Atomic Structure

What is an atom?

• Atom: The smallest unit of matter that retains the

identity of the substance

• First proposed by Democratus

 Bohr’s Model

Nucleus

Electron

Orbit

Energy Levels
 Atomic Structure

Nucleus
Electron Cloud

• Atoms are composed of 2 regions:

• Nucleus: the center of the atom that contains the
mass of the atom
• Electron cloud: region that surrounds the nucleus that
contains most of the space in the atom

There is 3 subatomic particles in an atom

Electron
Proton
Neutron
What’s in the Nucleus?
• The nucleus contains 2 of the 3 subatomic particles:
• Protons: positively charged subatomic particles
• Neutrons: neutrally charged subatomic particles

What’s in the Electron Cloud?

► The 3rd subatomic particle resides outside of the nucleus

in the electron cloud

► Electron: the subatomic particle with a negative

charge and relatively no mass
How do these particles interact?
• Protons and neutrons live compacted in the tiny positively charged
nucleus accounting for most of the mass of the atom

• The negatively charged electrons are small and have a relatively small
mass but occupy a large volume of space outside the nucleus
How do the subatomic particles
balance each other?
• In an atom:
• The number of protons = the number of electrons
• If 20 protons are present in an atom then 20 electrons are there to
balance the overall charge of the atom—atoms are neutral

• The neutrons have no charge; therefore they do not have to equal the
number of protons or electrons
How do we know the number of
subatomic particles in an atom?
• Atomic number: this number indicates the number of protons in an atom
• Ex: Hydrogen’s atomic number is 1
• So hydrogen has 1 proton

• Ex: Carbon’s atomic number is 6

• So carbon has 6 protons
**The number of protons identifies the atom.
Ex. 2 protons = He, 29 protons = Cu

Mass number: the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus

Ex: hydrogen can have a mass of 3.
Since it has 1 proton it must have 2 neutrons
# of neutrons = mass # - atomic #
Determine the number of subatomic particles in
the following:

• Cl has a mass # of 35 and an atomic # of 17

• p+ = 17, no = 18, e- = 17

• K has a mass # of 39 and an atomic # of 19

• P+ = 19, no = 20 e- = 19
 Atomic Symbols
●Show the name of the element, a hyphen, and the
mass number in hyphen notation
sodium-23
●Show the mass number and atomic number in nuclear
symbol form
mass number
23
Na
11
atomic number
 Isotopes?
Which of the following represent isotopes
of the same element? Which element?

234 234 235 238

X X X X
92 93 92 92
Learning Check – Counting

Naturally occurring carbon consists of three isotopes, 12C,

13
C, and 14C. State the number of protons, neutrons, and
electrons in each of these carbon atoms.
12 13 14
C C C
6 6 6

#p+ _______ _______ _______

#no _______ _______ _______
#e- _______ _______ _______
Answers

12 13 14
C C C
6 6 6

#p+ 6 6 6

#no 6 7 8

#e- 6 6 6
 Learning Check

An atom has 14 protons and 20 neutrons.

A. Its atomic number is
1) 14 2) 16 3) 34
B. Its mass number is
1) 14 2) 16 3) 34
C. The element is
1) Si 2) Ca 3) Se
D. Another isotope of this element is
1) 34X 2) 34X 3) 36X
16 14 14
IONS
•IONS are atoms or groups of atoms with a positive or negative charge.
• Taking away an electron from an atom gives a CATION with a
positive charge
• Adding an electron to an atom gives an ANION with a negative
charge.
• To tell the difference between an atom and an ion, look to see if there is a charge
in the superscript! Examples: Na+ Ca+2 I- O-2
Na Ca I O
Forming Cations & Anions

A CATION forms An ANION forms

when an atom loses when an atom
one or more gains one or more
electrons. electrons

Mg --> Mg 2+
+ 2 e- F + e- --> F-
PREDICTING ION CHARGES

In general

•metals (Mg) lose electrons ---> cations

•nonmetals (F) gain electrons ---> anions
Learning Check – Counting

State the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in

each of these ions.
39 + 16 -2 41
K O Ca +2
19 8 20

#p+ ______ ______ _______

#no ______ ______ _______
#e- ______ ______ _______
 One Last Learning Check

Write the nuclear symbol form for the following

atoms or ions:
A. 8 p+, 8 n, 8 e- ___________

B. 17p+, 20n, 17e- ___________

C. 47p+, 60 n, 46 e- ___________
How exactly are the particles arranged?
• Bohr Model of the atom:
Reviewers think this could lead to misconceptions!

All of the
protons and
the neutrons
The 3rd ring
can hold up
to 18 e- The 1st ring can
The 4th ring hold up to 2 e-
and any after The 2nd ring can
can hold up to hold up to 8 e-
32 e-
What does carbon look like?

Mass # = 12 atomic # = 6

6 p and 6 n live in
the nucleus

p+ = 6 no = 6 e- = 6
Development of Atomic Models

Thomson model Rutherford model

In the nineteenth century, Thomson described In the early twentieth century, Rutherford
the atom as a ball of positive charge containing showed that most of an atom's mass is
a number of electrons. concentrated in a small, positively
charged
region called the nucleus.

Bohr model
After Rutherford's discovery, Bohr proposed Quantum mechanical model
that electrons travel in definite orbits around Modern atomic theory described the
the nucleus. electronic structure of the atom as the
probability of finding electrons within
certain regions of space.
The Bohr atomic model

The Bohr model was a one-dimensional model

that used one quantum number to describe the
distribution of electrons in the atom.

