ATOMS: THE BUILDING BLOCK OF MATTER

Atom Timeline
400 Democritus, a Greek philosopher, developed the idea of atoms. He asked this question: If you
B.C. break a piece of matter in half, and then break it in half again, how many breaks will you have to
make before you can break it no further? Democritus thought that it ended at some point, a
smallest possible bit of matter. He called these basic matter particles, “atomos”. Thus, the English
word “atom” comes from a Greek word “atomos” meaning the smallest unit of matter.

Unfortunately, the atomic ideas of Democritus that all matter is composed of tiny particles
(atomos) and that these particles could not be created, destroyed, or further divided (indivisible)
had no lasting effects on other Greek philosophers, including Aristotle. Aristotle dismissed the
atomic idea as worthless entirely because it did not agree with his own ideas on nature. Aristotle
modified an earlier theory that matter was made of four “elements”: earth, fire, water, and air.
People considered Aristotle's opinions very important and if Aristotle thought the atomic idea had
no merit, then most other people thought the same also.

For more than 2000 years nobody did anything to continue the explorations that the Greeks had
started into the nature of matter. Not until the early 1800's did people begin again to question the
structure of matter.
1803 John Dalton, a British chemist/English Science  Atoms cannot be created, divided into
school teacher, revived Democritus’ idea based smaller particles, or destroyed.
upon the results of scientific research. He  Different atoms combine in simple
performed experiments with various chemicals whole-number ratios to form
that showed that matter, indeed, seem to compounds.
consist of elementary lumpy particles (atoms).  In a chemical reaction, atoms are
Although he did not know about their structure, separated, combined, or rearranged.
he knew that the evidence pointed to
something fundamental. He introduced his Solid Sphere Model or
atomic theory of spherical solid atoms based Billiard Ball Model
on properties of mass that were measurable. proposed by John Dalton
The main points of Dalton’s atomic theory are (Atoms are solid and
as follows: indivisible.)
 All matter are composed of extremely
small particles called atoms.
 All atoms of a given element are
identical, having the same size, mass, Dalton’s concept of an atom was regarded
and chemical properties. Atoms of a as the first atomic theory. He was
specific element are different from those considered as the “Father of the Modern
of any other element. Atomic Theory”.
“Has your hair ever clung to your comb? Have you ever received a shock from a metal doorknob after
walking across a carpeted floor?” Observations such as these led scientists in the 1800s to look some sort
of relationship between matter and electric charge.

In 1896, Henri Becquerel, a French physicist, discovered radioactivity.

1897 J.J. Thomson, an English physicist, discovered subatomic particles when he discovered that
1909 electrons are negatively charged and have a very small mass.
q/m of electron = -1.7588 x 108C/g

In 1909, Robert Millikan determined the charge of electron

using the oil-drop experiment apparatus. Using the q/m, he
subsequently determined the mass of electron.
q = e- = -1.6022 x 10-19 C
m = 9.1098 x 10-28 g = 0.000548 amu

The discovery of electrons raised some interesting new

questions about the nature of atoms. It was known that matter is
neutral. If electrons are part of matter and they possess a
negative charge, how is it that all matter is neutral? Also the
mass of electron is extremely small, what accounts for the rest of
the mass in a typical atom? In the attempt to answer these
J.J. Thomson proposed his Plum pudding or raisin bun model
(Negative electrons in a positive framework.).
Some changes made to Dalton’s theory:

Dalton’s Theory: Atoms cannot be subdivided, created or destroyed. They are indivisible.
Modern Atomic Theory: Atoms cannot be subdivided, created, or destroyed in ordinary chemical
11 4 14 1
reactions. But, these changes can occur in nuclear reactions ( 5B + 2He → 6C + 1H ).
Besides, atoms are made up of sub-atomic particles (e.g. electrons and protons).

