CHAPTER TWO

Atoms, Molecules and Ions

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 2.1. Atomic structure and symbolism
 Every, solid, liquid,gas and plasma is composed of neutral or ionized
atoms
 An atom is the smallest unit of ordinary matter that forms a chemical
element.
 The development of modern atomic theory revealed much
about the inner structure of atoms.
 It was learned that an atom contains a very small nucleus
composed of positively charged protons and uncharged
neutrons, surrounded by a much larger volume of space
containing negatively charged electrons.
 The nucleus contains the majority of an atom’s mass because protons
and neutrons are much heavier than electrons, whereas electrons occupy
almost all of an atom’s volume.
 The diameter of an atom is on the order of 10 -10 m whereas the diameter
of the nucleus is roughly 10−15m, about 100,000 times smaller .

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 Table2.1: Properties of Subatomic Particles

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2.1.2. Atomic mass unit and average atomic mass
 Because each proton and each neutron contribute approximately
one amu to the mass of an atom, and each electron contributes far
less, the atomic mass of a single atom is approximately equal
to its mass number (a whole number).
 However, the average masses of atoms of most elements are
not whole numbers because most elements exist naturally as
mixtures of two or more isotopes.
 Average mass of all the isotopes present in a naturally occurring
sample of an element is equal to the sum of each individual
isotope’s mass multiplied by its fractional abundance.

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  For example, the element boron is composed of two
isotopes:
 About 19.9% of all boron atoms are 10B with a mass of
10.0129amu, and the remaining 80.1% are 11B with a mass
of 11.0093amu.
 The average atomic mass for boron is calculated to be:

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 2.2. Chemical Formulas
 Chemical formula of a compound is a symbolic
representation of its chemical composition.
 A molecular formula is a representation of a molecule that
uses chemical symbols to indicate the types of atoms
followed by subscripts to show the number of atoms of
each type in the molecule.
 Molecular formulas are also used as abbreviations for the
names of compounds.
 The structural formula for a compound gives the same
information as its molecular formula (the types and
numbers of atoms in the molecule) but also shows how the
atoms are connected in the molecule.

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 2.3. The Periodic Table
2.3.1. Historical development of the periodic table
 As early chemists worked to purify ores and discovered
more elements, they realized that various elements could
be grouped together by their similar chemical
behaviors.
 One such grouping includes lithium (Li), sodium (Na), and
potassium (K): These elements all are shiny, conduct heat and
electricity well, and have similar chemical properties.
 A second grouping includes calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr),
and barium (Ba), which also are shiny, good conductors of
heat and electricity , and have chemical properties in
common.

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 Dmitri Mendeleev: given credit for Periodic Table (~1870)
 organized Table by increasing atomic mass
 left spaces and predicted properties of undiscovered
elements
Henry Moseley: put elements in order of increasing atomic
number

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 2.3.2. Classification of elements in the periodic table
 Many elements differ dramatically in their chemical and
physical properties, but some elements are similar in their
behaviors.
 For example, many elements appear shiny, are malleable
(able to be deformed without breaking) and ductile (can be
drawn into wires), and conduct heat and electricity well.
 Other elements are not shiny, malleable, or ductile, and are
poor conductors of heat and electricity .

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  Based on these properties, we can sort the elements into
large classes with common properties:
 metals (elements that are shiny, malleable, good
conductors of heat and electricity);
 nonmetals (elements that appear dull, poor conductors of
heat and electricity); and
 metalloids (elements that conduct heat and electricity
moderately well, and possess some properties of metals and
some properties of nonmetals).

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 2.4. Ionic and Molecular Compounds
 In ordinary chemical reactions, the nucleus of each atom
(and thus the identity of the element) remains unchanged.
 Electrons, however, can be added to atoms by transfer from
other atoms, lost by transfer to other atoms, or shared with
other atoms.
 The transfer and sharing of electrons among atoms govern
the chemistry of the elements.
 During the formation of some compounds, atoms gain or
lose electrons, and form electrically charged particles
called ions.

