Unit 4: The Discovery and Synthesis

of Chemical Elements
Topics under this unit:
• The Classical Elements
• John Dalton and the Concept of Chemical
Elements
• The Atomic Number and the Synthesis of New
Elements
• The Nuclear Reactions Involved in the Synthesis
of New Elements
The Classical Elements
At the end of the lesson, you should
be able to:
• describe the ideas of the Ancient Greeks on the
elements; and
• describe the contributions of the alchemists to
the science of chemistry.
The Classical Elements
• Greek philosophers were the first
set of people who became curious
on matter and materials.
• Leucippus and Democritus
established the philosophy of
atomism which believes that
materials are made up of smaller,
indivisible things called atoms,
from the Greek word atomos
meaning "uncuttable".
 Principles of Atomism
• Atoms had few innate properties
(size, shape, order, and
position) which are the same in
similar materials and do not
change over time.
• The sizes, shapes and masses
of atoms affect the properties of
and characteristics of the things
they make up.
• Changes in materials are results
of atoms hitting and colliding
with each other in the void.
Other Greek Philosophies
• Some of them believed that materials
are made up of nature elements.

Anaximenes thought that it was air

Heraclitus supposed it was fire
Thales believed that it was water
Xenophanes assumed it was earth.
Other Greek Philosophies
• Empedocles proposed that everything is made
up of fire, earth, air, and water, which he called
as primordial substances or roots.
 Other Greek Philosophies
• Plato first used the term element which he treated
geometrically and named Platonic solids.
 Other Greek Philosophies
• Aristotle, a student of Plato, described each element as
a balance between two qualities.
Alchemy
• Alchemy is a philosophy practiced
throughout Egypt and Eurasia which
aimed to purify and perfect materials
through transmutation.
• Early Mesopotamians were able to
utilize gold, copper, dyes, paints and
perfumes.
• Chinese and Indian civilizations focused
on substances in plants that can be of
medical use.
Alchemy
• Persian alchemist Abu Musa Jabir Ibn
Hayyan proposed that two philosophical
elements, sulfur and mercury, must be
added to the four classical elements.
Alchemy
• Swiss alchemist Paracelsus noted that to
maintain good health, tria prima which is
composed of mercury, sulfur, and salt must
be balanced.
Alchemy
 Summary
• Atomism was one of the theories the ancient Greek natural
philosophers devised to explain the universe.
• Even though ancient people were not aware of the existence of
atoms and how it can explain properties of matter, they were still
able to deal with the practical aspects of different materials.
• Alchemy is a philosophy practiced throughout Egypt and
Eurasia which aimed to purify and perfect materials through
transmutation.
• Alchemy contributed to the vast uses of chemicals such as inks,
paints, and cosmetics.
John Dalton and the
Concept of Chemical
Elements
At the end of the lesson, you should
be able to:
• point out the main ideas in the discovery of the
structure of the atom and its subatomic particles;
• cite the contribution of John Dalton toward the
understanding of the concept of the chemical
elements; and
• explain how Dalton’s theory contributed to the
discovery of other elements.
The Concept of Atoms
• It all started when Leucippus and
Democritus had theorized that
everything was made up of tiny
particles called atomos.
• Isaac Newton used the concept of
particles to describe his own theory
of light in the 17th century.
• John Dalton made the very first
scientific theory of atoms, where
he considered it as hard spheres
or billiard balls.
Chemical Laws
• Antoine Lavoisier formulated the law of
conservation of mass which states that, in an
isolated system, mass could neither be created
nor destroyed.
Chemical Laws
• Joseph Proust published his law of definite
proportions which states that a chemical
compound is formed by elements in fixed mass
ratios.
Chemical Laws
• John Dalton expanded the works of Proust to
establish the law of multiple proportions which
states that when two or more elements can form
multiple combinations, the ratio of the elements
in those compounds can be expressed in small,
whole numbers.
Dalton's Atomic Theory
• Dalton used his own set of
symbols in presenting his
atomic theory.
Chemical Elements
• Dalton’s system of naming elements and
compounds was then replaced with the chemical
symbols and formulae by Jons Berzelius.
 Chemical Elements
• By seeking a way to “weigh”
atoms, Dalton’s research initiated
the progress of modern science.
 Summary
• Democritus suggested the existence of the atom; but it took
two millennia before John Dalton placed a solid foothold to it as
a fundamental chemical object.
• Dalton’s atomic theory proposed that all matter was composed
of atoms, indivisible and indestructible building blocks.
• While all atoms of an element were identical, different elements
had atoms of differing size and mass.
• Dalton’s system of naming elements and compounds was then
replaced with the chemical symbols and formulae by Jons
Berzelius.
The Atomic Number
and the Synthesis of
New Elements
At the end of the lesson, you should
be able to:
• explain how the concept of atomic number led to
the synthesis of new elements in the laboratory.
Henry Moseley and the Atomic Number
• In early 1900s, various atomic
theories come about one by
one, detesting Dalton’s hard
sphere model.
 JJ Thomson’s plum pudding
model after his discovery of
the electrons
 Ernest Rutherford
discovered the nucleus and
the protons and presented
the nuclear model.
Henry Moseley and the Atomic Number
• Dmitri
Ivanovich
Mendeleev
was trying to
figure out the
periodic table
and arranged
the elements
in increasing
atomic mass.
Dmitri Mendeleev’s Periodic Table
Henry Moseley and the Atomic Number
• Henry Gwyn Jeffreys
Moseley figured out
that the elements
should be arranged
based on the atomic
number instead of the
atomic mass.
• He bombarded a beam
of electrons to different
elements and
measured their X-ray
spectral lines.
Synthesis of New Elements
• When the elements were
arranged according to their
atomic numbers, there were
four gaps in the table
corresponding to the atomic
numbers 43, 61, 85, and 87.
• These were synthesized later
on via nuclear transmutation
reaction which involve the
transformation of one element
or isotope into another element.
Synthesis of New Elements
• In 1919, Rutherford successfully
carried out the first nuclear
transmutation reaction.

