Unit 1

The structure of atoms

• an atom is made up of many extremely small particles called
sub-atomic particles
• the nucleus of an atom contains
protons and neutrons - neutrons have
no charge and protons have a
positive charge
• electrons are smaller than protons
and neutrons, and they carry a
negative charge
• electrons move around the nucleus of the
atom in orbits
• the number of protons in the nucleus of
an atom is its atomic number
• in any atom, the number of protons is
equal to the number of electrons - each
positive charge (proton) is balanced out
by a negative charge (electron), making
the atom electrically neutral.
•
Electron arrangement
We don't know exactly how electrons move around the nucleus of
an atom because we cannot see them. However, scientists have
studied the behaviour of atoms and developed a theory, called the
shell model, to explain how electrons are arranged.
The shell model
We can think of the electrons as arranged in groups, with each
group orbiting at a different distance from the nucleus. The groups
are called shells and we show them as a series of
concentric circles.
The first shell of an atom (the one which is
closest to the nucleus) can hold up to two
electrons.
In other words, it can have one or two.
The second and third shells can hold up to eight electrons each.
The way in which electrons are arranged is called the electron
configuration of the atom.
Working out electron configurations:
The rules for filling electron shells are very simple:
• The shell closest to the nucleus must be filled (with two
electrons) before electrons can go into the second shell.
• The second shell must be filled( with eight electrons) before
• electrons can go into the third shell .
• The third shell must be filled( with eight electrons) before
electrons can go into the fourth shell.

You are only dealing with the first 20 elements, so none of the
atom will have more than four shells. However, most elements
have atoms with more than four shells, and these are filled in
different ways. depending on the position of the element in the
Periodic Table.
The atomic number of an element (which you find on the
Periodic Table) tells you how many protons are in each atom
of this element .Since the number of electrons in the atom is
equal to the number of protons, we can use the atomic
number, together with the rules above, to work out the
electron configuration of any atom (for the first 20 elements)
What is the electron configuration in an atom of sodium?
Sodium has an atomic number of 11.
So, each sodium atom must have 11 electrons.
2 electrons must go into the first shell.
That leaves 9 electrons.
8 of these will fill up the second shell.
That leaves 1 electron.
Therefore, the configuration of electrons in sodium is 2,8,1.
Core and valence electrons
Core electrons are electrons that are in full shells.
If we use the example of sodium, the electrons in the first
shell (2 electrons) and the electrons in the second shell (8
electrons) are both found in full shells. These are the core
electrons.
The valence shell of an atom is the outermost shell that
contains electrons. Electrons in the outermost shell are
called valence electrons. In sodium, the outermost shell contains 1
valence electron.

Atoms and the Periodic Table

This means that the valence electrons are the ones most
likely to react with other atoms.
The number of valence electrons determines whether or not an
atom will bond with other atoms.
In other words, the valence electrons determine how reactive an
element will be

Are all atoms of an element the same?

All atoms of an element have the same number of protons. But
some atoms can have a different number of neutrons. When two
atoms of the same element have different numbers of neutrons,
we call them different isotopes of the element. Most elements have
several isotopes.

Isotopes are named using their mass number. The mass number
is the sum of protons and neutrons in the atom. For example,
carbon-12 and carbon-14 are both isotopes of carbon. Their mass
numbers are 12 and 14, respectively.
You can see that the name of an isotope allows us to work out
how many neutrons its atoms have.
number of neutrons = mass number - atomic number
We know that carbon has an atomic number
of 6 (all carbon atoms have 6 protons). So:
carbon-12 must have 6 neutrons (12 - 6 = 6)
carbon-14 must have 8 neutrons (14 - 6 = 8)

