Structure of the Atom

The Nucleus

The nucleus is found at the center of the atom. It is the core of the atom. Ninety-nine
percent of the atom's mass is located in this core. Even though the nucleus is very massive, its size
is 100,000 times smaller than the size of the atom. If we are to compare an atom to a football
stadium, the nucleus will just be about the size of a marble. The two main subparticles of the atom
are found in the nucleus. These are the proton and the neutron. Moving around the nucleus are the
electrons.

The Proton

The proton is a positively charged subparticle found in the nucleus of the atom. When
Rutherford fired a stream of positive alpha particles at a thin gold foil, almost all of the alpha
particles passed through the foil, while only a few were deflected and bounced back. This
deflection was due to the encounter between positively charged particles. Protons are positively
charged. They are all identical, regardless of the element in which they are found. The mass of a
proton is 1 amu (atomic mass unit).

The Neutron

It was known that hydrogen has one electron and one proton, and helium has two electrons
and two protons. It was therefore expected that the ratio of the mass of the helium to the mass of
the hydrogen is 2:1. However, it was found that the ratio of their masses in reality is 4:1. So
Rutherford and the other scientists proposed that there must be some other subatomic particles
inside the nucleus of an atom.

James Chadwick, in 1932, bombarded a thin sheet of beryllium with alpha particles.
During the process, a high-energy radiation was emitted by the metal. This emission was not
deflected by either electric or magnetic fields. The rays were similar to gamma rays. Later
experiments showed that the rays consisted of a third type of subatomic particle. Chadwick called
the particles neutrons because they were electrically neutral particles having a mass slightly
greater than that of the proton. They could now explain the mystery of the mass ratio between
helium and hydrogen. Hydrogen has one electron and its nucleus has only one proton, while a
helium atom has two protons and two neutrons in its nucleus. This gives a ratio of 4:1 between
their masses.

Neutrons are electrically neutral. They have no charge. They share the nucleus with the
protons. All of them are identical. Neutrons are slightly more massive than a proton, but their mass
is still considered as 1 amu like the proton.

The Electron
 Revolving rapidly outside the nucleus of an atom are negatively charged particles called
electrons. Each particle has a mass of 1/1836 amu. In an atom, the number of positively charged
protons is equal to the number of negatively charged electrons, so the total charge of an atom is
zero. Thus, the atom is said to be neutral. The exact location of the electrons cannot be known.
Only the likelihood of finding an electron in a particular place can be determined. The space
outside the nucleus is full of fuzzy blurry cloud where an electron is likely to be found. The location
of the electron in the cloud depends on the energy it possesses. An electron with a lower energy
level is located close to the nucleus while that with a higher energy level is located far from the
nucleus.

Each energy level within an atom holds a specific number of electrons; the lowest energy
level which is closest to the nucleus can hold only 2 electrons. The next energy level can hold 8
electrons and the third energy level can hold 18 electrons.

Different elements have different properties. The properties of elements depend on the
number of electrons revolving in the various energy levels of the atom. The chemical properties
of elements depend on the arrangement of the electrons of its atoms. One such chemical property
of elements is their bonding or combining ability. Some elements form bonds easily with other
elements, while some hardly form bonds with other elements. This ability of forming bonds with
other elements has something to do with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus, more
specifically the arrangement of the electrons in the outermost energy level or the level farthest
from the nucleus.

Valence electrons are electrons that located in the outermost electron shell of an atom. These
electrons, being the furthest from the nucleus and thus the least tightly held by the atom, are the electrons
that participate in bonds and reactions. This also means that the number of valence electrons that an
The Development
element of theitsPeriodic
has determines reactivity,Table
electronegativity, and the number of bonds it can form.

The Development of the Periodic Table

Chemists in the 19th century generally agreed about what particles consisted matter. They
agreed that matter consisted of atoms. However, they knew nothing about the structure of the
atoms. Information about the known elements is what they used as guide in arranging the elements
in a table. At that time, the measurements of atomic masses of many elements had already been
made, so a reasonable approach to arrange the elements in a table was to make use of their atomic
masses. In 1864, an English chemist, John Newlands noticed that when the elements were
arranged according to increasing mass, every eighth element would exhibit similar properties. He
called this the law of octaves. However, beyond calcium, the law seemed inadequate for the
succeeding elements.
 In 1869, a Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, and a German chemist, Lothar Meyer,
independently proposed a much more extensive tabulation of the elements based on the periodic
recurrence of the properties of elements. This phenomenon is called periodicity. Mendeleev’s
classification system was a great improvement over Newlands. This new system grouped the
elements together according to their properties and it was able to predict the properties of elements
which were not yet discovered.

The periodic table then, although remarkably successful, had some inconsistencies. Using
this table, argon, which is more massive than potassium, comes before potassium. This and other
discrepancies gave rise to some speculation that a more fundamental property other than atomic
mass could be the basis for the periodicity of elements.

In 1913, a young English physicist, Henry Moseley, discovered a correlation between what
he called atomic number and the frequency of X-rays generated by bombarding the elements with
high energy electrons. He noticed that generally, the frequency of emitted X-rays increases with
increasing atomic mass. Among a few exceptions found were argon and potassium. The X-ray
emission from potassium has a greater frequency than that from argon although argon has a greater
atomic mass. This is because potassium has a greater atomic number. Arranging elements
according to atomic number made sense out of the earlier discrepancies, Moseley concluded that
the atomic number is equal to the number of protons in the nucleus and the number of electrons in
an atom. The modern periodic table can be used to predict the properties of elements even though
they are unfamiliar to us.

