Combined science chemistry section

MATTER
 Dalton suggested the existence of atoms in all matter, thus mater is made up of atoms.
 An atom is the smallest unit of an element.
 Atoms cannot be divided any further or cannot be created or destroyed.
 Are identical or have same properties if are of the same substance
 Are too small and cannot be seen using the naked eye.
 Atoms consist of sub-atomic particles. These are as follows:

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MATTER
 Dalton suggested the existence of atoms in all matter, thus mater is made up of atoms.
 An atom is the smallest unit of an element.
 Atoms cannot be divided any further or cannot be created or destroyed.
 Are identical or have same properties if are of the same substance
 Are too small and cannot be seen using the naked eye.
 Atoms consist of sub-atomic particles. These are as follows:

Electrons
 Negatively charged particles that revolve around the nucleus. They are found in shells.

Protons
These are positively charged particles found in nucleus.
Proton number for hydrogen atom = 1
Proton number for helium atom = 2
Neutrons
 These are neutral (no charge) and found in nucleus.
 The nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons.
c612 Meaning carbon has 12 nucleons of which 6 are protons. C is the
- E.g. the element carbon may be represented like this

chemical symbol for the element.

Define relative mass / mass number
- Is the number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus (nucleons)

Define the proton number / atomic number

- Is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
- The atom has no charge (electrically neutral) because the number of electrons
is equal the number of protons.

Isotopes are atoms of the same element with the same atomic /proton
number, but different atomic mass.

E.g. Carbon 12; 13 and Carbon 14.

Isotopes have same proton number, but have different numbers of neutrons
hence their masses are different.
The fact that they have different numbers of neutrons does not make a
difference in the way they react during chemical reactions. The chemical
properties of an atom depends on the number of electrons and their
arrangement.
Using the abundances of chlorine (75% of all chlorine on earth is chlorine – 35; 25% is chlorine –
37), then;

THE PERIODIC TABLE

 Scientists have developed a modern way of arranging elements by their proton numbers.
 Elements are arranged in order of increasing proton number.
 Elements with similar properties are in the same column or group.
table.

GROUP PROPERTIES
- The element in each number group show trends in their properties.
- The outer shell electrons are also called valency electrons and their number shows how elements
behave. All elements in a group have similar properties.
- Some groups have special names;
Group I – alkali metals
Group II – alkaline earth metals
Group VII – halogens
Group VIII – noble gases
Group I Elements – The Alkali Metals
Physical properties
- They are soft solid and can be easily cut. Softness increase down the group.

- They are grey solids with shiny silvery surfaces when freshly cut and turn dull when exposed to
air because they are very reactive
- Melting and boiling points decrease down the group
- Have low densities which increase down the group.
- They are good conductors of heat and electricity
Chemical properties
- Form ionic compounds in which the metal ion has a charge of +1.
- React violently with chlorine, water and oxygen
- Produce soluble white compounds which dissolve in water to give colourless solutions.
- They become reactive down the group because the valency electron so it is lost more easily due
to less strong force of attraction.
Group II Elements – The Alkali Earth Metals
Physical properties
- They are all shiny, silvery white metals that are less metallic in character than group 1 metals.
- Melting and boiling points decrease down the group
- Have very low densities that decrease down the group

Chemical properties
- Form ionic bonds
- Are reactive but less than group 1 metals. Reactivity increase down the group
- React with water to form alkaline solutions
Group VII Elements – The Halogens
Physical properties
- Form diatomic molecules (containing two atoms) e.g. F2, Cl2
- Boiling points increases down the group
- Form coloured gases. Fluorine is pale yellow and chlorine is a green gas, bromine forms a red
vapour and iodine a purple vapour. Colour gets darker down the group
- Do not conduct electricity and heat
- Are poisonous/toxic non metallic elements
- Density increases down the group

Chemical properties
- React with metals to form halides. They are very reactive which decrease down the group
because the smaller the atom, the easier it is to attract the electron – so the more reactive the
element will be.