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 Atoms of many main-group metals lose enough electrons to leave
them with the same number of electrons as an atom of the
preceding noble gas.
 When atoms of nonmetal elements form ions, they generally gain
enough electrons to give them the same number of electrons as an
atom of the next noble gas in the periodic table.
 Main-group elements tend to form cations with a charge equal to
the group number .
 That is, group 1 elements form 1+ ions; group 2 elements form 2+
ions, and so on.
 Moving from the far right to the left on the periodic table, elements
often form anions with a negative charge equal to the number of
groups moved left from the noble gases.
 For example, group 17 elements (one group left of the noble gases)
form 1− ions; group 16 elements (two groups left) form 2− ions, and
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so on.
  Transition metals and some other metals often exhibit
variable charges that are not predictable by their location in
the table.
 For example, copper can form ions with a 1+ or 2+ charge,
and iron can form ions with a 2+ or 3+ charge.

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  The nature of the attractive forces that hold atoms or ions
together within a compound is the basis for classifying
chemical bonding.
 When electrons are transferred and ions form, ionic bonds
result.
 Ionic bonds are electrostatic forces of attraction, that is,
the attractive forces experienced between objects of
opposite electrical charge (in this case, cations and anions).
 When electrons are “shared” and molecules form,
covalent bonds result.
 Covalent bonds are the attractive forces between the
positively charged nuclei of the bonded atoms and one or
more pairs of electrons that are located between the atoms.

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 2.4.1. Formation of Ionic Compounds
 When an element composed of atoms that readily lose
electrons (a metal) reacts with an element composed of atoms
that readily gain electrons (a nonmetal), a transfer of electrons
usually occurs, producing ions.
 The compound formed by this transfer is stabilized by the
electrostatic attractions (ionic bonds) between the ions of
opposite charge present in the compound.
 For example, when each sodium atom in a sample of sodium
metal (group 1) gives up one electron to form a sodium cation,
Na+, and each chlorine atom in a sample of chlorine gas
(group 17) accepts one electron to form a chloride anion,Cl−,
the resulting compound, NaCl, is composed of sodium ions
and chloride ions in the ratio of one Na+ ion for each Cl− ion.
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  Similarly, each calcium atom (group 2) can give up two

electrons and transfer one to each of two chlorine atoms to

form CaCl2, which is composed of Ca2+ and Cl−ions in
the ratio of one Ca2+ ion to two Cl−ions.
 A compound that contains ions and is held together by

ionic bonds is called an ionic compound.

 However, it is not always true (for example, aluminum

chloride, AlCl3, is not ionic).

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  You can often recognize ionic compounds because of their
properties.
 Ionic compounds are solids that typically melt at high
temperatures and boil at even higher temperatures.
 For example, sodium chloride melts at 801°C and boils at
1413°C. (As a comparison, the molecular compound water
melts at 0 °C and boils at 100 °C.)
 In solid form, an ionic compound is not electrically
conductive because its ions are unable to flow
(“electricity” is the flow of charged particles).
 When molten, however, it can conduct electricity because
its ions are able to move freely through the liquid.

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  In every ionic compound, the total number of positive
charges of the cations equals the total number of negative
charges of the anions.
 Thus, ionic compounds are electrically neutral overall,
even though they contain positive and negative ions. We
can use this observation to help us write the formula of an
ionic compound.
 The formula of an ionic compound must have a ratio of
ions such that the numbers of positive and negative
charges are equal.

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  Many ionic compounds contain polyatomic ions as the
cation,the anion, or both.
 As with simple ionic compounds, these compounds must
also be electrically neutral, so their formulas can be
predicted by treating the polyatomic ions as discrete units.
 We use parentheses in a formula to indicate a group of
atoms that behave as a unit.
 For example, the formula for calcium phosphate, one of the
minerals in our bones, is Ca3(PO4)2.
 This formula indicates that there are three calcium ions
(Ca2+)for every two phosphate (PO43−) groups.
 The PO43−groups are discrete units, each consisting of one
phosphorus atom and four oxygen atoms, and having an
overall charge of 3−.
 The compound is electrically neutral, and its formula
31 shows a total count of three Ca, two P, and eight O atoms.
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  Because an ionic compound is not made up of single,
discrete molecules, it may not be properly symbolized
using a molecular formula.
 Instead, ionic compounds must be symbolized by a formula
indicating the relative numbers of its constituent ions.
 For compounds containing only monatomic ions (such as
NaCl) and for many compounds containing polyatomic ions
(such as CaSO4), these formulas are just the empirical
formulas.

