1.

1 Atomic structure and isotopes

Resources needed:
Copy of Introduction to chemistry workbook for each student
Lesson plan
Starter: Students turn to page 59 of the workbook and complete the crossword (10 mins)
Main:
Students listen to an explanation of how the workbooks are organised (10 mins)
Review keywords from the crossword (10 mins)
Students listen to a short explanation of the structure of an atom, most of this is revision from GCSE (10
mins)
Students complete the table on page 60 of the workbook (10 mins)

Review answers (5 mins)

Students listen to a short explanation of the history of the atom (5 mins)
Students watch 3 videos on the history of the atom and answer video questions in their workbooks.
(10 mins)
Students read the independent reading task and answer the questions. Finishing this is for homework.
(rest of lesson)
Plenary
Students answer 5 questions based on the lesson. There is space at the back of their workbooks to do
this ( 5 mins)
Dr Alex Johnston, Southampton, Richard Taunton 6 th Form College
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

Today you will be reviewing some knowledge from GCSE on Atomic

structure and isotopes. But also extending it into A-level

Starter: Complete the crossword on page 59 of your new workbook

 OCR-A Chemistry Autumn term

Introduction to chemistry Introduction to organic

Enthalpy changes
chemistry

OCR-A Chemistry Spring-Summer term

Acids & bases The halogens and Rates of reaction and Organic synthesis
halogenoalkanes equilibrium
 Atomic Formulae and The periodic
structure equations table

Mass Amount of Electronic structure

1. Introduction to spectroscopy substance and ions
chemistry

Redox reactions Molecular Types of

& group 2 shape structures
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

Today you will be reviewing some knowledge from GCSE on

Atomic structure and isotopes. But also extending it into A-
level
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

The learning objectives for this lesson are:

• FC1i-Identify isotopes as atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons and different
masses

• FC1ii-Describe atomic structure in terms of the numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons for atoms and
ions, given the atomic number, mass number and any ionic charge
• FC2i&ii-Explain the term relative isotopic mass & relative atomic mass

The learning objectives for each lesson are taken from the specification for the
exam.
To really succeed at A-Level you need to keep track of what you know and what
you don’t know.
Your workbooks contain a checklist of all of the learning objectives for each topic
At the end of each lesson you should rate how well you can do each objective
To help you each objective is linked to a page in the revision guide.

All exam questions and mini-test questions are also linked to the learning objectives
Fill out the front of your workbook

This workbook covers this first half term

They are expensive to printout, if you lose it is on Moodle

and I will expect you to printout another copy.
Your workbook also contains a glossary at the back

As we go through we will highlight the keywords for

you to complete this
Your workbook also contains space for you to take notes

This means you don’t have to ask for paper

Complete the glossary at the back with the definitions

Atom

The smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist

Complete the glossary at the back with the definitions:

Element

Carbon Gold
Chlorine

An element is a substance consisting of atoms which all have the same number

of protons - i.e. the same atomic number

 Proton
A stable subatomic particle occurring in all atomic nuclei, with a positive

electric charge equal in magnitude to that of an electron

Neutron
A subatomic particle of about the same mass as a proton but without an

electric charge, present in all atomic nuclei except those of ordinary hydrogen

Electron
A stable subatomic particle with a charge of negative electricity, has a relative

mass 1/2000th that of a proton

 Nucleus
The positively charged central core of an atom, consisting of protons and

neutrons and containing nearly all its mass.

Atomic number
The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, which is characteristic of a

chemical element and determines its place in the periodic table. Also known as

an elements proton number

Isotope
Forms of the same element with the same number of protons, but different

numbers of neutrons
 Mass number
The total number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus. Different isotopes of

the same element have different mass numbers

Relative atomic mass (Ar)

The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element to one twelfth

of the mass of an atom of carbon-12. It is an average of the mass numbers of

all the different isotopes of that element

Before we begin, you can take notes in lessons,
but I prefer you to listen. The PowerPoints are
here for me to help explain concepts to you.
All of these points are in the revision guide and
part of your homework each week will be to
make notes from that.
If I want you to make an important note of
something I will put it in a red box
All of these PowerPoints will be on Moodle.
 The Atom
At GCSE you will have seen atoms represented like this

2He
4 23
11 Na
Mass number
(Number of Protons & neutrons)

X
Element symbol

Proton number
A
(Number of Protons) Z Numbers always on the
left-hand side
 At the back of your workbook is the periodic table you are given in the exam
Use only this one, not one on the wall or the revision guide.
Different tables may have relative atomic masses to a different number of decimal places
 Remember that the table
has a key which tells you
which number is which

But, not every relative

atomic mass is a nice
whole number.
The relative atomic mass
on the periodic table is an
average of the mass
numbers of different
Sodium has an atomic number of 11
isotopes

It has a relative atomic mass of 23

It has 11 protons and

(23-11 = 12 neutrons)
The mass of all atoms are measured relatively to 1/12th the
mass of a carbon-12 atom.
(or 1/12th the mass of carbon has a relative mass of 1)

Carbon-12 Hydrogen Helium

Carbon has a relative mass of 12

Hydrogen has a relative mass of 1

This means 12 hydrogen atoms have the same mass as 1 carbon atom

Helium has a relative mass of 4

This means 3 helium atoms have the same mass as 1 carbon atom
 Isotopes of an element have the same atomic number,
but a different mass number due to different numbers of
neutrons.

