Inorganic Chemistry

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Inorganic Chemistry

Lecture 1

Atoms and molecules

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 Atomic structure
 Matter can be defined as something that has a mass and occupies space

 Matter is made up of small units called atoms

 Each different type of atoms is the building block of different chemical element

 Chemical compounds of a substances comprise of atoms of two or more

elements joined together

 Different types of atoms, which combine to form molecules

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 Atomic structure
Microscopic level

Na+ , Cl- Histidine

O
Graphite
H 2N CH C OH
C C C
CH2 C C
C
C CC
C C C C
Na N C
C
C
C C C
NH C
Atom
Molecules Macromolecules
Molecule Macromolecule
Ions

 Most common atoms in biology are C, H, O, N, P, S

 Many other types of atoms are part of biology and the natural world: Na, K, Fe,
Mn, Cu, Se, Si, F, and many more

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 Atomic structure
 Atoms usually arrange into molecules or sometimes form materials

Amino acid Sucrose

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 Structure of atom

 Atoms are composed of a nucleous with positive

charge, surrounded by electrons with a negative
charge

This is just a diagram, it is NOT how an atom looks!

Properties of proton, neutron and electron

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 Nuclides, atomic number and mass number
 What defines an element is the number of protons in the atom nucleus

Mass number A
Atomic number Z
E Element symbol

Atomic number = Z = number of protons in the nucleus = number of electrons

Mass number = A = number of protons + number of neutrons
Number of neutrons = A - Z

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Some examples of elements

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 Isotopes
 Nuclides of a particular element that differ in the number of neutrons and,
therefore, their mass number, are called Isotopes
 Isotopes of some elements occur naturally while others may be produced
artificially
 Elements that occur naturally with only one nuclide are monotopic

Examples of monotopic nuclides

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 Isotopes
Isotopes of carbon
- - -
e e e
- - - - -
e e - e e e
e n n
p+ n p+ p+ n p+ p+ n p+
p+ p+ p+
n n n n n n n n n
p+ n p+ - p+ n p+ p+ n p+ -
- p+ n p+ n - - n p+ n e
e
e - e e
e
- - -
e e e

6p+ 6p+ 6p+

nucleus
6n 7n 8n

6C 6C 6C
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isotopic mixtures: other elements such as 6C (98.892%)
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6C (1.108%)
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6C (10-10%)

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 Isotopes

9 19 23 27 31 45 55 59 75
only one isotope:
4 Be , 9F , 11 Na , 13 Al , 15 P, 21 Sc , 25 Mn , 27 Co , 33 As

89 93 103 127 133 141 159 165

39 Y , 41 Nb Rh
, 45 , 53 I , 55 Cs , 59 Pr , 65 Tb , 67 Ho

169 197 209 232 231

69 Tm , 79 Au , 83 Bi , 90 Th , 91 Pa
total 22 elements

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 Radioactivity
Marie Curie

Products of natural radioactivity

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Radioactivity

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 Radioactivity
Rules of writing nuclear equations

 The sum of the mass numbers must be same on both sides

 The sum of atomic numbers must be same on both sides

 Left side: Mass number = 238, Atomic number: 92

 Loss of an a particle results in a decrease of 2 in atomic numbers and 4 in the

mass numbers of the nucleus

 Charged particles interact strongly with matter, therefore absorbed or deflected

 Alpha particles are deflected by electric and magnetic fields

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 Radioactivity
b particle

 Beta particles are more energetic than alpha particles and usually deflected by
electric and magnetic fields in the opposite direction

 In some decay processes protons within the nucleus is converted to neutrons

and b+ particles (positron) are emitted

 The b+ particle, also known as positron, has properties similar to the b- particle

 Positron emission is commonly encountered with artificially produced

radioactive nuclei of the lighter elements

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 Radioactivity
g particle

 Radioactive processes that yield a or b- particle leave the nucleus in excited

states

 The excited nucleus then loses energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation
called g rays

 Gamma rays are only deflected by heavy metals like Pb

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 Radioactivity
Naturally occurring radioactive isotopes

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 Radioactivity
Half-life
 Determination of Half-life (t1/2)
𝑙𝑛
𝑁
( )
𝑁0
=− 𝜆𝑡

0 . 693
𝑡 1 / 2=
𝜆

N is the original number of atoms of the isotope

N is the number of atoms at given time t

Half-lives of some radioactive isotopes

Table 1.3 Half-Lives of Some Radioactive Isotopes

Isotope Half-life Rays

187
Re 7 X 1010 years 
232
Th 1.41 X 1010 years 
238
U 4.51 X 109 years 
90
Sr 28.1 years 
131 
I 8.0 days
94 1.4 seconds 
Kr
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Radioactivity