All atoms can be identified through the number of protons in their nucleus and the number
of electrons that move around the nucleus. In an atom, the number of protons is equal to the number
of electrons. This number is the atomic number of the atom. On the other hand, the atomic mass
is equal to the total number of protons and neutrons. The mass number therefore is given by:

𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 (𝐴) = 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠 (𝑍) + 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠

The atomic number and mass number of an atom of an element is determined as follows:

𝐴
𝑍𝑋

where: 𝑨 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 (𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠)

𝒁 = 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 (𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠)

𝑿 = 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑙
 Atoms of the same element are not all identical because most elements have two or more
isotopes. Isotopes are atoms with the same atomic number (Z) but different mass numbers (A).
This is due to their different number of neutrons. An example is the isotopes of hydrogen. The
most abundant hydrogen is protium with 1 proton and no neutron. Deuterium is hydrogen with 1
proton and 1 neutron, so its mass number is 2. The third isotope, tritium, has 1 proton and 2
neutrons, so its mass number is 3. See how to denote the isotopes of hydrogen below.

Isotopes of Hydrogen

1 2 3
protium: 1𝐻 deuterium: 1𝐻 tritium: 1𝐻

Nuclear Reactions Involved in the Synthesis of New Elements

In the synthesis of new elements, nuclear reactions are involved. Let us consider an artificial
nuclear transformation conducted by Ernest Rutherford in 1919. He fired a 𝑁2 gas with a stream
of alpha particles. In the process, he detected oxygen and hydrogen as products. The reaction is
shown below:

14
7𝑁 + 42𝐻𝑒 → 17
8𝑂 + 11𝐻

The equation for their atomic mass (in amu) is given below.

14.00307 + 4.00260 → 16.999130 + 1.007825

Nitrogen — 14 ( 147𝑁) is an isotope with 7 protons and 7 neutrons. Oxygen—17 ( 178𝑂) has

8 protons and 9 neutrons. Protium ( 11𝐻 ) has a nucleus of ordinary hydrogen with 1 proton and no
neutron. The reaction took place because it was bombarded with alpha particles with some extra
energy (kinetic energy) provided.

Let us now consider a naturally occurring nuclear reaction, the alpha decay of Uranium-
238 ( 238 238
92𝑈) this reaction, 92𝑈 gives off an alpha particle and changes into thorium and helium and

then releases energy. The reaction is as follows:

238 234
92𝑈 → 90𝑇ℎ + 42𝐻𝑒 + 6.7 × 10−3 𝐽/𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 238
92𝑈

All nuclei of atoms, with the exception of hydrogen, contain protons and neutrons. There
are unstable nuclei which undergo radioactive decay. In the process, they emit particles and
electromagnetic radiation. This type of nuclei reaction is called radioactivity. There is another
type nuclear process called nuclear transmutation where in nuclei are bombarded with neutrons,
14
protons, or other nuclei. An example of this nuclei reaction is the conversion of atmospheric 7𝑁

to 146𝐶 , and 11𝐻. This results when the neutrons from the sun bombards nitrogen isotopes. Below is
14 14
the chemical equation for this reaction: 7𝑁 → 6𝐶 + 11𝐻
The Difference Between Nuclear Reaction and Chemical Reaction

Nuclear reactions are so much different from ordinary chemical reactions. In nuclear
reactions elements are converted to other elements or isotopes, while in ordinary chemical
reactions, atoms are rearranged by the breaking and forming of chemical bonds. Nuclear reactions
involve protons, neutrons, electrons, and other subatomic particles such as alpha particles. On the
other hand, only electrons in atomic and molecular orbitals are involved in ordinary chemical
reactions. Nuclear reactions are accompanied by the absorption or release of tremendous amounts
of energy while chemical reactions are usually accompanied by relatively small amounts of energy.
Normally, the rates of nuclear reactions are not affected by temperature, pressure, or catalysts. On
the other hand. chemical reactions are affected by one or more of the following factors:
temperature, pressure, concentration, and catalysts.

To balance a nuclear reaction, the total of all atomic numbers must be balanced, and the
total of all the mass numbers of the products and reactants must also be balanced.

Sample Problem:

In the following equation, there is a missing species. Identify the missing species represented by X.
78
33𝐴𝑠 → 𝑋 + −10𝛽
Answer: 78
33𝐴𝑠 → 78
34𝑆𝑒 + −10𝛽

Lesson Learned
1. The nucleus is the center of the atom.
2. The protons are positively charged particles which are found in the nucleus of an atom.
3. The neutrons are neutral subatomic particles. The are also found in the nucleus of the atom
together with the protons.
4. The electrons are negatively charged subatomic particles. They keep on moving outside the
nucleus of an atom.

Questions and Problems:

Complete the following table of neutral atoms.

Symbol of Atomic Mass Number of Number of Number of

Name of Element
Element Number Number Protons Neutrons Electrons
1. Al 27
2. potassium 20
3. N 15
4. calcium 42
5. barium 56
6. 8 8