Hydrogen has 3 different isotopes each one has a different

relative isotopic mass

Relative isotopic mass is the mass of the isotope compare to

1/12th the mass of Carbon-12
 Atomic Mass No. of No. of No. of
Atom Name
number number protons neutrons electrons

 12
C          
Carbon-12 6 12 6 6 6
6

 
   
13
C Carbon-13 6 13 6 7 6
6

   
14
C  
Carbon-14 6 14 6 8  6
6
Task: Turn to page 60 of the work book and complete the table

Atomic Mass No. of No. of No. of

Atom Name
number number protons neutrons electrons
 
         
Ar
40 Argon-40
18

 
         
27
Al Aluminium-27
13

   
9 19    
 
   
4     5
 
   
    17 18
 
   
  1   0
 
 From GCSE you will be familiar
with the atom looking like this

But the model of the atom we use has developed over time.
Task 1: Turn to page 61 of the work book. You are
going to watch 3 videos. Answer the questions

Task 2: Turn to pages 62-68 of the workbook, read

the information and answer the questions.
 29/08/23
Atomic structure – Video 1

Copy the video questions down:

1) In the 1860’s how many elements did scientists think there
were?
1) What did scientist think atoms were like in the 1860’s?

Video 1
 29/08/23
Atomic structure – Video 2

Copy the video questions down:

1) When did J. J Tomson discover the electron?
2) What did Thomson discover about the particles in the beam?
3) What did Thomson think the atom was like?

Video 2
 29/08/23
Atomic structure – Video 3

Copy the video questions down:

1) What did Rutherford use to produce his beams of particles?

2) What did they discover happened to a small umber of particles?

3) What did this mean the atom must look like?

Video 3
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

15 marks on each of your exam papers are for multiple choice questions. At the end
of each lesson we will practice these.

Turn to the back of your workbook. There is space for you to answer 5 questions.
Fill in the lesson title.
 29/08/23

Question 1

Which of these is the definition of isotope?

A Atoms of the same element with the same number of

neutrons, but different numbers of electrons

B Atoms of the same element with the same number of

electrons, but different numbers of protons

C Atoms of the same element with the same number of

protons, but different numbers of neutrons
Atoms of the same element with the same number of
D neutrons, but different numbers of protons
 29/08/23

Question 2

How many protons does this isotope of potassium have?

40
19 K
A 40

B 21
C 59
D 19
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Question 3

How many neutrons does this isotope of calcium have?

48
20 Ca
A 48

B 20
C 28
D 68
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Question 4

How many electrons does this isotope of sulphur have?

34
16 Ca
A 16

B 34
C 50
D 18
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Question 5

What is relative atomic mass?

The mass of one atom of an element to one twelfth of the mass

A of an atom of carbon-12.

The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element

B to one twelfth of the mass of an atom of carbon-12.
The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element
C to carbon-12.
The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element
D to one twelfth of the mass of an atom of carbon-13.
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

Get ready to mark your answers

 29/08/23

Question 1

Which of these is the definition of isotope?

A Atoms of the same element with the same number of

neutrons, but different numbers of electrons

B Atoms of the same element with the same number of

electrons, but different numbers of protons

C Atoms of the same element with the same number of

protons, but different numbers of neutrons
Atoms of the same element with the same number of
D neutrons, but different numbers of protons
 29/08/23

Question 2

How many protons does this isotope of potassium have?

40
19 K
A 40

B 21
C 59
D 19
 29/08/23

Question 3

How many neutrons does this isotope of calcium have?

48
20 Ca
A 48

B 20
C 28
D 68
 29/08/23

Question 4

How many electrons does this isotope of sulphur have?

34
16 Ca
A 16

B 34
C 50
D 18
 29/08/23

Question 5

What is relative atomic mass?

The mass of one atom of an element to one twelfth of the mass

A of an atom of carbon-12.

The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element

B to one twelfth of the mass of an atom of carbon-12.
The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element
C to carbon-12.
The ratio of the average mean mass of one atom of an element
D to one twelfth of the mass of an atom of carbon-13.
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

How did you do?

5 out of 5 = A
4 out of 5 = B

3 out of 5 = C
2 out of 5 = D

1 out of 5 = E
0 out of 5 = U
 29/08/23

Atomic structure and isotopes

The learning objectives for this lesson are:

• FC1i-Identify isotopes as atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons and different
masses

• FC1ii-Describe atomic structure in terms of the numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons for atoms and
ions, given the atomic number, mass number and any ionic charge
• FC2i&ii-Explain the term relative isotopic mass & relative atomic mass

The learning objectives for each lesson are taken from the specification for the
exam.
To really succeed at A-Level you need to keep track of what you know and what
you don’t know.