TODAYS LECTURE

Radioactivity
Electronic Structure of Atoms
Periodic Tables
Properties and Important Groups

RADIOACTIVITY
In 1896 the French scientist Henri Becquerel (18521908)
discovered that a compound of uranium spontaneously emits highenergy radiation. This spontaneous emission of radiation is called
radioactivity
Further study of radioactivity, principally by the British scientist
Ernest Rutherford,
revealed three types of radiation: alpha,beta,and gamma.

The alpha particles have a

ATOMIC ,MASS NUMBER & ISOTOPES

Atoms with identical atomic numbers but different mass numbers

(that is, same number of protons but different numbers of
neutrons) are called isotopes of one another. Several isotopes of
carbon are listed in

A mass spectrometer. Cl atoms are introduced at A and are ionized to form

Cl+ions, which are then directed through a magnetic field. The paths of the
ions of the two Cl isotopes diverge as they pass through the field. Mass
spectrum of atomic chlorine. The fractional abundances of the isotopes 35Cl
37

IONS AND IONIC STRUCTURE

In general, metal atoms tend to lose electrons to form cations and

nonmetal atoms tend to gain electrons to form anions. Thus, ionic
compounds tend to be composed of metals bonded with nonmetals, as in
NaCl.

We can often tell whether a compound is ionic (consisting of ions) or

molecular (consisting of molecules) from its composition. In general, cations
are metal ions and anions are nonmetal ions. Consequently, ionic
compounds are generally combinations of metals and nonmetals, as in
NaCl. In contrast, molecular compounds are generally composed of

ATOMIC STRUCTURE:
Historical perspective
Atomic spectra
Bunsen, Kirchhoff,Quantum theory
1860
Plank,1900
1st spectroscope
1st line spectrum

Lockyer, 1868

Black body
radiation

He in solar system

Balmer,1885

Einstein, 1905

Photoelectric
effect

Atomic structure
Dalton, 1803

atomic nature

Electricity & Mag.

Thompson, 1807

electrons e/m

Millikan, 1911

oil drop

H line spectrum

Faraday, 1834

Rutherford, 1911

gold foil/nucleus

Bohr, 1913

Applied to
atom structure
Quantum giants. Niels Bohr (right) with Albert
Einstein.
Bohr
(18851962)
made
major
contributions to the
quantum theory and was

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF ATOMS

Louis de Broglie (18921987) suggested that an electron
moving about the nucleus of an atom behaves like a wave and
therefore has a wavelength
In 1926 the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrdinger (18871961) proposed an
equation,
now known as Schrdingers wave equation, that incorporates both the
wave-like and
particle-like
The solution
to Schrdingers
equation for the hydrogen atom
behaviors
of the electron
yields a set of wave functions called orbitals. Each orbital has
a characteristic shape and energy
Note that an
orbital(quantum
mechanical model, which
describes electrons in terms
of probabilities, visualized
as
electron clouds) is not the
same as an orbit(the Bohr
model, which visualizes the

Electron configurations

1:The principal quantum number, n

2. The second quantum numberthe
angular momentum quantum
number, l
3:The magnetic quantum
number, ml

Basis of the periodic table!!

We fill orbitals in increasing order of

energy.
Different blocks on the periodic table,

The Periodic Table

Many of the elements that lie

along the line that separates
metals from nonmetal have
properties that fall between
those of metals and nonmetals.
These elements are often

Periodic Trends
Sizes of atoms and ions.
Ionization energy.
Electron affinity.

Sizes of Atoms
Bonding atomic radius tends to

decrease from left

to right across a
row
due to increasing Zeff.

increase from top

to bottom of a
column
due to increasing
value of n

Ionization Energy
Amount of energy required to
remove an electron from the ground
state of a gaseous atom or ion.
First ionization energy is that energy
required to remove first electron.
Second ionization energy is that energy
required to remove second electron, etc.

Ionization Energy
It requires more energy to remove each
successive electron.
When all valence electrons have been
removed, the ionization energy takes a
quantum leap.

Trends in First Ionization

Energies

As one goes down

a column, less
energy is required
to remove the first
electron.
For atoms in the
same group, Zeff is
essentially the
same, but the
valence electrons
are farther from the
nucleus.

Electron Affinity
Energy change accompanying addition
of electron to gaseous atom:

Trends in Electron Affinity

In general,
electron affinity
becomes more
exothermic as you
go from left to
right across a row.

