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1.1.2 – Mass number and isotopes

Protons, Neutrons & Electrons

Electron Shells

As we noted above, electrons orbit the nucleus in one of a number of

electron shells. These shells provide order and structure to their
movement and location. Ultimately, there can be quite a large number
of shells. Consider zinc, for example:

Activity 2
How many electrons does zinc have, and in how many shells?

Click here to reveal the answer

Electrons orbit the nucleus in what are often described as shells (or
orbitals or energy levels). The energy of a shell is directly proportional
to the distance from the nucleus. The further away the electron is from
the nucleus, the higher the energy level. Each shell can only hold a fixed
maximum number of electrons before it becomes full.

The next rule is that lower energy levels fill up with electrons before
higher energy ones. This means that the shell closest to the nucleus fills
first, then the next one and so on.
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If there is an incomplete shell, as frequently there are in atoms, it will

be the one furthest from the nucleus.

The shells are often labelled with the letter n before them, so:
• n1 is the closest shell to the nucleus
• n2 is the next closest (and so on)

The following is a table of shell numbers and the number of electrons

each shell can hold:

Shell No. Electrons

1 2

2 8

3 18

4 32

Below is an illustration of the shells and the numbers of electrons they

can hold:

Activity 3
Look at the illustration of zinc again. How many electrons are in its n3
shell?

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Mass Number, Atomic Number and Isotopes

There are two basic pieces of data

associated with every atom:
• Atomic Number
• Mass Number

The mass number and the atomic number

can sometimes be presented in different
places in the Periodic Table. In the
illustration, the mass number is shown
above and the atomic number is below.
They can also sometimes be the opposite way round (i.e. atomic
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number on top). Just remember that the mass number is always
greater than the atomic number (the exception being hydrogen, where
both are 1).

The Atomic Number is the number of protons in the nucleus.

The Atomic Number is also the number of electrons in an Atom.

The Mass Number is the number of protons and neutrons in the

nucleus.

Every element in the periodic table has a different atomic number. If

you have an unidentified atom which you experiment upon and
discover it has 16 protons, you would know that the atomic number
was therefore 16, and by looking at the periodic table you could
identify it as sulphur.

Activity 4
Look at the following atom and calculate the number of protons and
neutrons that are in its nucleus.

Click here to reveal the answer

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Answer to Activity 4:

The element with the symbol K is potassium. Its atomic number is

19, and therefore it has 19 protons.

Its mass number is 39, therefore 39-19 = 20 neutrons.

Remember the mass number = protons + neutrons. Therefore if you

know the number of protons (from the atomic number), then
calculating the number of neutrons is quite simple.

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