- Form acidic solutions

- A halogen will displace a less reactive halogen from a solution of its halide
Uses of halogens
- Water purification e.g. chlorine
- Making chlorofluorocarbons (aerosols) e.g. fluorine
- Making pesticides e.g. fluorine
- Making hydrochloric acid e.g. Chlorine
- Bleaching agents e.g. chlorine in wood pulps
- Flame retardants e.g. bromine
- Refrigerants and lubricants e.g. F
- Disinfectants e.g. Cl, Br and I
Group 0 Elements – The Noble Gases
- A non-metal group
- They exist as colourless which occur naturally in air and are insoluble in water
- Low melting and boiling points which increases down the group
- Have very low densities which increase down the group
- Exist as mono-atomic molecules
- They are unreactive because they have full outer shell, making them safe to use.
The electronic configuration of the first 20 elements
- Electronic configuration is the arrangement of electrons in an atom. The electronic
configuration of any element can be deduced by finding its position in the periodic table.
- For example: find the position of aluminium on the periodic table. It is in group III and period 3.
The means that it has three electrons in the outer shell which is the third shell. The first two shells
are full. Its electronic configuration is 2.8.3

- Each energy shell can only have a certain number of electrons. The energy shells become larger,
the further they are from the nucleus. The larger a shell, the more electrons it can hold. The shells
fill in order, from lowest energy level to highest energy level
 First atomic shell is small and can only accommodate two electrons.
 Second, third and fourth shells can accommodate 8 electron
 The first shell is filled before an electron can go into the second shell

To write electronic configuration: Sodium example

Look up the atomic number in the periodic table. The number is 11.
The number of electrons and protons are equal in neutral sodium atom.
Arrange the electrons in shells. Fill up the lower energy shell before going to the outer one.
In sodium, the electrons are arranged as two (2) in the first shell, eight in the second shell and
one in the third. This is written as: (n,n,n) i.e. 2,8,1

Significance of the electronic configuration

The number of electrons in the outmost shell of an atom determines the chemical properties of
an element including how it forms bonds with other elements.
There are a group of element called noble gases eg. Helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and
radon. All have 8 electrons in the outmost shell except helium which has only 2.
The gases are completely inert or nonreactive.

CHEMICAL BONDING
- A chemical bond is a force that holds atoms together to form a compound or molecule
- The electrons involved in bonding are ones found in the outermost shell of the atom (valence
electrons).
- Valency is the number of electrons that an atom must gain or lose to obtain an outer electron
shell configuration that is the same as that of the nearest noble gas.
- Atoms combine with other atoms so that they have a stable configuration (noble gas
configuration) by donating, accepting and sharing electrons

Ionic bonding
- Occurs between a metal and a non-metal
- Involves the transfer of electrons from metals to non-metals. Atoms of metal donate
electrons to form a positive ion. Atoms of non-metals accept electrons to form a negative ion.
- The positive and negative ions are attracted to each other through electrostatic forces,
forming an ionic bond.

- When elements combine to form ionic compounds, the positive charge on the metal ions
must be balanced by the negative charge on the non-metals.
- The charge on an ion is equal to its valency i.e. the charge on the metal ion is equal to its
group number and the charge on a non-metal ion is equal to 8 minus the group number.
Sodium and Chlorine
- Sodium atoms have one electron in their outer shell. They will lose this electron during
bond formation and have an ionic charge of +1. Chlorine atoms have seven outer electrons.
They gain one electron during bond formation and have an ionic charge of – 1. Hence one
sodium atoms and one chlorine atom combine to form sodium chloride,
formula NaCl.

Magnesium and oxygen

- Magnesium atoms have two electrons in their outer shell. They will lose these electrons
during bond formation and have an ionic charge of +2. Oxygen atoms have six outer
electrons. They gain two electrons during bond formation and have an ionic charge of – 2.
Hence one magnesium atoms and one oxygen atom combine to form magnesium oxide,
formula MgO.
Sodium and oxygen
- Sodium atoms have one electron in their outer shell. They will lose this electron during bond
formation and have an ionic charge of +1. Oxygen atoms have six outer electrons.

They gain two electrons during bond formation and have an ionic charge of – 2. Hence two
sodium atoms and one oxygen atom combine to form sodium oxide, formula Na2O.

Properties of Ionic bonds

Hard solids at room temperature
High boiling point because of strong attraction forces
Conduct electricity in molten state because ions are free to move
Water soluble

Covalent bonding
- Involves the sharing of electrons between non-metalsso that each atom attains a noble gas
configuration.
- When elements combine to form covalent compounds the valency of each element
determines how many of each atom combine