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  However, the formulas for some ionic compounds
containing polyatomic ions are not empirical formulas.
 For example, the ionic compound sodium oxalate is
comprised of Na+and C2O42−ions combined in a 2:1 ratio,
and its formula is written as Na2C2O4.
 The subscripts in this formula are not the smallest-possible
whole numbers, as each can be divided by 2 to yield the
empirical formula, NaCO2.
 This is not the accepted formula for sodium oxalate,
however, as it does not accurately represent the
compound’s polyatomic anion, C2O42−.

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 2.4.2. Formation of Molecular Compounds
 Many compounds do not contain ions but instead consist
solely of discrete, neutral molecules.
 These molecular compounds (covalent compounds) result
when atoms share rather than transfer (gains or losses),
electrons.
 Covalent bonding is an important and extensive concept in
chemistry .
 We can often identify molecular compounds on the basis of
their physical properties.
 Under normal conditions, molecular compounds often exist
as gases, low-boiling liquids, and low-melting solids,
although many important exceptions exist.
 Covalent compounds are usually formed by a
combination of nonmetals.
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 2.5. Chemical Nomenclature
 Nomenclature is a collection of rules for naming things, is
important in science and in many other situations.
 Approach that is used to name simple ionic and molecular
compounds, such as NaCl, CaCO3, and N2O4.
 The simplest of these are binary compounds, those
containing only two elements.
 We will limit our attention here to inorganic compounds,
compounds that are composed principally of elements other
than carbon, and will follow the nomenclature guidelines
proposed by IUPAC.

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 2.5.1. Nomenclature of ionic compounds
To name an inorganic compound, we need to consider the
answers to several questions.
First, is the compound ionic or molecular? If the compound
is ionic, does the metal form ions of only one type (fixed
charge) or more than one type (variable charge)?
Are the ions monatomic or polyatomic?
If the compound is molecular, does it contain hydrogen?
If so, does it also contain oxygen?
From the answers we derive, we place the compound in an
appropriate category and then name it accordingly .

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 2.5.1.1. Compounds Containing Only Monatomic Ions
 The name of a binary compound containing monatomic
ions consists of the name of the cation (the name of the
metal) followed by the name of the anion (the name of the
nonmetallic element with its ending replaced by the suffix -
ide).
 Some examples are:

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 2.5.1.3. Compounds Containing a Metal Ion with a
Variable Charge
 Most of the transition metals and some main group metals
can form two or more cations with different charges.
 Compounds of these metals with nonmetals are named with
the same method as compounds in the first category, except
the charge of the metal ion is specified by a Roman
numeral in parentheses after the name of the metal.
 The charge of the metal ion is determined from the formula
of the compound and the charge of the anion.
 For example, consider binary ionic compounds of iron and
chlorine.
 Iron typically exhibits a charge of either 2+ or 3+ and the
two corresponding compound formulas are FeCl2 and
FeCl3.
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  The simplest name, “iron chloride,” will, in this case, be
ambiguous, as it does not distinguish between these two
compounds.
 In cases like this, the charge of the metal ion is included as
a Roman numeral in parentheses immediately following the
metal name.
 These two compounds are then unambiguously named
iron(II) chloride and iron(III) chloride, respectively .

