Chemistry

Unit 2: Atoms and Elements

Lesson 1: Modeling Atomic
Structure
 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Can You Explain the Phenomenon?

Watch the video to observe the Northern Lights.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Can You Explain the Phenomenon?

APPLY
How do you
think matter in
the atmosphere
can cause a
phenomenon
such as the
northern lights?

The aurora borealis lights up the

sky with color.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Comparing Elements Based on Their Properties

• The gases in Earth's
atmosphere are an example
of matter in the Earth
system. Matter can be
classified as either a pure
substance or a mixture. The
metals shown in the photo
are all pure substances.
• The metals shown in the photo are all elements, or pure
substances that cannot be broken down into simpler
substances.

• The particles that make up these elements are

called atoms. Each element contains only one type of atom.
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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Comparing Elements Based on Their Properties

Hands-On Lab: Exploring Reactivity

RESEARCH QUESTION
What can observing properties such as
reactivity tell us about the atoms that make
up an element?

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Comparing Elements Based on Their Properties

How might the properties of different elements,

such as the noble gases and the metals you
tested, be related to the phenomenon of the
aurora polaris?

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

Watch a negatively charged balloon attract a stream of water.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

• Like charges repel, and opposite

charges attract. Thus, the
attraction between a negatively
charged balloon and a stream of
water is evidence that opposite
charges are present.

• The discovery of the electron led

scientists to develop a new atomic
model. In this model, called the
“plum pudding model,” negatively
charged electrons are evenly
distributed within a mass of
positively charged material.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

• The results of the gold foil experiment led to a new model of the atom.

• In the center of the atom is a small, dense, positively-charged core, or

nucleus, that makes up most of an atom's mass. The much lighter
electrons surround the nucleus in a relatively large electron cloud.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

Explain how evidence from the gold foil experiment supports each of
these claims. How can you apply these ideas to the atomic model in your
unit project?

• atoms have a very small, dense core

• the core of an atom has a positive charge
• atoms are made up of mostly empty space

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

• The gold foil experiment showed that the nucleus of an atom contains a
small, dense nucleus with a positive charge.

• Further studies of the nucleus showed that it is composed of protons,

which are positively charged particles, and neutrons, which have no
charge.

• Protons and neutrons are much larger than electrons, with a proton having
about 1836 times the mass of an electron. The much smaller, negatively-
charged electrons surround the nucleus.

INFER
If atoms are neutral (have no overall charge), what can you infer about
the number of protons and electrons in an atom? How should these
numbers compare? Explain your thinking.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
• Atoms are too small to observe directly. So, to help scientists understand
the structure of atoms, they develop models.

• Atomic models are useful because they allow scientists to visualize the
structure of atoms. However, it can be difficult to develop a model of the
atom that is to scale.

PREDICT
What types of information do you think scientists can gain from a
computational, physical, or two-dimensional atomic model that is not to
scale?

COLLABORATE
Work with a partner to develop criteria for situations that require a
scale model or do not require a scale model.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Investigating Atomic Structure

Summarize what you have learned about the structure of

the atom. How do you think atomic structure might be
related to the aurora polaris phenomenon?

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Using Numbers to Describe Atoms

PREDICT
Think back to the metals you studied in the hands-on lab.
Which subatomic particles do you think most influenced
reactivity? How might the numbers of subatomic particles
in each type of atom explain your observations?

• One way that scientists identify atoms is by the number of

protons in the nucleus. The number of protons in an atom's
nucleus is called the atomic number.

• Each element has a certain number of protons, so this means

the atomic number of an atom corresponds to a specific
element.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Using Numbers to Describe Atoms

Summarize what you have learned about how numbers can

be used to describe subatomic particles in atoms. Then
write an explanation of how this information will apply to
the atomic model you are developing for your unit project.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Using Numbers to Describe Atoms

• Atoms of the same element with different numbers of

neutrons are called isotopes. Different isotopes of the same
element have the same number of protons and electrons, but
each isotope has a different number of neutrons.

