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Atomic Structure and Isotopes Notes

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Atomic Structure and Isotopes Notes

Uploaded by

yanny280906
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Atoms and reactions

Atomic structure and isotopes


Basic chemistry definitions
Atoms- the building blocks of all matter, made from protons,
neutrons, and electrons. Atoms have no overall charge

Ion- an atom or group of atoms with an overall charge


● Atoms become ions because the loss or gain of electrons
can provide electronic stability by creating a full outer energy level (the number of
protons and neutrons does NOT change)

Proton- a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of the atom with a relative mass of 1 and a
relative charge of +1

Neutron- a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of the atom with a relative mass of 1 and a
relative charge of 0

Electron- a subatomic particle found in the energy levels/shells around the atom, with a relative
atomic mass of 1/1836, and relative charge of -1

Atomic number- number of protons in the atom

Mass number- the number of protons + the number of neutrons in the atom

Isotope- atoms of the same element containing different numbers of neutrons


Isotopes have the same chemical properties and same physical properties, but different masses

Element- a substance containing only one type of atom

Molecule- a small group of covalently bonded atoms

Compound- a substance containing more than one type of atom which are chemically
combined

Mixture- a substance containing more than one type of element or compound which are not
chemically combined

Common chemical formulae:


● Ammonia- NH3
● Ammonium hydroxide- NH4OH
● Sodium hydroxide- NaOH
● Potassium hydroxide- KOH
● Calcium hydroxide- Ca(OH)2
● Sodium carbonate- Na2CO3
● Calcium carbonate- CaCO3
● Magnesium carbonate- MgCO3
● Nitric acid- HNO3
● Sulphuric acid- H2SO4

Polyatomic- many atoms in the ion

Formulae for ionic compounds;


★ Carbonate ion- CO3^2-
★ Sulfate ion- SO4^2-
★ Nitrate- NO3^-
★ Phosphate- PO4^3-
★ Ammonium- NH4^+
★ Hydroxide- OH-
★ Cyanide- CN-
★ Hydronium- H3O+

Atomic structure
Subatomic particles- particles that make up an atom

● The nucleus is located in the centre of the atom, made up of protons and neutrons
● The area outside of the nucleus comprises of shells/energy levels, and contain electrons
● Atoms must have the same number of protons and electrons to balance the charge
● The number of protons (atomic number) tells you which atom it is, as each atom has
a different number of protons.
● The mass number is the number of protons and neutrons present
● The difference between the two numbers gives you the number of neutrons
● The number of shells/energy levels an atom has tells you its period number (row it is
in)
● The number of electrons in the outer shell of an atom tells you its group (column)
number

Compounds, formulae, and equations


Relative atomic and isotopic mass
● The mass number for each element on the periodic table actually refers to its relative
atomic mass
● These can be decimals due to the presence of different forms of each atom (isotopes)
● These different forms have different numbers of neutrons, and so different mass
numbers
● The relative atomic mass is a weighted mean mass (a weighted average)
● This means a mean of the mass of the isotopes, taking into account the percentage
abundance of each
● The units of relative atomic mass are gmol^-1
Formula for relative isotopic mass- (mass of isotope x %abundance) + (mass of isotope x
%abundance)/100

★ It is relative atomic/isotopic mass, as the masses are measured relative to that of 1/12 of
the mass of an atom of carbon-12
★ Atomic mass is measured using atomic mass units (u for short)
★ u is the mass of a proton or a neutron

Relative atomic mass- weighted mean mass of an atom compared to 1/12 of the mass of an
atom of carbon-12

Relative isotopic mass- mass of an isotope of an atom compared to 1/12 the mass of an atom
of carbon-12

Relative molecular and formula mass


Molecule- a group of two or more atoms held together by covalent bonds

● Relative molecular mass all to do with the total mass of


what the compound is made up of, so is calculated by
adding up the relative atomic masses of the atoms
involved
● Ionic substances aren’t molecules, so we can’t use the
term relative molecular mass
● In molecules there are a fixed amount of atoms, whereas ionic lattices can expand to
any size, so we can’t count up the atoms present
● We use formula unit instead (simple ratio of atoms to each other)
● All relative masses have same units (gmol^-1)

Relative molecular mass (Mr)- the weighted mean (to take into account the existence of
isotopes) mass of a molecule compared to 1/12 of the mass of an atom of carbon-12

Relative formula mass (Mr)- the weighted mean mass of a formula unit compared to 1/12 of
the mass of an atom of carbon-12

★ Relative formula mass can be used for both ionic and covalent, unlike Relative Molecular
Mass

Determination of Relative Atomic Mass by Mass Spectrometry


● Mass spectrometry can be used for elements and compounds

★ Elements are composed of isotopes (same number of protons, different number of


neutrons)
★ This means different isotopes have the same chemical properties, but different physical
properties, resulting in differing masses
● Mass spectrometry can tell you the isotopic composition of an element
(what percentage is green or red), as well as its relative atomic mass

★ Inside the mass spectrometer, once the sample (i.e an isotope) enters, it is
bombarded with electrons from an ‘electron gun’.
★ This is done to knock out one electron from the sample to produce a
positive ion.
★ The positive 1+ ion is what’s measured by the mass spectrometer, and
needs the positive charge so that it can be accelerated, and eventually
detected by the mass spectrometer
★ The mass spectrometer measures mass:charge ratio
★ So it measures the mass of the sample, and divides it by its 1+ charge
★ The mass of the ion is virtually identical to the mass of the atom on account of only
losing an electron, which has negligible mass
★ When we divide mass by charge, we simply get the original mass number, as we are
only dividing by 1
★ So we can work out the mass of the original sample from the mass of its ion

● On a mass spectrum graph, that sample would be represented as


a peak at m/z of the sample, and if there are multiple isotopes in
the sample, there would be a peak at each m/z for the isotopes
● The y axis of the mass spectrum graph is relative abundance, the
x being m/z
● The greater the abundance of an element, the higher the peak
and vice-versa
● The peaks on the graph show the isotopic composition of the sample

★ To work out relative isotopic mass from raw data, the equation is- (no. of particles x
mass) + (no. of particles x mass) / total number of particles

★ For normal R.A.M questions, the equation is: (mass x abundance) + (mass x
abundance)/100
★
Calculating the % abundance of isotopes from the relative atomic mass
● R.A.M is like a tug of war.
● If both isotopes are present in equal amounts (pulling equally hard)
then the R.A.M would be in the middle
● As the R.A.M in the example is closer to 11, we can tell that B-11 is
more abundant
● To calculate the abundance of the isotopes, work out the difference
between them in terms of mass
● Then work out the difference between each isotope’s mass and the R.A.M
● For working out the more abundant isotope, do the difference between its mass and the
R.A.M over the overall difference in mass, then times by 100
● For working out the less abundant isotope, remainder of the difference between the
more abundant mass and the RAM /the overall difference, then timesed by 100

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