COURSE: ELECTRONICS & ITS

APPLICATIONS
COURSE CODE: PHY-421
BS 1ST
TOPIC: FORMS OF MATTER &
INTRODUCTION TO ATOMIC STRUCTURE

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
GCWUF
 CONTENTS:
• MATTER
• CATEGORIES OF MATTER (ELEMENT & COMPOUND)
• ATOM
• ATOMIC STRUCTURE
• NUCLEUS AND NUCLEONS.
• ATOMIC NO.
• ATOMIC MASS
• ELECTRON
• SHELLS & SUBSHELLS
• ELECTRON DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT ATOMS
 MATTER

• MATTER IS DEFINED AS ANYTHING THAT HAS MASS AND

TAKES UP SPACE (IT HAS VOLUME).
• IT'S IMPORTANT FOR SCIENTISTS TO KNOW THE PROPERTIES
OF MATTER BECAUSE ALL THINGS ARE MADE UP OF MATTER.
SCIENTISTS NEED TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THESE
CHARACTERISTICS TO MAKE CALCULATIONS.
• THE PROPERTIES OF MATTER INCLUDE ANY TRAITS THAT
CAN BE MEASURED, SUCH AS AN OBJECT'S DENSITY, COLOUR,
MASS, VOLUME, LENGTH, MALLEABILITY, MELTING POINT,
HARDNESS, ODOUR, TEMPERATURE, AND MORE.
• MATTER CAN BE BROKEN DOWN INTO TWO CATEGORIES:
• PURE SUBSTANCES AND MIXTURES.
• PURE SUBSTANCES ARE FURTHER BROKEN DOWN INTO:
ELEMENTS AND COMPOUNDS.
• MIXTURES ARE PHYSICALLY COMBINED STRUCTURES
THAT CAN BE SEPARATED INTO THEIR ORIGINAL
COMPONENTS.
• THERE IS TABULAR FORM REPRESENTATION ABOUT
ELEMENTS AND COMPOUNDS .
Sl. Differentiatin Element Compound
No. g Property
1 Definition Elements are pure Compound are substances
substances which are which are formed by two
composed of only one or more different types of
type of atom. elements that are united
chemically in fixed
proportions.
2 Total There are nearly 118 Compounds are almost
Numbers elements (at present) of endless.
which nearly 94 occur
naturally on Earth.
3 Types Elements are classified as Compounds are classified
either metals, nonmetals according to their bonds
or metalloids. which can be ionic,
molecular or metallic.
4 Examples Some of the examples of A few examples of
elements are Iron, Copper, compounds are NaOH, NaCl,
Gold, etc. etc.

5 Representation Elements are represented Compounds are represented

by symbols and numbers. by their chemical formula. For
For example, Sodium is example, salt is represented
represented by Na. by the formula NaCl.

6 Distinguished Elements can be Distinguished by their fixed

By distinguished by their ratio of different elements
atomic number. (arranged in a defined
manner).
7 Composition and As only one type of In the case of
Property atoms makes up an compounds, the same
element, all the type of molecules
properties of that atom makes up the
are represented by its compound.
atom.