• Bombardments are usually

done by a particle accelerator
which is used to speed up
particles and overcome the
repulsion between the particles
and the target atomic nuclei.
Synthesis of New Elements
• In 1937, American physicist Ernest Lawrence
synthesized element with atomic number 43 using
a linear particle accelerator.
Synthesis of New Elements
• In 1940, Dale Corson, Kenneth
Mackenzie, and Emilio Segre discovered
element with atomic number 85.
Synthesis of New Elements
• The two other elements with
atomic numbers 61 and 87 were
discovered through studies in
radioactivity.

 Element-61 (promethium) was

discovered as a decay product of
the fission of uranium.
 Element-87 (francium) was
discovered as a breakdown
product of actinium.
 Summary

• Atomic number, Z, is the number of protons in an atom.

• Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley discovered that the periodic
table of elements should be arranged based on its atomic
number.
• A particle accelerator is used to synthesize new elements.
• A cyclotron is a particle accelerator that uses alternating
electric field to accelerate particles that move in a spiral path in
the presence of a magnetic field.
The Nuclear Reactions
Involved in the
Synthesis of New
Elements
At the end of the lesson, you should
be able to:
• write the nuclear reactions involved in the
synthesis of new elements.
Nuclear Transmutation
• A nuclear transmutation is the
conversion of one chemical element
or an isotope to another.
• Any process that involves the change
in the number or protons and/or
neutrons in the atoms is considered a
nuclear transmutation.
• It occurs only on special conditions
such as the collision of the target
nuclei with a beam of particles with
high energies.
Nuclear Transmutation
• Nuclear transmutation
can occur in two ways:
• A nuclear reaction is a
process wherein two
nuclei collide to produce
new nuclei.
Nuclear Transmutation
• Nuclear decay reaction, also known as radioactive
decay, is a reaction in which the nucleus emits radiation
and transforms into a new nucleus.
Types of Radioactive Decay
• The alpha decay is a reaction that
emits helium-4 nucleus or alpha
particle.

• This decay produces a daughter

nucleus with an atomic number reduced
by two, and a mass number reduced by
four compared with the parent nucleus.
• Most nuclei with mass numbers greater
than 200 undergo this type of decay.
Types of Radioactive Decay
• In beta decay, a neutron is converted
into a proton and emits an electron in
the form of a beta particle.

• The atomic number of the nucleus

increases by one while its mass number
remains the same.
Transuranium Elements
• Transuranium elements are
elements whose atomic numbers are
greater than 92.
• They are synthesized in the
laboratory through nuclear
transmutation.
• Many of the transuranium elements
were prepared using particle
accelerators.