Atomic Theory and Structure

Physics
Atomic Theory
Dalton’s Atomic Theory
• John Dalton developed an atomic theory in
the 1808
• All matter is composed of atoms which are the
indivisible building blocks of matter and
cannot be destroyed
• All atoms of an element are identical to each
other and different from atoms of other
elements
Daltons Atomic Theory
• Compounds are formed when two or more
different kinds of atoms join together
• A chemical reaction results in the rearrangement
of atoms in the reactant and product compounds
Atomic Theory
• Russian scholar Dmitri Mendeleev showed
that if elements were arranged in order of
increasing atomic mass ,a periodic repetition
of similar chemical properties occurred thus
the first periodic table
• Atomic theory has changed over the years
• Atoms can be broken down into even smaller
parts
Atomic Theory
• In the late 1890s J. J Thomson concluded that
electrons were an integral part of all atoms
• Ernest Rutherford in 1911 disproved Thomson’s of the
atom and introduced the nuclear model
• Niels Bohr improved on Rutherford’s description of the
atom in which electrons revolved around the nucleus
• With the development of high energy particle
accelerators or “atom smashers” the structure of the
atomic nucleus is slowly being mapped and identified
Atomic structure
• Atom is composed of three subatomic particles;
protons, neutrons and electrons
• The electrons surround a nucleus that contains
protons and neutrons
• Electrons are arranged in energy levels or shells,
and different energy levels can hold different
numbers of electrons
• Protons have a positive charge, electrons have a
negative charge, and neutrons are electrically
neutral
Atomic Structure
• Protons and neutrons have almost the same mass, while
the electrons are much lighter
• Number of electrons and protons is always the same in
an atom hence atoms have no overall net electric charge
• The number of protons determines the element thus
the atomic number
• Atoms that have the same number of protons but
different number of neutrons are called isotopes
• The chemical reactivity of an atom is dependent upon
the number of electrons and protons
Atomic structure
• Electrons are arranged in different shells
around the nucleus. The innermost shell - or
lowest energy level - is filled first
• Innermost shell can hold two electrons, the 2nd
eight electrons and the 3rd eight electrons and
so on
• Electrons can only exist in certain shells which
represent different electron binding energies
or energy levels
Atomic Structure
• For identification purposes electron orbital shells
are given codes K,L,M,N,O and so forth to represent
relative electron binding energies of electrons from
closest to the nucleus to farthest from the nucleus
• Complexity of electron configuration of atoms
increases as one progresses through the periodic
table
• In normal state atoms are electrically neutral i.e.
equal number of electrons in the orbital shells and
protons in the nucleus
Atomic Structure
• If an atom has an extra electron or has an
electron removed it is said to be ionized
• Ionization is the removal or addition of an
orbital electron from an atom
Electron Arrangement
• The maximum number of electrons can exist in
each shell increases with the distance of the
shell from the nucleus
• Maximum number electrons per shell is
governed by the formula 2n2
• What is the maximum number of electrons that
can exist in the O shell?
• Physicists call the shell number n, the principal
quantum number
Electron Arrangement
• What determines the periodic number and the group
number
• No outer shell can occupy more than eight electrons
• Which group to atoms with filled outer shells lie in?
• You might expect an electron would spontaneously fly
off from the nucleus
• Centripetal force prevents this from happening
• The force created by the electron velocity around the
nucleus is balanced out by the centripetal force
Electron Binding Energy
• Strength of attachment of an electron to the
nucleus is called electron binding energy
designated Eb
• K-shell electrons have higher binding energies
that L shell electrons
• Not all K shell electrons of all atoms have the
same binding energy. Why?
• The greater the total number of electrons in an
atom, the more tightly each is bound
Atomic theory
Electronic Structure and Periodic Table
• Moving across each period, you can see that
the number of occupied energy levels is the
same as the period number
• As you go across each period from left to right,
an energy level gradually becomes filled with
electrons
• The electrons in the outermost occupied shell
(or shells) determine the chemical properties
of the atom; it is called the valence shell
Periodic table
Periodic Table

Atomic Theory and Structure

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