This quantum number represents only size of the

orbit, which was described by the n quantum
number.
Schrowdinger's model allowed the electron to occupy
three-dimensional space. It therefore required three
coordinates, or three quantum numbers, to describe
the orbitals in which electrons can be found.
Quantum number
Four numbers are used to describe completely the
movement and trajectories of each electron within
an atom.
Principle Quantum Number “n”

•The principle quantum number (n) indicates the

main energy level occupied by the electron (Size)

•n can have integral values of 1, 2, 3, etc.

MULTIELECTRON ATOMS
Azimuthal Quantum Number

•The angular momentum (or azimuthal) quantum number

(symbolized by “l “) indicates the shape of the orbital
• “l “ can take on integral values from
0 to n -1, for each value of n
Which sublevel does each value of “l”
represent?

P. Number Value of l letter used

n=1 0 s
n=2 0 1 s p
n=3 0 1 2 s p d
n=4 0 1 2 3 s p d f
Magnetic Quantum Number

•The magnetic quantum number (ml)

describes the orientation of the orbital in
space
•It can take on values from “l to –l”

•For example:
•If “l ” is 2 then ml could be 2, 1, 0, -1, -2
Electron Spin Quantum Number
The fourth quantum number: Electron Spin (ms)

ms = +1/2 (spin up) or -1/2 (spin down)

Spin is a fundamental property of electrons, like its charge

and mass.
 5.2

Electron Configurations
•The ways in which electrons are arranged in various
orbitals around the nuclei of atoms are called
electron configurations.

•Three rules—the Aufbau principle,

•Pauli exclusion principle,
•Hund’s rule
tell you how to find the electron configurations of
atoms.
 5.1

Atomic Orbitals
• The numbers and kinds of atomic orbitals depend on the energy sublevel.
Energy Level, n # of sublevels Letter of # of orbitals per # of electrons in Total electrons in
sublevels sublevel each orbital energy level

1 1 s 1 2 2

s 1 2
2 2 8
p 3 6

s 1 2
3 3 p 3 6 18
d 5 10

s 1 2
4 p 3 6
4 32
d 5 10
f 7 14
Aufbau principle
The aufbau principle states that in the ground state states that in the ground state of

an atom or ion, electrons states that in the ground state of an atom or ion,

electrons fill atomic orbitals states that in the ground state of an atom or ion,

electrons fill atomic orbitals of the lowest available energy levels before occupying

higher levels.

The maximum number of electrons in any shell is 2n2, where n is the principal quantum
number. The maximum number of electrons in a subshell (s, p, d or f) is equal to
2(2ℓ+1) where ℓ = 0, 1, 2, 3... Thus these subshells can have a maximum of 2, 6, 10 and
14 electrons respectively. In the ground state the electronic configuration can be built
up by placing electrons in the lowest available orbitals until the total number of
1. Electrons are assigned to orbitals in order of increasing value of (n+ℓ).
electrons added is equal to the atomic number.
2.(ZFor
Ti subshells
= 22) with
1s2 2s2 2p 6
3s2the
3p6same
3d2 4s2value
. of (n+ℓ), electrons are assigned first to
the sub shell with lower n.
Hund’s Rule
Pauli Exclusion Principle
Electron Configuration Practice

• Write a ground state electron configuration for a neutral atom

Ne

37
Electron Configuration Practice

• Write a ground state electron configuration for these ions.

O2-

Na+

38
 The Bohr Model
• Each electron has a fixed energy = an energy level.
• Electrons can jump from one energy level to another.
• Electrons can not be or exist between energy levels.

• A quantum of energy is the amount of energy needed to move an electron

from one energy level to another energy level.

• To move from one level to another, the electron must gain or lose the right
amount of energy.

• The higher the energy level, the far it is from the nucleus.
• Gain energy to move to higher energy levels (away from nucleus)
• Lose energy to move to lower energy levels (closer to nucleus)

39
Bohr Model of Atom
Increasing energy
n=3 of orbits

e- n=2 e-

n=1 e-
e-
e-
e- e- e-

e-
e-
e-
A photon is emitted
with energy E = hf

The Bohr model of the atom, like many ideas in

the history of science, was at first prompted by
and later partially disproved by experimentation.
The degree to which they move from level to level
determines the frequency of light they give off.
 The Bohr Model
• The amount of energy required to go from one energy
level to another is the not same for the electrons.
• Higher energy levels are closer together. This means it
takes less energy to change levels in the higher energy
levels.

• Limitation:
The Bohr model was a great step of the new quantum theory,
but it had its limitations.

1) Works only to single-electron atoms.

2) Could not account for the intensities or the fine structure of
the spectral lines.
3) Could not explain the binding of atoms into molecules.

42
Did you know that an element can be identified by
its emission spectra?

– When atoms absorb energy, electrons move into

higher energy levels. These electrons then lose
energy by emitting light when they return to lower
energy levels.
Mercury Nitrogen

43
Fingerprints
of certain
atoms
 5.3

An Explanation of Atomic Spectra

• In the Bohr model, the lone electron in the hydrogen atom can have only certain
specific energies.

•A quantum of energy in the form of light is emitted when

the electron drops back to a lower energy level.
 5.3

An Explanation of Atomic Spectra

• The three groups of lines in the hydrogen spectrum correspond to the transition of
electrons from higher energy levels to lower energy levels.
Bohr’s Model

47
MULTIELECTRON ATOMS
Characteristic X-Ray
Spectra and Atomic
Number
Shells have letter names:
K shell for n = 1
L shell for n = 2

The atom is most stable in its

ground state.

An electron from higher

shells will fill the inner-shell vacancy at lower energy.

When it occurs in a heavy atom, the radiation emitted is an X-ray.

It has the energy E (X-ray) = Eu − Eℓ.
.

Extension of Bohr Theory to X-rays

http://amptek.com/xrf/
X-rays Mechanism

Decelerating charges give off radiation

X-rays

Mechanism

Decelerating charges give off radiation