Dalton’s Theory: Atoms of a given element are identical in size, mass and other properties; atoms of
different elements differ in size, mass and other properties.
Modern Atomic Theory: Atoms of an element have a characteristic average mass, which is unique to that
14 12
element. For example, isotopes are atoms of the same element with different mass ( 6C , 6C )

Alpha rays/particles got discovered around this time. These particles had a positive charge and physicists
thought that they consisted of the positive parts of the Thompson atom.
1911 Ernest Rutherford became interested in studying Through this scattering experiment/gold
how positively charged alpha particles (radioactive foil experiment Rutherford discovered
particles) interacted with solid matter. He thought of the atomic nucleus. He identified the
bombarding atoms with these alpha rays, figuring that particles of the nucleus as discrete
this experiment could investigate the inside of the positive charges of matter. He named
atom (sort of like a probe). He used Radium as the them protons, from the Greek for 'first',
source of the alpha particles and shinned them onto for they consisted of the first identified
the atoms in gold foil. Behind the foil sat a fluorescent building blocks of the nuclei of all
screen for which he could observe the alpha particles elements. He found the protons mass at
impact. Based on the J.J. Thomson model of the 1,836 times as great as the mass of the
atom, he expected only minor deflections of alpha electron.
particles. He thought that the massive (relative to
electrons) and fast moving alpha particles would be
only altered by a nearby encounter or collision with an
electron. As expected, most of the alpha particles
passed straight through the gold foil, but some
particles were scattered at small angles, and on few
occasions they were deflected at very large angles.
He concluded that there was a tiny, dense region, Planetary or Solar System Model or
which he called the nucleus, centrally located within Nuclear Model
the atom that contained all of the atom’s positively proposed by Ernest Rutherford
charge particles. (Atoms are mostly empty space.
Negative electrons orbit a positive
nucleus.)

In 1920, Rutherford refined the concept

of the nucleus. He concluded tat the
nucleus contained positively charged
particles called protons. A proton is a
sub atomic particle carrying a charge
equal to but opposite that of electron
(+1).

However, this model still could not

account for all the atom’s mass.
Rutherford postulated the existence of
uncharged particles to account of the
total mass of the atom.
In 1932, James Chadwick showed that the nucleus also contained another sub-atomic particle, a
neutral particle called neutron. A neutron has a mass nearly equal to that of the proton, but it
carries no electrical charge.
But there appeared something terribly wrong with Rutherford's model of the atom. The
theory of electricity and magnetism predicted that opposite charges attract each other
and the electrons should gradually lose energy and spiral inward. Moreover, physicists
reasoned that the atoms should give off a rainbow of colors as they do so. But no
experiment could verify this rainbow.
1912 Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, came up with a theory that said the electrons do not spiral into the
nucleus and came up with some rules for what does happen. Bohr said, "Here's some rules that
seem impossible, but they describe the way atoms operate, so let's pretend they're correct and
use them." Bohr came up with two rules which agreed with experiment:

RULE 1: Electrons can orbit only at certain allowed distances from the nucleus.
 RULE 2: Atoms emits energy when an electron jumps from a higher-energy orbit to a lower-
energy orbit. Also, an atom absorbs energy when an electron gets boosted from a low-energy
orbit to a high-energy orbit.
Bohr introduces the theory that electrons orbit the nucleus of the atom.

Bohr Model or Orbit Model proposed by Neils Bohr (Electrons orbit the nucleus in “shells” )

By the 1920s, further experiments showed that Bohr's model of the atom had some troubles. Bohr's atom
seemed too simple to describe the heavier elements.
Bohr and Arnold Sommerfeld expanded the The Pauli’s exclusion principle states that no two
original Bohr model to explain these variations. electrons in an atom can have the same values of all
According to the Bohr-Sommerfeld model, not the four quantum numbers. If one electron in the atom
only do electrons travel in certain orbits but the has the quantum numbers n = 1, l = 0, ml = 0 and ms =
orbits have different shapes and the orbits could +1/2, no other electron can have the same four
tilt in the presence of a magnetic field. Orbits can quantum numbers. In other words, we cannot place
appear circular or elliptical, and they can even two electrons with the same value of 's' in a '1s' orbital.
swing back and forth through the nucleus in a Secondly, each orbital can accommodate a maximum
straight line. The orbit shapes and various angles of two electrons only if their spins are of opposite
to the magnetic field could only have certain directions. Each sub shell holds a maximum of two
shapes, similar to an electron in a certain orbit. electrons in an orbital.
The conditions of the state of the orbit got
assigned quantum numbers. The three states
discussed so far consist of: orbit number (n), orbit
shape (l) and orbit tilt (m).

