Chemistry Notes

Credits to Lachlan notes on which this is based on

Atom- the building blocks of everything, and they are extremely small.

Parts of an atom:

Most of an atom is empty space. There is a nucleus, and electrons orbiting the nucleus. The nucleus
is made of protons and neutrons.

Neutron- a subatomic (smaller than an atom) particle with no charge, and weighs about the same as
a proton. Located in the nucleus. Changing the neutrons will change the atom’s weight and stability.

Proton- a stable, positively charged subatomic particle, with a very small weight. Located in the
nucleus. Changing the proton will change the type of element that the atom is.

Electron- a stable, negatively charged subatomic particle. Weighs so little, that its weight is not
counted in an atom’s mass. Electrons orbit the atom, around the shells. Changing the electron will
change the atom’s electric charge.

For an atom to have no charge, the electrons must equal the number of protons. If the electrons do
not equal the protons, then the atom becomes an ion.

More electrons than protons turn the ions into negative charge, while less electrons means the ion
is positively charged.

An isotope is an atom which has an abnormal number of neutrons. The mass number is increased,
since there are more neutrons.

The atom’s shells hold electrons. The number of electrons that are held in a shell can be calculated
by the formula 2n^2, which looks like: 2-8-18…

The outermost shell on an atom is known as the valence shell and the electrons are called valence
electrons.

Electro-negativity is the strength which an atom holds on and attracts electrons.

When an atom’s shells are closer to being full, the electronegativity is very strong, since the atom
just needs one electron to be full shell.

The electronegativity decreases as the number of electron shells increases (going down a row of the
periodic table). This is because the electrons are further away from the nucleus of the atom.
How to display atoms, ions, isotopes, and number of atoms:
m c
a X xn

M- the mass number

a- the atomic number (the number of protons) (remember that proton count changes the element)

Xx- the atom’s symbol and capitalization on the periodic table

c- the charge of an atom. If the atom is an ion, then the charge will be positive or negative

n- how many atoms there are

Example:
25 2 +¿
S 11i ❑ ¿
Silicon ion and isotope. Contains 11 neutrons, 14 protons, and 12 electrons. Since the neutron count
is different from the protons, this is an isotope. There are 2 more protons than electrons, causing the
2+. The electron configuration would be 2-8-2.

A molecule is two or more atoms, stably bonded. If the elements are different, it also can be called a
compound.

Ionic Bonding- when atoms ‘steal’ valence electrons from another atom, so that both atoms have
full electron shells, with no missing or extra electrons.

Ionic Bonding usually happens between Group 6 & 7 atoms stealing the Group 1 & 2 atoms’
electrons.

How it happens: one atom has electrons ‘stolen’ and one atom has extra electrons. Therefore, one
atom has a positive charge and the other one has a negative charge. This force, called electrostatic
attraction, holds the atoms together strongly.

This forms an ionic compound.

Example:

If the atom’s valence electrons do not add up to a full shell, more atoms must be involved to help. If
an atom has one valence electrons, and another atom needs two, then two of the first atom can be
used. The lowest common multiple is always used.

How to name the ionic compounds:

The positively charged ion (cation) goes on the left. The negatively charged ion (anion) goes on the
right.

The anion’s suffix is changed to -ide. Example: Chlorine becomes Chloride.

Covalent Bonding:

Covalent Bonding is almost the same as Ionic Bonding, except that instead of ‘stealing’, the atoms
‘share’ valence electrons to contribute to a full shell. The atoms share enough electrons to each
other to achieve all full shells.

This type of bonding is even stronger than ionic bonding, since the positively charged nuclei are
attracted to the negative pairs of electrons orbiting.

Example of a covalent bond- two fluorite atoms form F2. The fluorite atoms have 7 valence electrons,
so they share one with each other.

Bonding pairs are represented by a single line connecting the atoms. More pairs simple mean more
lines.

Example: Oxygen covalent bond.

“The amazing thing about covalent bonding is that there are an infinite number of possible
molecules. Unlike ionic bonding, which is limited by the number of combinations of metals and non-
metals, covalently bonded molecules can have more and more atoms added to them with covalent
bonds. For example, the very long hydrocarbons used for fuel are covalently bonded, and the
incredibly complex proteins are mostly bonded with covalent bonds. One of the smallest proteins in
the human body is insulin, with only 778 atoms (254 carbon atoms, 377 hydrogen atoms, 65 nitrogen
atoms, 76 oxygen atoms and 6 Sulphur atoms). A very large protein is haemoglobin, with about
11,000 atoms. DNA, one of the most complex proteins, has millions of atoms. “- Lachlan Growth, 9L

Metallic bonding: the type of bonding that holds metals together.

How it works: the metals drop their valence electrons to become positively charged cations.

They stick together, because the dropped, or delocalized electrons form a sea, that holds all the
positively charged cations together. The ‘sea’ of electrons is free to fly around the metal cations.

When ionic bonded compounds are disfigured, they fall apart, since the cations move beside cations
and the anions beside anions, repelling everything. However, in metallic bonding, the sea of
electrons can still hold everything together. Therefore, metals are easily shapable.

Because the electrons can move around freely, these metal compounds are good at conducting heat
and electricity.

An alloy is a mixture of a metal and other metals or even non-metals, using metallic bonding.
Examples are steel, bronze, and brass. Alloys are useful for modifying metals for specific purposes,
such as increased strength.

Some stats on the bonding types:

Property Ionic Compound Covalent Compound Metallic Compound

Melting Point High Low High
Conducts electricity? No No Yes
Shatters or bends Shatters Shatters Bends
when hit with
hammer?
Presence of odour? No Yes No

Chemical Reactions: when a reactant molecule’s chemical bonds are broken, and new bonds are
formed, with different atoms.

This produces new molecules and compounds. The amount and type of atoms stay the same, but
the number of molecules can change. Energy is released.

Reactants- the substances that enter the reaction, becoming products, the produce of the reaction.

Why would a chemical reaction happen (why the substances prefer to be the product, not the
reactant):

The substances try to have the lowest potential energy. Why they want this is quite complex,
however.

When the reaction occurs, energy is released, resulting in a lower potential energy amount.

Elements on the Periodic Table:

Groups: the vertical columns on the periodic table

Period number: where the element is located on the periodic table. Each element has a unique
period number.

How to get group number:

There are 18 groups on the periodic table. The first 2 are the s block elements. The 3rd to the 12th are
the d block elements. The remaining 13-18 elements are the p block elements.
S-block elements are easy- the group is the amount of valence electrons

For d-block elements, the group is the valence electrons, plus the amount of electrons in the
previous shell.

P-block elements are the valence electrons + 10.

How to get period number:

The number of electrons is usually the number of protons, if the atom is not an ion. Therefore, the
period number is simply the electron count.

Periodic Table Trends:

Going down a group, metal’s reactivity increases

Going across a period, metal’s reactivity decreases.

Opposites for non-metals- reactivity decreases when going down, and across, non-metals become
more reactive.

Down, metal inc

Across, metwll dex