• Today, scientists measure the mass of atoms in unified atomic

mass units (u). Originally, scientists defined the atomic mass
unit as being the mass of a proton or neutron.

• The atomic mass unit is not the same as the mass of a proton
or neutron because the mass of the carbon atom also includes
the very small but necessary mass of the electrons.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Using Numbers to Describe Atoms

Math Connection
• When using the periodic table to determine the atomic mass
of an element, it is common for people to confuse average
atomic mass and mass number. Imagine you wanted to
determine the number of neutrons in a carbon atom. If you
referenced the periodic table, you would see that the average
atomic mass of carbon is 12.01 u.

COLLABORATE
With a partner, write a brief explanation that another
student could reference when using the periodic table to
calculate the number of neutrons in atoms of a certain
element. Explain how average atomic mass differs from
mass number and how this difference should be considered
when using the periodic table as a reference tool.
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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Using Numbers to Describe Atoms

How might the fact that each element has a unique atomic
number help explain the different colors in the aurora
polaris? Think about what information the atomic number
provides about the subatomic particles in an atom.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Identifying Elements Using a Flame Test

Hands-On Lab: Identifying Elements Using a Flame Test

RESEARCH QUESTION
How can scientists use the properties of elements to
identify unknown substances?

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Identifying Elements Using a Flame Test

How might the different colors you observed in the

flame test be related to the different colors produced in
the aurora polaris?

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Modeling Electron Configurations

• In the Bohr model of the atom, electrons circle the nucleus

only in allowed paths. The development of a new model of the
atom, called the quantum mechanical model, would show that
electrons are actually located in three-dimensional areas
around the nucleus.

• An orbital can hold up to two electrons. The first subshell,

called 1s, has the lowest energy and contains one orbital that
is spherical in shape. The second energy shell has two
subshells, labeled s and p.

• The electrons occupying the outermost energy shell are

called valence electrons.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Modeling Electron Configurations

• The electron configuration for an element can be written

using a notation that expresses numbers of electrons as
superscripts following the names of the subshells they
occupy.

• Valence electrons will most often interact with the electrons

of other atoms in chemical reactions.

• To write an element's electron-dot notation, first determine

the number of valence electrons in an atom of that element.
Because the periodic table is organized by proton number, it
also reflects patterns in numbers of valence electrons.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Modeling Electron Configurations

Patterns
• The periodic table shows all the elements arranged by their
atomic number. Because atomic number is equal to the
number of protons and electrons in atoms of an element, the
periodic table can be used to predict chemical properties of
different elements.

INFER
Based on their location on the periodic table, what can you
infer about the chemical properties of elements in Group 2
of the periodic table? Would you expect these elements to
readily react with other substances as compared to other
groups? Explain your answer.

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Modeling Electron Configurations

Two elements that make up gases in Earth's atmosphere are

nitrogen and oxygen. Use the periodic table to explain how
many valence electrons these elements have. How might
differences in the electron distribution of these elements
relate to the aurora polaris?

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Continue Your Exploration

Choose one of the paths below to continue your exploration:

• Mass Spectrometry

• Evidence for the Atomic Model

• Practice with Electron Configurations

• Cryo-Electron Microscopy

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 Unit 2 Lesson 1

Can You Explain the Phenomenon?

Refer to your notes in your Evidence Notebook to make a claim

about how atomic structure is related to the different colors
seen in the aurora polaris. Your explanation should include a
discussion of the following points:

Claim How is atomic structure related to the different

colors displayed as part of the aurora polaris phenomenon?

Evidence Give specific evidence to support your claim.

Reasoning Explain, in detail, how the evidence you cited

supports your claim.

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Image Credits

Unit 2 Lesson 1

video: Aurora Borealis ©vichie81/Creatas Video/Getty Images; Aurora Borealis

©Sjoerd van der Wal/iStock/Getty Images Plus; three metals reacting in test
tubes ©Turtle Rock Scientific/Science Source; video: balloon with water closer
©HMH; plum pudding atom model ©magnetix/Shutterstock

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