In 1924 an Austrian physicist, Wolfgang Pauli

predicted that an electron should spin (kind of like
a top) while it orbits around the nucleus. The
electron can spin in either of two directions. This
spin consisted of a fourth quantum number:
electron spin (s).
In 1924 a Frenchman named Louis de Broglie thought about particles of matter. He thought that if light can
exist as both particles and waves, why couldn't atom particles also behave like waves?
1926 Schrodinger developed wave mechanics. He had an interesting idea: Why
not go all the way with particle waves and try to form a model of the atom on
that basis? His theory worked kind of like harmonic theory for a violin string
except that the vibrations traveled in circles.
1927 Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle explained that one could not know both
the velocity and the position of a particle. Wave theory is proven.

Electron Cloud Model or Quantum Mechanical Model proposed by Louis de

Broglie & Erwin Schrodinger

The quantum mechanical model describes the distribution of electrons in

orbitals, defined simply as any region in space where there is the greatest
probability of finding the electrons.
1964 The quark is discovered by Zweig and Gell-Mann.

Properties of the Sub-Atomic Particles

Particle Symbol Location Relative electrical Relative Mass Actual Mass,
charge g
Electron e- In the space surrounding 1- 1/1840 9.11 x 10 -28
 the nucleus
Proton p+ In the nucleus 1+ 1 1.673 x 10-24
Neutron no In the nucleus o 1 1.675 x 10-24

 Most of the mass of the atom is in the nucleus (protons and neutrons = nucleons)
 Electrons are found outside of the nucleus (the electron cloud)
 Most of the volume of the atom is empty space.

In physics, subatomic particles are the particles composing nucleons and atoms. There are two types of
subatomic particles: elementary particles and composite particles.

Elementary particles of the Standard Model include:

 Six "flavors" quarks: up, down, bottom, top, strange, and charm;
 Six types of leptons: electron, electron neutrino, muon, muon neutrino, tauon, tauon neutrino;
 Twelve gauge bosons (force carriers): the photon of electromagnetism, the three W and Z bosons of
the weak force, and the eight gluons of the strong force.

Composite subatomic particles (such as protons or atomic nuclei) are bound states of two or more elementary
particles. For example, a proton is made of two up quarks and one down quark and a neutron is made of one
up quark and two down quarks. Composite particles include all hadrons. These, in turn, are composed of
baryons (e.g., protons and neutrons) and mesons.

Quarks
Quarks are the fundamental constituents of hadrons and interact via the strong interaction. Hadrons are
defined as strongly interacting composite particles. Hadrons are either:
 Composite fermions, in which case they are called baryons.
 Composite bosons, in which case they are called mesons.
Quark models, first proposed in 1964 independently by Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig (who called
quarks "aces"), describe the known hadrons as composed of valence quarks and/or antiquarks, tightly bound
by the color force, which is mediated by gluons. A "sea" of virtual quark-antiquark pairs is also present in each
hadron.
Quarks are the only known carriers of fractional charge, but because they combine in groups of three
(baryons) or with their antiparticle (mesons), only integer charge is observed in nature. Their respective
antiparticles are the antiquarks which are identical except for the fact that they carry the opposite electric
charge (for example the up quark carries charge + 2⁄3, while the up antiquark carries charge − 2⁄3), color charge,
and baryon number. There are six flavours of quarks; the three positively charged quarks are called up-type
quarks and the three negatively charged quarks are called down-type quarks.

Charge
Name Symbol Antiparticle Mass (GeV/c2)
e
up u u +2⁄3 1.5–3.3 MeV/c2
down d d −1⁄3 3.5–6.0 MeV/c2
2
charm c c + ⁄3 1,160–1,340
1
strange s s − ⁄3 70–130 MeV/c2
2
top t t + ⁄3 169,100–173,300
1
bottom b b − ⁄3 4,130–4,370
Examples of Baryons (3 quarks):
Proton = 2 up + 1 down = 2 (+2⁄3) + 1 (−1⁄3) = (+4/3) – 1/3 = 1+ electric charge
Neutron = 1 up + 2 down = 2 (−1⁄3) + 2(+2⁄3) = (-2/3) + 2/3 = 0 electric charge

Leptons
Leptons do not interact via the strong interaction. There are six leptons in total; the three charged
leptons are called electron-like leptons, while the neutral leptons are called neutrinos. They appear to be point-
like particles without internal structure. The best known lepton is the electron.