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 Use of Radioactivity
Radiocarbon dating
 In the upper atmosphere following reaction occurs at a constant rate

Half-life: 5730 years

 Carbon-containing compounds in living organism are in equilibrium with C in
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atmosphere (through breathing, photosynthesis and other processes)

 When an organism dies, they stop exchanging 14C with the atmosphere

 Because carbon-14 slowly decays into nitrogen-14 (releasing beta radiation

and an antineutrino)

 By comparing the amount of carbon-14 of a formerly alive organism with the

average carbon-14 content in living organisms, we can estimate the time since
that organism died.
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 Electronic structure of atom
 At the begining of the 20th century it was not known how the atom was
composed
 An early model is the plum-pudding model (J. J. Thomson), where
electrons were located inside an atom-sized positive region

 This model failed to explain the emission of electron spectrum consisting

of different frequencies from Thomson’s atom when it is subjected to
external frequencies emitted from other substances

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 Electronic structure of atom

 Rutherford later proved that the nuclei were concentrated on a tiny fraction
of an atom and electrons orbit the nucleus like planets orbit the sun

 However, he failed to provide any explanation why electrons do not collapse

into the nucleus

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 Electronic structure of atom
 When hot objects are heated, they emit radiation; the wavelength distribution
of the radiation depends on temperature (red hot vs. white hot).
Max Planck: Energy can be released or absorbed by atoms only in discrete
„chunks“ of some minimum size: quantum („fixed amount“) with E = hn.
Albert Einstein: Photoelectric effect: when photons of sufficiently high energy
strike a metal surface, electrons are emitted from the metal
Gas discharge
tube containing
hydrogen gas

Blue- Blue-
Violet violet green Red

Slit Prism

410.2 nm 486.1 nm 656.3 nm

434.0 nm
Visible spectrum of hydrogen atom
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 Electronic structure of atom

 Balmer first observed this bands, which

occur in the visible region
 While bands in the ultraviolet and infrared
regions were observed by other scientist
later
 The results of these experiments suggested
presence of discrete energy levels in the
atom
 The emission bands are due to transitions of
electrons between high energy levels and
lower energy levels
 Rydberg found that all the wavelengths (l, lambda) could be described by the
expression
where n are integars
n1 = 1, Lyman series (ultraviolet)
n1 = 2, Balmer series (visible)
n1 = 3, Paschen series (infrared) 24
Electronic structure of atom

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Electronic structure of atom

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Electronic structure of atom

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 Bohr’s atomic model
n 20 h 2
n=5 r= = n 2a 0
m e2
n=4
1 m e4
E=-
n=3 n2 8 02 h 2

n=2 h = E n2 - E n1
n=1
h

e- +1

"orbits" 1. The energy of the electron in a hydrogen atom is quantized.

2. When light is absorbed an electron moves from the lower

H atom energy state to a higher energy state. Light is emitted when an
electron falls from a higher energy state into a lower energy
state. The energy of the radiation is equal to the difference
between the energies of the two states. 28
Bohr’s atomic model

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Energy levels of the hydrogen atom
monochromatic light

c
E = h = h


h: Planck's constant
= 6.626 X 10 -34 J s
: frequency (s -1 = Hz)
c: the speed of light
=2.998 X 10 8 m s-1
: wavelength (m)

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 Wave-particle duality
 Depending on the experimental circumstances, radiation appears to have
either a wavelike or a particle-like behavior
 Louis de Broglie: Matter (e.g. electrons) can also behave not only as a
particle, but also like a wave. This hypothesis was based in Einstein‘s
previous explanation of the photoelectric effect by considering that light had
particle properties
The formula proposed by de Broglie was
h
𝜆=
𝑝

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 Dual behavior of matter
 One of the important properties of wave is diffraction, which is why when
light passes through a narrow slit, spreads apart giving rise to a pattern like
in the figure

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 Dual behavior of matter
 Based on the aforementioned relation Heisenberg proposed that it is
impossible to determine the position and momentum of a particle at the
same time

 It arises because particle have wave like properties. Therefore, it imposes

restriction on how accurately these properties can be measured

 Mathematical derivation of the Heisenberg uncertainty states

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

x p > h
x: uncertainty in position
p: uncertainty in momentum
h h
2

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Bibliography

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