3 Atoms and

Molecules

Lithium is a naturally occurring chemical atom that is sometimes used in medicines

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mania, or "highs," as well as to help with long-term mood stabilisation. It is also used
to treat some types of depression and other mental illnesses.
 | TOPIC 1 |
LAWS OF CHEMICAL COMBINATION

Learning Objectives
 Students will learn about the various ancient thoughts about atoms and
molecules.
 Students will learn the laws of chemical combination.
 Students will learn to solve numerical problems based on the laws of
chemical combination.
 Students will learn about the law of conservation of mass and law of
definite proportion.
Learning Outcomes
 Students will be able to appreciate the efforts made by ancient
philosophers and scientists.
 Students will be able to explain the laws of chemical combinations.
 Students will be able to interpret the data and calculate the mass of
reactants or products.
 Students will be able to explain the laws by taking examples from day-
to-day life.

Real Life Application

When you build a campfire, What you do is, you start with a big pile of logs.
The pile of logs gradually gets smaller while the fire burns. The only thing
standing by the end of the evening is a little mound of ashes.
Despite the appearance that burning destroys matter, the same quantity or
mass of matter remains after a campfire. It demonstrates that when wood
burns, it mixes with oxygen and transforms into carbon dioxide and water
vapour in addition to ashes. Just the ashes are left behind as the gases drift
away into the air.

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If you measure the wood’s mass before it burned and the ashes’ mass after it
burned, the entire mass of matter would be identical to its pre-fire total mass.
This is how law the of chemical combination applies in real life. Let us now
study this in brief.
Matter and energy make up the entirety of the Universe. The ability to execute
a task is referred to as energy. Matter, on the other hand, has mass and space.
Substances like sand, clothes, sugar, salt, wood, silver, gold, aluminium, etc.,
are matter.
The concept of the smallest unit of matter has prevailed amongst the ancient
philosophers from India and Greece. Around 500 BC, Indian philosopher
Maharishi Kanad highlighted the idea of dividing matter into smaller to
smaller particles. Maharishi Kanad proposed that if we go on dividing
‘Padarth’ (Matter) we will reach a stage where the matter can no longer be
divided further. He termed this smallest particle ‘Parmanu’.
In 400 BC, Democritus, a renowned Greek philosopher coined the term
‘Atom’. The word ‘Atom’ is derived from the Greek term ‘Atomos’ which means
indivisible. This fundamental or basic unit was what Democritus called an
‘Atom’.
In Modern times, study of atom began in the 18th Century. Scientist, John Dalton
was the first to adopt Democritus’ theory into the first modern atomic model.
John Dalton’s Atomic model states:
(1) All matter consists of tiny particles called atoms.
(2) Atoms are indestructible and unchangeable.
(3) Elements are characterised by the weight of their atoms.
(4) When elements react, it is their atoms that have combined to form new
compounds.
By the end of the 18th century, scientists recognised the difference between
elements and compounds and naturally became interested in finding out
how and why elements combine and what happens when they combine.
Antoine L. Lavoisier laid the foundation of chemical sciences by establishing
the important laws of chemical combination.
Important

 Atoms and molecules (a combined form of atoms) are tiny particles that
make up all matter. Since different types of atoms have different properties,
different types of matter exhibit different characteristics.

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Law of Conservation of Mass
Antoine L. Lavoisier put forward the Law of Conservation of Mass in 1789,
which states that mass is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions.
In other words, the mass of any one element at the start of a reaction will be
the same as its mass at the end.
In any closed system, the total mass will be the same at any moment in time
if all reactants and products are taken into account. The discovery of Lavoisier
revolutionised science and set the foundation for modern chemistry.
The simplest example is sugar solution preparation: If we mix sugar with
water we'll get a sugar solution. Here, the mass of both the ingredients and
the final product will be the same.
The law of conservation of mass means that in a chemical reaction, the total
mass of reactants is equal to the total mass of products i.e., mass can neither
be created nor be destroyed in a chemical reaction.
Let us understand the Law of Conservation of Mass with the help of an
example:

+ +

CH4 2O2 CO2 2H2O

Methane Oxygen Carbon dioxide Water
16 g 2  32 g 44 g 2  18 g

80 g 80 g

Law of conservation of mass

In the figure, the total mass of reactants is 80 g and the total mass of products
is also 80 g. This example supports the Law of Conservation of Mass.
Example 1. In a reaction, 5.3g of sodium carbonate reacted with
6g of ethanoic acid. The products were 2.2g of carbon dioxide,
0.9 g of water and 8.2 g of sodium ethanoate. Show that these
observations are in agreement with the law of conservation of mass.
Sodium carbonate + ethanoic acid
→ sodium ethanoate + carbon dioxide + water [NCERT]
Ans. Sodium carbonate reacts with ethanoic acid to form sodium ethanoate,
carbon dioxide, and water in the following reaction.

Na2CO3+2H3COOH→CO2+H2O+2CH3COONa

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On Reactant side:
Mass of sodium carbonate = 5.3 g
    Mass of ethanoic acid = 6 g
Total mass of reactants before reaction
        = 5.3 g + 6 g = 11.3 g
On Product side:
   Mass of carbon dioxide = 2.2 g
       Mass of Water = 0.9 g
Mass of Sodium ethanoate = 8.2 g
Total mass of products after reaction
= 2.2 g + 0.9 g + 8.2 g = 11.3 g
This illustrates that the mass of the reactant equals the mass of the
product during a chemical reaction.
As a result, the law of conservation of mass is confirmed.

