotope:
 Tutoring cancer
 Medical tracers
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Elements in a chemical reaction:
Elements react to be stable and to have full electrons in outer shells, to be like
noble gases.
But there are some rules for elements in a chemical reaction:
 Metal only loses electrons in a chemical reaction, so metals only react with
non-metals
o Reactivity of metals is measured by how easily they can lose electrons, so
when valency increases, reactivity decreases.
 Non-metals gain electrons from non-metals, and share electrons with non-
metals
o Reactivity of non-metals is measured by how easily they gain electrons, so
when valency increases, reactivity decreases
 Elements in group 4 such as; silicon and carbon that have a valency of 4,
don’t lose or gain electrons, it shares electrons.

Chemical bonds:
There are two types of chemical bonding:
 Ionic bond
 Covalent bond

Ionic bond:
Ionic compounds are formed when metals react with non-metals.
Metals lose their outer shell electrons while non-metals gain electrons and
become positive and negative ions.
And then they are held together by the electrostatic force of attraction. And this
attraction force is known as ionic bond.
For example; sodium chloride

Sodium needs to lose electrons to become

stable, and chlorine needs to gain one
electron, so they will react together, and
sodium turns positive ion and chlorine turns
negative ion, and both become (sodium
chloride).
Example 2:

Also, here Mg needs to lose one electron and oxygen needs to gain
one, so magnesium becomes a positive ion and oxygen becomes a negative ion.
So, they become (magnesium oxide).
Ionic bond with different valency:
When a reaction happens between metal and non-metal that are having different
valences, they cross valency
For example:
Magnesium has 2 electrons in the outer shell and chlorine has 7 electrons, so
chlorine can’t gain more than 1 electron. So, we use two chlorine atoms

MgCl2

Ionic Bond structure:

Ionic compounds have a giant lattice structure, consisting of a regular
arrangement of alternating positive and negative ions, and an electrostatic
attraction force between oppositely charged ions.

Ionic Compounds properties:

 High melting point: because there is strong electrostatic force between
oppositely charged ions.
 Bad conductor of electricity in solid state (because ions aren’t free to
move)
 Good conductor of electricity in Molten or aqueous because ions can move
freely carrying an electric charge.
 It’s often soluble in water because water is polar
Covalent bond:
Covalent compounds are formed when atoms share electrons, and only non-
metals can participate in this reaction (because metals cannot share electrons), 2
or more atoms can be involved in a covalent compound and they are called
‘molecules.
There are 3 types of covalent compounds:
 Single covalent
 Double covalent
 Triple covalent
Single covalent:
When two atoms share one pair of electrons and it is known as simple molecules.
Common Examples of Simple Molecules:
Hydrogen:

Water:
Methane:

Double covalent:
Some atoms need to share more than one electron to have a full outer shell of
electrons. If two adjacent atoms share two pairs of electrons, it known as a
double bond.
Common Examples:
Carbon dioxide:
Ethene:

Triple bond:
If two adjacent atoms share 3 pairs of electrons to form a triple bond.
Common Examples:

Nitrogen:
Hydrogen cyanide:

Simple molecules properties (covalent molecular compounds):

 Have a low melting point, because there is a weak intermolecular force
between molecules. As the molecules increase in size the intermolecular
forces also increase, so they will have higher melting and billing point.
 The bonds between hydrogen and oxygen in water are COVALENT, and the
attractions between the molecules are INTERMOLECULAR FORCES.

 Molecular compounds are bad conductors of electricity because there are

no free ions or electrons to carry an electrical charge, so they are used as
insulators.

 They are often liquid or gasses in room temperature

 Covalent compounds are generally soluble in non-polar solvents. They are

insoluble in water as it is a polar solvent.

Giant covalent structures:

They are giant regular lattice structure, that is made only from carbons
Diamond:
Giant macromolecule consisting of carbon, each carbon atom is bonded to other
four carbons, forming a tetrahedron. And it’s very strong and doesn’t have
intermolecular force.

Properties of diamond:
 Bad conductor of electricity because there are no free ions to carry a
charge.
 High melting point, because the four covalent bonds are very strong and
extended in a giant lattice structure.
 It is extremely hard and dense because there are strong covalent bonds
between carbon atoms
Uses of diamond:
 For making jewelry
 For cutting tools due it’s hardness
Graphite:
A giant macromolecule consisting of carbon, each carbon bonded to 3 other
carbons forming a hexagon leaving one free electron per carbon atom which
becomes delocalized. And have weak parallel layers that are attracted by weak
intermolecular force.

Graphite properties:
 Good conductor of
electricity, because
there is one free
delocalized
electron in each
hexagon to carry an
electrical charge
 Malleable and ductile, because it’s consisting of layers that can easily slide
over each other because it has weak attraction force
 Has a very high melting point, because of the strong bonding between
carbon atoms.
 Soft, because there is weak intermolecular force between layers
Uses of graphite:
 is used in pencils and as an industrial lubricant
 used to make non-reactive electrodes for electrolysis
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Silicon (iv) oxide:
It’s a giant macromolecule consisting of silicon and oxygen, each oxygen forms a
covalent bond with 2 silicon atoms, and each silicon atom forms a covalent bond
with 4 oxygen atoms forming a tetrahedron. Similar to diamond

Silicon (iv) oxide:

 High melting point, because it’s a giant lattice structure that is hard to
break down
 Very strong and doesn’t have intermolecular force.
 Poor conductor of electricity
Uses of Silicon (iv) oxide:
 used to make sandpaper
 to line the inside of furnaces
Metallic Bonding:
Giant lattice structure, consisting of positive ions, and sea of delocalized
electrons.
Properties of metallic bond:
 Good conductor of electricity, because of the free moving electrons
forming sea of delocalized electrons.
 High melting point, because there is strong metallic bonding between
positive ions and delocalized electrons.
 malleable and ductile, because metals consist of layers that can easily slide
over each other.

Macromolecule:
a molecule containing a very large number of atoms
Lattice structure:
A regular arrangement of atoms, ions and molecules with electrostatic force
attraction.

Test for anions (negative ions): Halogens

Testing for halide ions:
 Chloride
  Bromide
 Iodide
Method:
1. dissolve a small sample of the solid salt you are testing in water.
2. place approximately 10cm3 of the solution into a test tube.
3. add four drops of nitric acid.
4. add silver nitrate solution, dropwise.
5. if a precipitate is produced, observe the colour.
Test using silver nitrate
Results:

Testing for sulfate ions:

 Sulfate ion
Method:
1. dissolve a small sample of the solid salt you are testing in water.
2. place about 10cm3 of the solution into a test tube.
3. add barium chloride solution, dropwise.
4. if a precipitate is produced, observe the colour.
Results:

Testing for carbonate ions:

 Carbonate
Method:
1. add dilute hydrochloric acid to the solid salt you’re testing.
2. test any gas that forms by bubbling it through limewater

Here’s the equation for the reaction between a carbonate compound and
hydrochloric acid. Carbon dioxide is a product of the reaction and will turn
limewater cloudy.