8 Ability to Elements cannot be Compounds can be

Breakdown broken down by easily separated into
chemical reactions. simpler substances by
chemical reactions.
 ATOM:
• ATOMS ARE THE BASIC UNITS OF MATTER AND THE DEFINING
STRUCTURE OF ELEMENTS.
• THE TERM "ATOM" COMES FROM THE GREEK WORD FOR
INDIVISIBLE, BECAUSE IT WAS ONCE THOUGHT THAT ATOMS
WERE THE SMALLEST THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE AND COULD
NOT BE DIVIDED.
• WE NOW KNOW THAT ATOMS ARE MADE UP OF THREE
PARTICLES: PROTONS, NEUTRONS AND ELECTRONS — WHICH
ARE COMPOSED OF EVEN SMALLER PARTICLES, SUCH
AS QUARKS.
• THE ATOMS OF MOST ELEMENTS CAN NOT EXIST BY
THEMSELVES, HENCE THEY GENERALLY COMBINE TO FORM
 ATOMIC
STRUCTURE:
• OUR PRESENT PLANETARY ATOMIC MODEL
WAS PROPOSED BY NEILS BOHR IN 1913.
• ATOMIC STRUCTURE REFERS TO THE
STRUCTURE COMPRISING OF
A NUCLEUS (CENTER) IN WHICH
THE PROTONS (POSITIVELY CHARGED)
AND NEUTRONS (NEUTRAL) ARE PRESENT.
• NEUTRONS ARE ELECTRICALLY NEUTRAL
HOWEVER THEY ARE AS HEAVY AS THAT OF
PROTONS AND EACH IS ABOUT 1840 TIMES
HEAVIER THAN AN ELECTRON.
• THE NEGATIVELY CHARGED PARTICLES
CALLED ELECTRONS REVOLVE AROUND
THE CENTER OF THE NUCLEUS.
 NUCLEU
S:
• NUCLEUS IS THE MASSIVE, POSITIVELY CHARGED CENTRAL PART OF AN
ATOM, MADE UP OF PROTONS AND NEUTRONS.
• PROTONS AND NEUTRONS HAVE APPROXIMATELY THE SAME MASS, ABOUT
1.67 × 10-24 GRAMS, WHICH SCIENTISTS DEFINE AS ONE ATOMIC MASS UNIT
(AMU) OR ONE DALTON.
• BUT PROTONS CARRY ONE UNIT OF POSITIVE CHARGE (+E) AND
NEUTRONS CARRY NO CHARGE.
• THESE PARTICLES ARE PACKED TOGETHER INTO AN EXTREMELY SMALL
SPACE AT THE CENTER OF AN ATOM.
• ACCORDING TO SCATTERING EXPERIMENTS, THE NUCLEUS IS SPHERICAL
OR ELLIPSOIDAL IN SHAPE.
• PROTONS AND NEUTRONS WITHIN THE NUCLEUS ARE
CALLED NUCLEONS.
 COUNTS OF NUCLEONS:
• THE NUMBER OF PROTONS IN THE NUCLEUS IS GIVEN BY THE ATOMIC
NUMBER, 𝑍 .
• THE NUMBER OF NEUTRONS IN THE NUCLEUS IS THE NEUTRON NUMBER, 𝑁.
• THE TOTAL NUMBER OF NUCLEONS IS THE MASS NUMBER, 𝐴 .
• THESE NUMBERS ARE RELATED BY 𝐴=𝑍+𝑁

• WHERE 𝑋 REPRESENTS THE CHEMICAL ELEMENT, 𝐴 IS THE MASS NUMBER,

AND 𝑍 IS THE ATOMIC NUMBER.
• TWO DIFFERENT FORMS, OR ISOTOPES, OF CARBON ARE SHOWN BELOW:
• CARBON-12: WITH 6 PROTONS AND 6 NEUTRONS AND AN ATOMIC MASS OF
12
• CARBON-14: WITH 6 PROTONS AND 8 NEUTRONS, AND AN ATOMIC MASS OF
14
 ATOMIC NO.