Electronegativity

Electronegativity is the ability an atom to attract other electrons. Atoms

that have high electronegativities will attract more electrons and may even
steal from other atoms. Atoms with low electronegativities will share the
most, sometimes to the point of losing their own electrons.

Periodic Table
Trends

Alkali Metals
Soft, metallic
solids.
Name comes from
Arabic word for
ashes.

Alkali Metals
Found only as compounds in nature.
Have low densities and melting points.
Also have low ionization energies.

Alkali Metals

Their reactions with water are famously

exothermic.

Alkali Metals
Alkali metals (except Li) react with
oxygen to form peroxides.
K, Rb, and Cs also form superoxides:
K + O2
KO2
Produce bright colors when placed in
flame.

Placed in a flame, ions of

each alkali metal emit light of
a characteristic wavelength

TRANSITION METALS

A transition metal is one which forms one or more stable

ions which have incompletely filled d orbitals.
The 38 elements in groups 3 through 12 of the periodic
table are called "transition metals".
The interesting thing about transition metals is that their
valence electrons, or the electrons they use to combine
with other elements, are present in more than one shell.
This is the reason why they often exhibit several common
oxidation states.

Vanadium metal (center) and in

solution as V2+(aq), V3+(aq), VO2+
(aq), and VO2+(aq), (left to right).

TRANSITION METALS:
Physical Properties
The transition elements include the important metals iron, copper and
silver. Iron and titanium are the most abundant transition elements. Many
catalysts for industrial reactions involve transition elements.

TRANSITION METALS:
Chemical Properties

TRANSITION METALS APPLICATIONS

Transition
Transition Elements
Elements

Inner Transition Elements

There are two series of inner transition elements.

The first series, from cerium to lutetium, is
called the lanthanides.
The second series of elements, from thorium
to lawrencium, is called the actinides.

Transition
Transition Elements
Elements

The Lanthanides

The lanthanides are soft metals that can be

cut with a knife.
The elements are so similar that they are hard
to separate when they occur in the same ore,
which they often do.
Despite the name rare earth, the lanthanides
are not as rare as originally thought.
Cerium makes up 50 percent of an alloy
called misch (MIHSH) metal.
Flints in lighters are made from misch metal.

Transition
Transition Elements
Elements

The Actinides

All the actinides are radioactive.

The nuclei of atoms of radioactive elements
are unstable and decay to form other elements.
Thorium, protactinium, and uranium are the
only actinides that now are found naturally
on Earth.
Uranium is found in Earths crust because its
half-life is long4.5 billion years.

Transition
Transition Elements
Elements

The Actinides

All other actinides are synthetic elements.

Synthetic elements are made in laboratories
and nuclear reactors.
Plutonium is used as a fuel in nuclear power
plants.
Americium is used in some home smoke
detectors.
Californium-252 is used to kill cancer cells.

Alkaline Earth Metals

Have higher densities and melting

points than alkali metals.
Have low ionization energies, but not as
low as alkali metals.

Alkaline Earth Metals

Be does not react
with water, Mg
reacts only with
steam, but others
react readily with
water.
Reactivity tends
to increase as go
down group.

Group 6A

Oxygen, sulfur, and selenium are

nonmetals.
Tellurium is a metalloid.
The radioactive polonium is a metal.

Oxygen
Two allotropes:
O2
O3, ozone

Three anions:
O2, oxide
O22, peroxide
O21, superoxide

Tends to take
electrons from other
elements (oxidation)

Sulfur

Weaker oxidizing
agent than
oxygen.
Most stable
allotrope is S8, a
ringed molecule.

Group VIIA: Halogens

Prototypical nonmetals
Name comes from the Greek halos and
gennao: salt formers

Group VIIA: Halogens

Large, negative
electron affinities
Therefore, tend to
oxidize other elements
easily

React directly with

metals to form metal
halides
Chlorine added to
water supplies to serve
as disinfectant

Group VIIIA: Noble Gases

Astronomical ionization energies

Positive electron affinities
Therefore, relatively unreactive

Monatomic gases

Group VIIIA: Noble Gases

Xe forms three
compounds:
XeF2
XeF4 (at right)
XeF6

Kr forms only one

stable compound:
KrF2

The unstable HArF

was synthesized in

RARE EARTH METALS

Rare earths are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth's crust
that are vital to many modern technologies, including consumer
electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy,
advanced transportation, health care, environmental mitigation,
national defense, and many others
The Japanese call them the seeds of technology. The US
Department of Energy calls them technology metals