Chapter 3 Outline

Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter

Chapter 3 Outline
Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter

Section 1 The Atom: From Philosophical Idea to Scientific Theory

1. Democritus first coins the idea of the world being made up of atoms1 ; Aristotle
later presents his view (not believing in atoms); is accepted for 2000 years
2. In the 1790s, a new emphasis on the quantitative analysis of chemical reactions
sprung up; basic laws were established
a. Law of conservation of mass states that mass is neither created nor
destroyed during ordinary chemical reactions or physical changes
b. Law of definite proportions states that a chemical compound contains
the same elements in exactly the same proportions by mass regardless of
the size of the sample or source of the compound
c. Law of multiple proportions states that if two or more different
compounds are composed of the same two elements, then the ratio of the
masses of the second element combined with a certain mass of the first
element is always a ratio of small whole numbers.
3. Modern atomic theory; based on John Dalton’s atomic theory
a. All matter is composed of extremely small particles called atoms.
b. Atoms of a given element are identical in size, mass, and other
properties; atoms of different elements differ in size, mass, and other
properties.
c. Atoms can be subdivided into smaller particles.
d. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole-number ratios
to form chemical compounds.
e. In chemical reactions, atoms are combined, separated, or rearranged.

1
A Greek word meaning “indivisible”.
 Chapter 3 Outline
Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter

Section 2 The Structure of the Atom

1. An atom is the smallest particle of an element that retains the chemical properties
of that element
a. Nucleus (very small, central region)
i. Protons and neutrons (positively charged/uncharged particles)
b. Electrons (negatively charged particles)
c. Electrons, neutrons and protons are collectively called subatomic particles
2. The CRT experiments of the 1700s / 1800s led to the discovery of electrons
a. It was concluded that because the cathode rays were deflected away from
a negatively charged object (the negative end of a magnet) the particles of
the cathode were negatively charged
b. Thomson repeated these experiments various times, with different
size/material cathodes; all particles were always negatively charged
c. Named electrons
d. Because cathode rays have identical properties regardless of the element
used to produce them, it was concluded that electrons are present in the
atoms of all elements
3. 1909 American experiments investgated the charge of the electron
a. The mass of the electron is about one two-thousandth (1/.002) the mass of
the simplest type of hydrogen atom2
b. There had to be other particles making up an atom
i. Because electrons have so much less mass than atoms, atoms must
contain other particles that account for most of their mass
ii. Atoms are neutral, so positively charged particles must equate the
negative charge of electrons
4. J.J. Thomson suggests the plum pudding model of the atom
a. Spreads negative electrons evenly throughout the positive charge of the
rest of the atom

2
Simplest atom known.
 Chapter 3 Outline
Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter

5. Gold foil experiment of 1911 (Rutherford)

a. Rutherford concluded that the complete deflection of some of the alpha
particles must have been due to a central ball of mass that he dubbed the
nucleus
b. Niels Bohr devises an atomic model in which the electrons surround the
nucleus
6. Composition of the atomic nucleus
a. Protons and electrons
i. A proton has a mass of 1.673 x 10 -27 kg (1836 times greater than
that of an electron
ii. A neutron has a mass of 1.675 x 10 -27
b. The number of protons determines the identity of an atom (the atomic
nuclei of different elements differ in their number of protons)
c. Nuclear forces
i. Normally, same-charge particles repel one another
ii. However, in the nucleus, closely packed protons or neutrons have a
strong attraction between one another
iii. Nuclear forces are short-range proton-neutron, proton-proton, and
neutron-neutron forces that hold the nuclear particles together
7. Measuring atomic size
a. The radius of an atom is the distance from the center of the nucleus to the
outer portion of the electron cloud surrounding it
b. Atomic radii are measured in picometer
c. Atomic radii vary from about 40 pm to 270 pm
d. Nuclei have much smaller radii (e.g. 0.001 pm) in addition to very high
densities (e.g. 2 x 108 metric tons/cm3)
 Chapter 3 Outline
Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter

Section 3 Counting Atoms

1. Chemists can analyze atoms quantitatively by knowing fundamental properties of

the atoms of each element
a. Atomic number is the amount of protons in each atom of an element,
defines the element, also provides the number of electrons for an atom
because of the fact that atoms are neutral
b. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have different masses
i. Hydrogen atoms have isotopes such as deuterium, which contains
one proton, two electrons, and one electron
ii. Nuclide is a general term for a specific isotope of an element
c. Mass number is total number of protons and neutrons that make up the
nucleus of an isotope
d. Hyphen notation is the way that isotopes are labeled (e.g. hydrogen-3,
hydrogen-2, etc.)
2. Because the mass of atoms expressed in grams is extremely small, it becomes
more convenient to use relative atomic masses
a. To set up the relative scale, an atom has been arbitrarily chosen as the
standard and assigned a relative mass value
b. Catbon-12 is the choice; carbon-12 has an atomic mass of 12 atomic mass
units (amu)
c. One atomic mass unit is exactly 1/12 the mass of a carbon-12 atom
d. Magneisum-24 has a mass of 23.985042 amu, hydrogen-1 has a mass of
1.007825 amu
3. The masses of subatomic particles
a. Neutrons have an atomic mass of 1.008665 amu
b. Protons have an atomic mass of 1.007276 amu
c. Electrons have an atomic mass 0.0005486 amu
 Chapter 3 Outline
Atoms: The Building Blocks of Matter
4. Average atomic mass is the weighted average of the atomic masses of the
naturally occurring isotopes of an element
a. Most elements occur naturally as mixtures of isotopes
b. Multiply the percentage of the isotopes present by their mass (for each
isotope; whatever mass is used it must be the same amongst all isotopes in
question [i.e. don’t use amu for one isotope and grams for another]) and
then add the masses (be they in atomic mass units or grams) together.
Divide the total mass by 100 to get the average atomic mass.
5. Three concepts provide the basis for relating masses in grams to number of atoms
a. The Mole and Avogadro’s Number
i. Amount of a substance that contains as many particles as there are
atoms in exactly 12 grams of carbon-12
ii. A mole is a unit that proclaims that in 12 grams of carbon-12 there
are exactly 6.0221415 x 1023 atoms (commonly used as 6.022 x
1023)
b. Molar Mass
i. The mass of one mole of a pure substance is called the molar mass
of that substance
ii. Usually written in units of g/mol
iii. The molar mass of an element is numerically equal to the atomic
mass of the element in atomic mass units
6. To find the amount of grams in two moles of helium, multiply by the molar mass
7. Avogadro’s number can be used to find the number of atoms of an element from
the amount in moles or to find the amount of an element in moles from the
number of atoms