• THE NUMBER OF PROTONS DETERMINES AN ELEMENT’S ATOMIC

NUMBER (Z) AND DISTINGUISHES ONE ELEMENT FROM ANOTHER.
• NEUTRAL ATOMS OF AN ELEMENT CONTAIN AN EQUAL NUMBER OF
PROTONS AND ELECTRONS.
• FOR EXAMPLE, CARBON’S ATOMIC NUMBER (Z) IS 6 BECAUSE IT HAS 6
PROTONS. FOR SILICON , Z=14, FOR COPPER Z= 29, FOR GERMANIUM Z=32.
• THE NUMBER OF NEUTRONS CAN VARY TO PRODUCE ISOTOPES, WHICH
ARE ATOMS OF THE SAME ELEMENT THAT HAVE DIFFERENT NUMBERS OF
NEUTRONS.
• THE NUMBER OF ELECTRONS CAN ALSO BE DIFFERENT IN ATOMS OF THE
SAME ELEMENT, THUS PRODUCING IONS (CHARGED ATOMS). FOR
INSTANCE, IRON, FE, CAN EXIST IN ITS NEUTRAL STATE, OR IN THE +2 AND
+3 IONIC STATES.
 ATOMIC MASS
• IT GIVES THE TOTAL NO OF PROTONS AND NEUTRONS CONTAINED IN
THE NUCLEUS OF AN ATOM.
• PROTONS AND NEUTRONS HAVE APPROXIMATELY THE SAME MASS,
ABOUT 1.67 × 10-24 GRAMS. SCIENTISTS DEFINE THIS AMOUNT OF
MASS AS ONE ATOMIC MASS UNIT (AMU) OR ONE DALTON.
• ALTHOUGH SIMILAR IN MASS, PROTONS ARE POSITIVELY CHARGED,
WHILE NEUTRONS HAVE NO CHARGE. THEREFORE, THE NUMBER OF
NEUTRONS IN AN ATOM CONTRIBUTES SIGNIFICANTLY TO ITS MASS,
BUT NOT TO ITS CHARGE.
• ELECTRONS ARE MUCH SMALLER IN MASS THAN PROTONS,
WEIGHING ONLY 9.11 × 10-28 GRAMS. THEREFORE, THEY DO NOT
CONTRIBUTE MUCH TO AN ELEMENT’S OVERALL ATOMIC MASS.
 ELECTRO
NS:
• ELECTRON, LIGHTEST STABLE SUBATOMIC PARTICLE
KNOWN.
• IT CARRIES A NEGATIVE CHARGE OF 1.602176634 × 10−19
COULOMB, WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE BASIC UNIT OF
ELECTRIC CHARGE.
• THE REST MASS OF THE ELECTRON IS 9.1093837015 × 10−31 KG,
WHICH IS ONLY 1/1,836THE MASS OF A PROTON.
• AN ELECTRON IS THEREFORE CONSIDERED NEARLY
MASSLESS IN COMPARISON WITH A PROTON OR A NEUTRON,
AND THE ELECTRON MASS IS NOT INCLUDED IN
CALCULATING THE MASS NUMBER OF AN ATOM.
• ELECTRONS CONTRIBUTE GREATLY
TO THE ATOM’S CHARGE, AS EACH
ELECTRON HAS A NEGATIVE CHARGE
EQUAL TO THE POSITIVE CHARGE OF
A PROTON.
• SCIENTISTS DEFINE THESE CHARGES
AS “+1” AND “-1. ”
• IN AN UNCHARGED, NEUTRAL ATOM,
THE NUMBER OF ELECTRONS
ORBITING THE NUCLEUS IS EQUAL TO
THE NUMBER OF PROTONS INSIDE
THE NUCLEUS. IN THESE ATOMS, THE
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CHARGES
CANCEL EACH OTHER OUT, LEADING
TO AN ATOM WITH NO NET CHARGE.
 DISTRIBUTION OF
ELECTRONS:
• ELECTRONS ARE NEGATIVELY CHARGED SUBATOMIC PARTICLES ARRANGED
LIKE A CLOUD OF NEGATIVE CHARGES OUTSIDE THE NUCLEUS OF AN ATOM.
• ACCORDING TO THE POSTULATE OF NEILS BOHR, “ELECTRONS REVOLVE
AROUND THE CENTRE OF AN ATOM (NUCLEUS) IN A PREDICTABLE PATHWAY
NAMED “ORBITS”.
• THE REPRESENTATION OF THE ORBITS IS DONE BY LETTERS AND NUMBERS
SUCH AS K, L, M, N, O…. AND 1,2,3,4…. RESPECTIVELY. THE ARRANGEMENT
AND DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRONS IN DIFFERENT ORBITS DEPENDS UPON OF
THEIR ENERGIES IN DIFFERENT ORBITS & WAS GIVEN BY BOHR AND BURY.
• FOR INSTANCE, 1ST ENERGY LEVEL- K SHELL/ORBIT
• 2ND ENERGY LEVEL- L SHELL/ORBIT
• 3RD ENERGY LEVEL- M SHELL/ORBIT AND SO ON.
• THE SHELLS BEGIN FROM THE CENTRE AND GRADUALLY MOVE OUTWARDS.
SO K SHELL WILL ALWAYS HAVE MINIMUM ENERGY. SIMILARLY, L SHELL IS A
LITTLE AWAY FROM NUCLEUS SO IT WILL HAVE HIGHER ENERGY THAN K
SHELL. THE OUTERMOST SHELL WILL HAVE MAXIMUM ENERGY.
• AN ATOM OF ANY ELEMENT IS MOST STABLE WHEN IT HAS MINIMUM
ENERGY. AN ATOM WILL FIRST FILL THE LOWEST ENERGY LEVEL SO AS TO
ATTAIN THE STATE OF MINIMUM ENERGY. GRADUALLY, THE ELECTRONS
WILL FILL THE HIGHER ENERGY LEVELS. THEREFORE, ELECTRONS WILL
FIRST FILL K SHELL, THEN L SHELL, M SHELL, N SHELL, AND SO ON.
 RULES:

• RULE : THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ELECTRONS PRESENT IN A PARTICULAR

SHELL IS CALCULATED BY THE FORMULA 2N 2, WHERE “N” REPRESENTS THE
SHELL NUMBER. FOR INSTANCE, K SHELL IS THE FIRST SHELL AND IT CAN
HOLD UP TO 2(1)2 = 2 ELECTRONS. SIMILARLY, L SHELL IS THE SECOND SHELL
AND IT CAN HOLD UP TO 2(2)2 = 8 ELECTRONS. THIS FORMULA HELPS TO
CALCULATE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ELECTRONS THAT AN ORBIT CAN
ACCOMMODATE.
• RULE : THE MAXIMUM NO OF ELECTRONS IN THE OUTERMOST SHELL OF THE
ATOM CANT EXCEED 8. , AND JUST PRIOR TO OUTERMOST SHELL CANT EXCEED
18.
• RULE : THE ELECTRONS WILL FILL THE INNER SHELLS BEFORE THE OUTER
SHELLS. FIRST ELECTRONS WILL FILL THE K-SHELL AND THEN L SHELL AND SO
ON. THUS, ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION OF ELEMENTS FOLLOWS AN
ASCENDING ORDER.
• EACH ELECTRONIC ORBIT IS ASSOCIATED WITH A CERTAIN
DEFINITE AMOUNT OF ENERGY. WHILE REVOLVING IN
THESE PERMITTED ORBITS , AN ELECTRON DOES NOT
RADIATE ANY ENERGY . IT DOES RADIATE OUT SOME
ENERGY WHEN JUMPS FROM ONE ORBIT TO THE OTHER.
• IF E1 AND E2 ARE THE ENERGIES CORRESPONDING TO TWO
ORBITS BEFORE N AFTER THE JUMP, FREQUENCY OF
EMITTED RADIATION IS GIVEN BY :
• E2 – E1 = HF
• WHERE H= PLANK’S CONSTANT (= 6.63× 10 ˆ -34 J-S
Electron distribution of different
atoms:
 ELECTRON
SUBSHELLS:
• ELECTRONS ARE PLACED INTO AVAILABLE SHELLS, STARTING WITH THE LOWEST
ENERGY LEVEL. EACH SHELL MUST BE FULL BEFORE THE NEXT STARTS TO FILL.
THIS MODEL BREAKS DOWN AT THE N=3 SHELL BECAUSE EACH SHELL HAS
SUBSHELLS.
• A SUBSHELL IS A SUBDIVISION OF ELECTRON SHELLS .
• SUBSHELLS ARE LABELLED AS S, P, D, AND F IN
AN ELECTRON CONFIGURATION. EACH SUBSHELL CAN HOLD A DIFFERENT
NUMBER OF ELECTRONS.
SubShell Electrons
s 2
p 6
d 10
f 14
 ELECTRONIC
CONFIGURATION:
• THE ARRANGEMENT OF ELECTRONS IN DIFFERENT SHELLS AND SUB-
SHELLS IS KNOWN AS THE ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION OF A
PARTICULAR ELEMENT.
• THERE ARE A SET OF RULES TO REMEMBER WHILE DISTRIBUTION
OFF ELECTRONS IN DIFFERENT ORBITS.
• IT FOLLOWS A STANDARD NOTATION IN WHICH ALL ELECTRON-
CONTAINING ATOMIC SUBSHELLS (WITH THE NUMBER OF
ELECTRONS THEY HOLD WRITTEN IN SUPERSCRIPT) ARE PLACED IN
A SEQUENCE.
• FOR EXAMPLE, THE ELECTRON CONFIGURATION OF
• HELIUM WILL BE 1S2 .