Activity 7.1 Working with electron shells

helium He (2) neon Ne (10) silicon Si (14)
chlorine Cl (17) vanadium V (23)
1 Study the diagrams showing the electron configurations of the
first 20 elements,
a) Which elements have only one shell in each atom?
b) Which element has the greatest number of electrons?
c) Which elements have four shells?
2 Make a table to show the electron configurations of the five
elements in the box and how many valence electrons they each
have. The atomic numbers are shown in brackets.
Unit 2 Understanding the Periodic Table
Dmitri Mendeleev was the first scientist to develop a version of the
Periodic Table based on the properties of elements.
the Periodic Table has been refined and developed Glenn
Seaborg, an American scientist, reorganised the Periodic Table to
include the new elements. It is his version that is largely used
today
Groups
The columns in the Periodic Table are called groups. In some
versions, every column is numbered to give 18 groups, but other
versions only number eight groups.
These are shown above the columns (sometimes in roman
numerals). You only need to know the names of four main groups.
Notice that hydrogen stands alone. It doesn't fit into any of
the eight groups. This is because atoms of hydrogen are
unique - they do not have any neutrons, just one proton and
one electron
The elements in a group share some chemical properties. We
can say that they react and change in the same way under certain
conditions.
• Group 1 - the alkali metals
The elements in this group are called alkali metals because they
react with water to form an alkali. (Remember that an alkali is a
substance that forms a chemical salt when combined with an acid.)
they each have only 1 valence electron in their outer shell. This
makes them highly reactive.
Group 2 - the alkaline earth metals
The alkaline earth metals give oxides and hydroxides that dissolve
slightly in water to make alkaline solutions.
Most of the medicines that people take for heartburn or gastric
upsets contain compounds of calcium and magnesium
Group 7 - the halogens
The name halogen means 'salt former'.
The atoms of elements in this group all have 7 valence electrons
and this makes them highly reactive.
Group 8 - the noble or inert gases
The elements in this group are all gases that are very stable and
unreactive.
Their atoms all have a full valence shell and this stops them from
bonding easily with other elements.
Notice that the group number (from 1 to 8) tells you how many
valence electrons there are in atoms of that group.

Changes as you go down a group

The physical properties of elements change as you go down In
general,
melting points and boiling points
decrease, while density usually
increases as you go down the group.

As you move down the elements in a

group, the speed at which they react with
other elements changes.
In general:
• in the groups of metals on the left-hand side of the Periodic
Table
the elements become more reactive as you move down the
group
• in the right-hand groups - the halogens and the noble gases
elements become less reactive as you move down the group

There are exceptions to these trends. For example, nitrogen,

which is at the top of group 5, is not very reactive at all.

Periods
The rows across the Periodic Table are called periods.
The elements in each period do not share the same physical
properties but they do have same number of electron shells.
Elements in the first period have only one electron shell, those
in the second period have two those in the third period have
three, and so on.
The first element in each period is usually a reactive metal,
while the last element is a noble gas.
As you go across the period from left to right, there is a
gradual change from elements that are metals to elements
that are non-metals.
The metalloids
You already know that the elements can be divided into two large
groups: the metals and the non-metals.
Some elements don't fit nicely into either of these groups.
This gives us a third group called metalloids.
 If you look again at the Periodic Table in Figure 7.6, you will see
that there is a thick line stepping down between the elements from
boron to polonium.
This line separates the metals from the non-metals.
The elements on either side of this line are the metalloids, which
have some properties of metals but not all.
Silicon is probably the best-known metalloid. It is a shiny
solid, which is very brittle. Silicon chips are used in
computers and other technologies.

Activity 7.2 Applying what you have learned

1 How are the elements in the Periodic Table arranged? Explain
simply in your own words.
2 Which group of metals is most reactive?
3 Which group of non-metals is most reactive?
4 Besides being gases at room temperature, what other property
do the noble gases share?
5 Study the three diagrams of atoms in Figure 7.7.
a) Identify each of these elements.
b) How many valence electrons does each atom have?
c) To which group in the Periodic Table does each of these
elements belong?
6 Choose one element in the Periodic Table that you would
expect to share properties with:
a) argon b) sodium c) fluorine d) calcium