•
•
•

Atoms and Molecules 5

 OBJECTIVE Type Questions
[ 1 mark ]

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The chemical symbol for nitrogen gas is:
(a) Ni (b) N2
(c) N+ (d) N [Diksha]
Ans.(b) N2
Explanation:
Ni – Ni is the symbol of element nickel.
N2– N2 is one molecule of nitrogen gas.
N+– Nitrogen does not form cation.
N – N is a symbol of nitrogen. It is one atom of nitrogen.
Related Theory
 The atomic mass of nitrogen is 7 and its mass number is 14. It has 5
valence electrons and it will gain 3 electrons to form nitrogen ion.
N + 3e– → N3–
Assertion-Reason (A-R)
This question has two statements – Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Answer
these questions by selecting the appropriate option given below:

(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.

(b) Both A and R are true and R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.
2. Assertion (A):Nitrogen has an atomic mass of 14.
Reason (R):Nitrogen atoms are 14 times heavier than carbon-12
atoms of the same mass.
Ans.(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
Explanation: The atomic mass of an element indicates how many times
an atom of that element is heavier than a C-12 atom.

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 CASE BASED Questions (CBQs)
[ 4 & 5 marks ]

Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow:
3. During Chemistry practicals, Priyanka put 8.3 g of sodium carbonate and
16.0 g of ethanoic acid in a conical flask to test the law of conservation
of mass. She weighed the flask again after the experiment. The residue
in the flask weighed only 24.0 grams. She contacted the teacher,
who instructed her, to conduct the experiment in a corked flask. The
weight of the flask did not change before or after the experiment.
(A) What was the mistake that Priyanka made?
(B) Why were the two weights not equal earlier?
(C) 
What was Priyanka’s key message while she performed the
experiment?
Ans.(A) S
 he made the mistake of performing the experiment in an open flask.
(B  Carbon dioxide is the gas which got escaped as an experiment was
performed in an open flask.
Related Theory
 2CH3COOH + Na2CO3 → 2CH3COONa + H2O + CO2(g)
(C)Priyanka learned that she should not conduct the experiment in an
open container in future to prove the law of conservation of mass,
especially when one or more reactants or products are in the gaseous
form.

VERY SHORT ANSWER Type Questions (VSA)

[ 1 mark ]

4. Calculate the relative formula mass of sodium chloride, NaCl.

[British Council 2022]
Ans. Sodium Chloride's formula has one Sodium atom and Chlorine atom. So,
the molar mass of sodium chloride will be equal to the sum of the molar
masses of these two different atoms.
 he atomic mass of sodium is 22.99g/mol and in the same way, atomic
T
mass of chlorine is 35.45 g/mol.
Therefore, the molar mass of sodium chloride will be the sum of the
molar masses of sodium and chlorine.

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 22.99 + 35.45 = 58.44 g/mol.
So, we can say that one mole of sodium chloride has a mass of 58.44 g.

SHORT ANSWER Type-I Questions (SA-I)

[ 2 marks ]

5. (A) What is an ion? What are cations and anions?

(B) State the law of conservation of mass. [Diksha]
Ans.(A) An ion is a charged particle and can be negatively or
positively charged. A negatively charged ion is called an
‘anion’ and the positively charged ion is called a ‘cation’.
(B) The law of conservation of mass states that mass in an isolated
system can neither be created nor be destroyed by chemical reactions
or physical transformations. According to the law of conservation of
mass, the mass of the products in a chemical reaction must equal to
the mass of reactants.

SHORT ANSWER Type-II Questions (SA-II)

[ 3 marks ]

6. (A) Find the value of y and z in the given table:

Element Atomic Mass Molecular Mass Atomicity

Carbon 12 y 1
Oxygen 16 32 2
Sulphur 32 256 8
Chlorine z 71 2

(B) What are molecules made up of ?

(C) Why is oxygen called a diatomic molecule whereas sulphur is
called a polyatomic molecule?
Ans.(A) We know that,
Molecular mass = atomic mass × atomicity
In case of Carbon:
y = 12 × 1 = 12
In case of Chlorine:
Atomic Mass

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 MolecularMass

= Atomicity

71
z= = 35.5
2

(B) Molecules are made up of one or more atoms of the same element or
different elements that are bound together chemically.
Examples of molecules of the same element– O2, H2, N2, etc.
Examples of molecules of different elements– H2O, CH4, Na2CO3, etc.
The molecules are held together by covalent bonds.
(C) A diatomic molecule contains only 2 atoms. Oxygen gas is written as
O2 and is made up of 2 atoms of oxygen, hence it is called a diatomic
molecule.
 polyatomic molecule contains more than 3 atoms. Sulphur is called
A
polyatomic molecule, because it contains 8 atoms of sulphur and is
written as S8.

LONG ANSWER Type Questions (LA)

[ 4 & 5 marks ]

7. (A) Name and write the formula of positive polyatomic ion.

(B)Write the formula along with valencies of the following ions.
Iron (III) ion, Sulphide ion, Sulphite ion, Sulphate ion, Carbonate ion,
Hydrogen carbonate ion, Nitride ion, Nitrate ion
Ans.(A) Positive Polyatomic ion: NH+4 Ammonium

(B) Iron (III) ion Fe3+

Sulphide ion S2–
2–
Sulphite ion SO3
2–
Sulphate ion SO4
2–
Carbonate ion CO3
–
Hydrogen carbonate ion HCO3
Nitride ion N3–
–
Nitrate ion NO3

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