• LITHIUM WILL BE 1S22S1 OR

[HE] 2S1
• OXYGEN WILL BE 1S22S22P4 OR
[HE] 2S²2P⁴.
• NEON WILL BE 1S22S22P6 OR [HE] 2S²2P⁶
• SODIUM WILL BE 1S22S22P63S1. OR [NE] 3S¹
• HOWEVER, THE STANDARD NOTATION OFTEN YIELDS LENGTHY ELECTRON
CONFIGURATIONS (ESPECIALLY FOR ELEMENTS HAVING A RELATIVELY
LARGE ATOMIC NUMBER). IN SUCH CASES, AN ABBREVIATED OR CONDENSED
NOTATION MAY BE USED INSTEAD OF THE STANDARD NOTATION. IN THE
ABBREVIATED NOTATION, THE SEQUENCE OF COMPLETELY FILLED
SUBSHELLS THAT CORRESPOND TO THE ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION OF A
NOBLE GAS IS REPLACED WITH THE SYMBOL OF THAT NOBLE GAS IN
SQUARE BRACKETS.
 RULES :
• THE THREE RULES THAT DICTATE THE MANNER IN WHICH ELECTRONS ARE
FILLED IN ATOMIC ORBITALS ARE:
• THE AUFBAU PRINCIPLE: ELECTRONS MUST COMPLETELY FILL THE ATOMIC
ORBITALS OF A GIVEN ENERGY LEVEL BEFORE OCCUPYING AN ORBITAL
ASSOCIATED WITH A HIGHER ENERGY LEVEL. ELECTRONS OCCUPY ORBITALS
IN THE INCREASING ORDER OF ORBITAL ENERGY LEVEL.
• PAULI’S EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE: STATES THAT NO TWO ELECTRONS CAN HAVE
EQUAL VALUES FOR ALL FOUR QUANTUM NUMBERS. CONSEQUENTLY, EACH
SUBSHELL OF AN ORBITAL CAN ACCOMMODATE A MAXIMUM OF 2 ELECTRONS
AND BOTH THESE ELECTRONS MUST HAVE OPPOSITE SPINS.
• HUND’S RULE OF MAXIMUM MULTIPLICITY: ALL THE SUBSHELLS IN AN ORBITAL
MUST BE SINGLY OCCUPIED BEFORE ANY SUBSHELL IS DOUBLY OCCUPIED.
FURTHERMORE, THE SPIN OF ALL THE ELECTRONS IN THE SINGLY OCCUPIED
SUBSHELLS MUST BE THE SAME (IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE THE OVERALL SPIN).
 ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATIONS ARE USEFUL
FOR:

• ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE

CHEMICAL BEHAVIOUR OF ELEMENTS BY HELPING DETERMINE
THE VALENCE ELECTRONS OF AN ATOM.
• PREDICTING THE PROPERTIES OF A GROUP OF ELEMENTS
(ELEMENTS WITH SIMILAR ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS TEND
TO EXHIBIT SIMILAR PROPERTIES). IT HELPS CLASSIFY
ELEMENTS INTO DIFFERENT BLOCKS (SUCH AS THE S-BLOCK
ELEMENTS, THE P-BLOCK ELEMENTS, THE D-BLOCK ELEMENTS,
AND THE F-BLOCK ELEMENTS).
• DETERMINING THE VALENCY OF AN ELEMENT.
 ELECTRON CONFIGURATION OF OXYGEN

• THE ATOMIC NUMBER OF OXYGEN IS 8, IMPLYING THAT AN OXYGEN ATOM

HOLDS 8 ELECTRONS. ITS ELECTRONS ARE FILLED IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER:
• K SHELL – 2 ELECTRONS L SHELL – 6 ELECTRONS
• THEREFORE, THE ELECTRON CONFIGURATION OF OXYGEN IS 1S2 2S2 2P4, AS
SHOWN IN THE ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BELOW:
 REFERENC
ES:

• BASIC ELECTRONICS BY B.L. THERAJA.

• BASIC ELECTRONICS BY B. GROBS.
• ELECTRONICS FUNDAMENTALS BY T.L. FLOYD
• HTTPS://BYJUS.COM/CHEMISTRY/DIFFERENCE-BETWEEN-ELEMENT-AND-
COMPOUND
• HTTPS://REVISIONSCIENCE.COM/A2-LEVEL-LEVEL-REVISION/CHEMISTRY-LEVEL-
REVISION/ATOMIC-STRUCTURE-BONDING-PERIODICITY/SHELLS-AND-SUBSHELLS