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 Other examples of some ionic compounds with
variably charged metal ions

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  Out-of-date nomenclature used the suffixes –ic and –ous to
designate metals with higher and lower charges
respectively:
 Iron(III) chloride, FeCl3, was previously called ferric
chloride,and iron(II) chloride, FeCl2, was known as ferrous
chloride.
 For example, you may see the words stannous fluoride on a
tube of toothpaste.
 This represents the formula SnF2, which is more properly
named tin(II) fluoride.
 The other fluoride of tin is SnF4, which was previously
called stannic fluoride but is now named tin(IV) fluoride.
 Though this naming convention has been largely
abandoned by the scientific community, it remains in use
by some segments of industry .
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 2.5.1.4. Ionic Hydrates
 Ionic compounds that contain water molecules as integral
components of their crystals are called hydrates.
 The name for an ionic hydrate is derived by adding a term
to the name for the anhydrous (meaning “not hydrated”)
compound that indicates the number of water molecules
associated with each formula unit of the compound.
 The added word begins with a Greek prefix denoting the
number of water molecules and ends with “hydrate.”
 For example, the anhydrous compound copper(II) sulfate
also exists as a hydrate containing five water molecules and
named copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate.

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  Copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate: CuSO4∙5H2O
 Sodium carbonate decahydrate: Na2CO3∙10H2O
Nomenclature Prefixes

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 2.5.2. Molecular Compounds
 The bonding characteristics of inorganic molecular
compounds are different from ionic compounds and they
are named using a different system as well.
 The charges of cations and anions dictate their ratios in
ionic compounds, so specifying the names of the ions
provides sufficient information to determine chemical
formulas.
 However, because covalent bonding allows for significant
variation in the combination ratios of the atoms in a
molecule, the names for molecular compounds must
explicitly identify these ratios.

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 2.5.2.1. Compounds Composed of Two Elements
 When two nonmetallic elements form a molecular
compound, several combination ratios are often possible.
 For example, carbon and oxygen can form the compounds
CO and CO2.
 Since these are different substances with different
properties, they cannot both have the same name (they
cannot both be called carbon oxide).
 The name of the more metallic element (the one farther to
the left and/or bottom of the periodic table) is first,
followed by the name of the more nonmetallic element (the
one farther to the right and/or top) with its ending changed
to the suffix –ide.

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  The numbers of atoms of each element are designated by
the Greek prefixes.
 When only one atom of the first element is present, the
prefix mono- is usually deleted from that part.
 Thus, CO is named carbon monoxide, and CO2 is called
carbon dioxide.
 When two vowels are adjacent, the a in the Greek prefix is
usually dropped.

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  There are a few common names that you will encounter as
you continue your study of chemistry .
 For example, although NO is often called nitric oxide, its
proper name is nitrogen monoxide.
 Similarly, N2O is known as nitrous oxide even though our
rules would specify the name dinitrogen monoxide.
 (And H2O is usually called water, not dihydrogen
monoxide.)
 You should commit to memory the common names of
compounds as you encounter them.

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 2.5.2.2. Binary Acids
 Some compounds containing hydrogen are members of an
important class of substances known as acids.
 If the compound is a binary acid (comprised of hydrogen and
one other nonmetallic element):
 The word “hydrogen” is changed to the prefix hydro- The
other nonmetallic element name is modified by adding the
suffix –ic
 The word “acid” is added as a second word
 For example, when the gas HCl (hydrogen chloride) is
dissolved in water, the solution is called hydrochloric acid.

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 2.5.2.3. Oxyacids
 Many compounds containing three or more elements (such
as organic compounds or coordination compounds) are
subject to specialized nomenclature rules that you will
learn later .
 However, we will briefly discuss the important compounds
known as oxyacids, compounds that contain hydrogen,
oxygen, and at least one other element, and are bonded in
such a way as to impart acidic properties to the compound.
 Typical oxyacids consist of hydrogen combined with a
polyatomic, oxygen-containing ion.

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  To name oxyacids:
 Omit “hydrogen”Start with the root name of the anion
Replace –ate with –ic, or –ite with –ous
 Add “acid”
For example, consider H2CO3(which you might be tempted
to call “hydrogen carbonate”).
 To name this correctly, “hydrogen” is omitted; the –ate of
carbonate is replace with –ic; and acid is added-so its name
is carbonic acid.
 There are some exceptions to the general naming method
(e.g.,H2SO4 is called sulfuric acid, not sulfic acid, and
H2SO3 is sulfurous, not sulfurous, acid).

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 r -2
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