Atomic Numbers and Mass Numbers

Z EA
The atomic number (Z), also known as the proton number, is the number of protons found in the
nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally
represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element. In an atom of neutral
charge, atomic number is equal to the number of electrons.
The mass number (A), also called atomic mass number or nucleon number, is the total number of
protons and neutrons (together known as nucleons) in an atomic nucleus. Because protons and neutrons both
are baryons, the mass number A is identical with the baryon number B as of the nucleus as of the whole atom
or ion.
The atomic number, Z, should not be confused with the mass number, A, which is the total number of
protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. The number of neutrons, N, is known as the neutron number
of the atom; thus, A = Z + N. Since protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass (and the mass of
the electrons is negligible for many purposes), the atomic mass of an atom is roughly equal to A.

Accounting of sub-atomic particles of atoms

Element Number of particles
Protons =Z Electrons= Z Nucleons (proton + neutron) =A Neutron = N = (A-Z)

2He4; z =2; A= 4 2 2 4 2
2 11 11 23 12
11Na ;z =11;A=23
133 55 55 133 78
55Cs ; z=55; A=133

Isotopes
Isotopes are atoms of the same element that differ only in the number of neutrons. Since the neutron is
about 1.0087 amu (the proton is 1.0073), different isotopes have different masses.

Carbon Isotopes
All atoms of the element Carbon (C) have 6 protons and 6 Protons =6
electrons. The number of protons in the carbon atom is Electrons = 6
denoted by a subscript on the left of the atomic symbol
(Atomic number, Z):

The "Mass Number" is a superscript on the left of the atomic Protons =6

symbol. It denotes the sum of the number of protons and Electrons = 6
neutrons in the particular isotope being described.
12 Proton + neutron =
6C refers to an isotope of carbon, which has (as expected
12
for the element carbon) 6 protons, and 6 neutrons. (carbon –12)
Neutron = 6
This isotope is also known simply as "carbon 12". Carbon 12
is the most common form of carbon (~99% of all carbon).

C14
6 refers to an isotope of carbon, which has 6 protons Protons =6
(atomic number), and 8 neutrons (8=14-6). Electrons = 6

This isotope is also known simply as "carbon 14". Proton + neutron =

(carbon-14) 14

Neutron = 8
An atom of a specific isotope (atom of a specific mass number) is called a nuclide.
Isobar
Isobar refers to atoms with the same mass number (A) but different atomic number (Z). Isobars have
the same number of nucleons (protons + neutrons).

6 C14 7 N14
Protons = 6 Protons = 7
Electrons = 6 Electrons = 7
Nucleons = 14 Nucleon = 14
Neutron = 8 Neutrons = 7

Isotone
Isotone refers to atoms with the same number of neutrons.

9F18 8O17
Protons = 9 Protons = 8
Electrons = 9 Electrons = 8
Nucleons = 18 Nucleon = 17
Neutron = 9 Neutrons = 9

Accounting of sub-atomic particles for ions

Ion Number of particles
Electrons Protons =Z Nucleons (proton + neutron) =A Neutron = N = (A-Z)

Atom: 11Na23
11

11 23 12
+
Cation: Na
(less 1 electron) 11-1 =10

Atom: 9F19
9

Anion: F- 9 19 10
(add 1 electron) 9 + 1 = 10

Mass of individual atoms

The atomic mass of an element is the weighted average mass of the isotopes of that element. For
example, the atomic mass of chlorine is 35.453 amu. Chlorine exists naturally as a mixture of about 75.770%
of chlorine-35 and 24.230% of chlorine-37.
Weighted average atomic mass of chlorine
= (atomic mass of chlorine-35 x 75.770%) + (atomic mass of chlorine-37 x 24.230%)
= {[(17p+ x 1.0073 amu) + (18 no x 1.0087 amu)] x 75.770%} +
{[(17p+ x 1.0073 amu) + (20 no x 1.0087 amu)] x 24.230%}
= (35.2807 amu x 75.770%) + (37.2981 amu x 24.230%)
= 26.732 amu + 9.063 amu = 35.795 amu

Because atomic mass is a weighted average, the chlorine-35 atoms, which exist in greater abundance
than the chlorine-37 atoms, have a greater effect in determining the atomic mass.

Avogadro’s number and Mole:

Element: 1 mole = 6.022 x 1023 atom Ion: 1 mole = 6.022 x 1023 ions
Compound: 1 mole = 6.022 x 1023 molecules