1.

PrINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY
1C . Atomic Structure
Dasun Adeesha (BSc, PGDS)
 Learning Objectives
1.14 Know what is meant by the terms atom and molecule
1.15 Know the structure of an atom in terms of the position,
relative masses and relative charges of subatomic particles
1.16 Know what is meant by the terms atomic number, mass
number, isotopes and relative atomic mass (Ar)
1.17 be able to calculate the relative atomic mass of an element
(Ar) from isotopic abundances
Atoms and Molecules
● Atoms are the basic units of matter
● They can be joined together to make molecules
● A molecule consists of two or more atoms chemically
bonds (by covalent bonds)
● Atoms that make up molecules can be the same
element (hydrogen - H2) or different elements (water -
H2O)
Term Definition

Atom The smallest particle of an element that

consists of electrons surrounding a nucleus that
contains protons and neutrons.

Molecule The smallest particle of an element or a

compound that can exist independently.
Molecules are formed when atoms join
together by chemical bonds.
Structure of an Atom
 Structure of the Atoms
● Atoms are made of 3 subatomic particles - protons, neutrons
and electrons
● The centre of the atom is known as the nucleus
● The nucleus contains protons and neutrons and electrons orbit
the nucleus in different shells/energy levels
● Atoms are extremely small and are magnified in diagrams
● In reality, if you scaled a helium atom up to the size of sports
hall, the nucleus would be no bigger than a grain of sand!
 Structure of the Atoms
Subatomic Relative Relative Mass Location in the
particle Charge atom
Proton 1+ 1 In the Nucleus

Neutron 0 1 In the Nucleus

Electron 1- 1 / 1836 Electron shells

orbiting the
nucleus
 Structure of the Atoms
● Virtually all the mass in an atom is concentrated in the
nucleus (protons and neutrons have a relative mass of 1)
● The masses and charges are measured relative to each
other because the actual values are extremely small
● For example, it would take 6 ⨯ 1023 protons to weigh 1g!
 Atomic Number
● Each element is fundamentally different from any other,
but importantly each atom of one element must be identical
in some way.
● In 1913 it was discovered that the number of protons in an
element’s atom is always the same and that the number of
protons for each element is unique.
● The atomic number is equal to the number of protons in an
atom.
 Atomic Number
● Atoms are neutral overall therefore the number of
electrons must be the same as the number of protons.
● However we could not describe the atomic number as
the number of electrons as this can change if an atom
becomes an ion
● We will discuss this further in ionic Bonding
 Mass Number
● Most of the mass of an atom is found in the nucleus. As
the nucleus contains protons and neutrons the mass of
different elements tends to be different
● The mass number is equal to the number of protons
PLUS the number of neutrons
● The number of neutrons can also be calculated by
subtracting the atomic number from the mass number
Term Definition

Atomic The number of protons in the nucleus of an

number atom.

Mass number The sum of the number of protons and neutrons

in the nucleus of an atom.
 Atomic number = Number of Protons

In a neutral atom,
Number of Protons = Number of Electrons
Atomic number = Number of Protons = Number of Electrons

Mass number = Number of Proton + Number of Neutrons

Mass number = Atomic number + Number of Neutrons

Number of Neutrons = Mass number - Atomic number

Activity
 Nuclide Notation

● This is a shorthand way of writing the atomic number, mass

number and symbol of an atom.
Atomic Number and Mass Number
Past Paper Question
Past Paper Question
 Isotopes
❖ Isotopes are atoms of the same element that contain the same
number of protons and electrons but a different number of
neutrons.
❖ The symbol for an isotope is the chemical symbol (or word)
followed by a dash and then the mass number.
❖ So C-14 is the isotope of carbon which contains 6 protons, 6
electrons and 14 – 6 = 8 neutrons.
The atomic
structure and
symbols of the three
isotopes of hydrogen
 Relative atomic mass
● Sizes of atoms are so tiny that we can’t really compare their masses in
conventional units such as kilograms or grams, so a unit called the
relative atomic mass is used
● One relative atomic mass unit is equal to the mass of a carbon-12
atom.
● All other elements are measured relative to the mass of a carbon-12
atom and since these are ratios, the relative atomic mass has no units
● Hydrogen for example has a relative atomic mass of 1, meaning that
12 atoms of hydrogen would have exactly the same mass as 1 atom of
carbon
 Calculate Relative Atomic Mass
● The relative atomic mass of each element is calculated from the
mass number and relative abundances of all the isotopes of a
particular element
● The equation below is used where the top line of the equation
can be extended to include the number of different isotopes of a
particular element present
 Example ;
The table shows information about the Isotopes in a sample of
rubidium with 72% 85Rb and 28% 87Rb

Use information from the table to calculate the relative atomic mass
of this sample of Rubidium. Give your answer to one decimal place:
Answer :