W1 – Atoms, Elements, and Compounds

Atomic Theory
In 1802, an English scientist named John Dalton presented the first atomic theory of matter.
Dalton proposed that:
- all matter is made up of tiny spherical particles, which are indivisible and indestructible.
- elements are materials containing one type of atom
- compounds are materials containing different types of atoms in fixed ratios.
Dalton’s atomic theory of matter was mostly correct. However, scientists now know that atoms are
not indivisible or indestructible (atoms are divisible and destructible). Atoms are made up of even
smaller subatomic particles.

The Bohr Model (Shell Model) of the Atom

In 1913, Niels Bohr developed a new model of the hydrogen atom that explained emission
spectra. The Bohr model proposed the following.
• Electrons revolve around the nucleus in fixed, circular orbits.
• The electrons’ orbits correspond to specific energy levels in
the atom.
• Electrons can only occupy fixed energy levels and cannot
exist between two energy levels.
• Orbits of larger radii correspond to energy levels of higher
energy
In the Bohr model, it is possible for electrons to move between the energy levels by absorbing or
emitting energy in the form of light.
Electron Shells
Scientists proposed that electrons were grouped in different energy levels, called electron shells.
- The electron shells are labelled with the number n = 1, 2, 3.
- The orbit in which an electron moves depended on the energy of the electron; electrons
with low energy are in orbits close to the nucleus while high-energy electrons are in outer
orbits.

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Emission Spectra
When fireworks explode, they create a spectacular show of coloured lights. The light is produced
by metal atoms that have been heated by the explosion. Metals with different electronic structure
emit different colours when heated.
When atoms are heated, they give off electromagnetic radiation or light.
If the light passes through a prism, it produces a spectrum with a black background and a number
of coloured lines. The apparatus is as shown:

These spectra are known as line spectra or emission spectra and are related to the electronic
structure within the atoms. Each emission spectrum is unique for a particular element and can be
used to identify different elements.
E.g., Emission spectrum of helium:

Each line in the spectrum corresponds to light of a different energy. Violet lines correspond to light
with high energies. As the colour of the light changes to blue, green, yellow and orange, the
energy of the light decreases. Red light is the lowest energy light visible to the human eye.
Emission spectra give clues about the electronic structure of atoms. Two important clues are:
1. Atoms of the same element produce identical line spectra
2. Each element has a unique line spectrum and therefore a unique electronic structure.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

ROYGBIV
Emission Spectra and the Shell Model
Heating an element can cause an electron to absorb energy and jump to a higher energy state:
the excited state.
- Shortly afterwards, the electron will return to ground state, releasing a fixed amount of
energy as light.
- The electron can return in a number of different ways; each one of the particular pathways
produces light of a particular colour in the emission spectrum
e.g. A hydrogen atom has one proton and one electron and usually, the electron exists in the n = 1
shell. This is the lowest energy state of the atom and is called the ground state.
- When the hydrogen atom is heated, the electron absorbs energy and jumps to a higher
energy level. This is known as an excited state.
- Shortly afterwards, the electron returns to the ground state.
- The electron may return directly to the ground state or may move to other energy levels
before returning to the ground state.
o For example, an electron in the n = 4 shell may move to the n = 2 shell before
returning to the n = 1 ground state. As the electron falls to a lower energy shell, it
emits energy in the form of light.
This energy is exactly equal to the energy difference between the two energy levels. Each
transition corresponds to a specific energy of light and therefore one line in the line spectrum of
hydrogen.

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The Emission Spectrum (release of energy)

• When electrons absorb very small packets of energy, electrons jump to a higher every level
(excited state).
• Electrons are unstable in the excited state and so return back to ground state shortly after.
• When electrons drop down to their original energy level (ground state) they release energy
in the form of light.

How did they discover the different energy levels in each shell?
Ionisation Energy
Evidence for the existence of energy levels in atoms was obtained from studies of successive
ionisation energies in atoms of different elements. The ionisation energy is the energy needed to
remove an electron from an atom. For example, a sodium atom contains 11 electrons. As each
successive electron is removed, these ionisation energies can be measured.
- The first electron to be removed has the lowest ionisation energy and is therefore the
easiest to remove.
- The following eight electrons are slightly more difficult, and finally, the last two require
substantially more energy to remove.

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Once scientists had determined the successive ionisation energies for a large number of
elements, they concluded that electrons were grouped in different energy levels, which they called
electron shells. Electrons in the same shell:
- are about the same distance from the nucleus
- have about the same energy.
The different energy levels or shells also hold different numbers of electrons. The arrangement of
these electrons around the nucleus is called the electronic configuration.

Electronic Configuration in Shells

In all atoms, the electrons are as close to the nucleus as possible. This
means that electrons will generally occupy inner shells before outer shells.
For example, an atom of lithium has three electrons. Two electrons will
occupy the first shell as that is all it can hold. The third electron is in the
second shell.
A Bohr diagram is a simple diagram that shows the arrangement of
electrons around the nucleus. It is possible to determine the basic electronic
configuration of any atom by applying the following rules:
1. Each shell can only contain a maximum number of electrons.
The number of electrons held by each shell:
Electron Shell (n) Maximum number of electrons
1 2
2 8
3 18
4 32
N 2n2

2. Lower energy shells fill before higher energy shells.

Using these rules, it is possible to accurately predict the electronic configuration of
the first 18 elements.
e.g. Oxygen has eight electrons, so the first shell will hold two electrons and the
second shell will hold six electrons. Its electronic configuration is therefore 2,6.
e.g. A sodium atom has 11 electrons. The first two electrons fill the first shell. Then
the next eight electrons fill the second shell. The remaining electron occupies the
third shell. The electronic configuration for this atom is written as 2,8,1 to indicate the
arrangement of electrons in each shell.
3. Electron shells fill in a particular order. The first two electrons go into the first shell. The next
eight electrons go into the second shell. The third shell can hold 18 electrons but once it
contains eight electrons, the next two electrons go into the fourth shell. Only then does the
third shell fill up.

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e.g. A potassium atom contains 19 electrons. The first shell holds two electrons. The
second shell holds eight and the third shell holds eight. The fourth shell will hold one
electron.

An atom with 30 electrons has electronic configuration of 2,8,18,2.

e.g. Apply the rules of the shell model to determine the electronic configuration of an atom with 15
electrons.

e.g. Apply the rules of the shell model to determine the electronic configuration of an atom with 28
electrons.

Valence Electrons
The outermost shell is called the valence shell.
- The valence shell contains valence electrons.
- Valence electrons require the least amount of energy to remove.
- Valence electrons are the electrons that are involved in chemical reactions.
- Atoms tend to lose, gain or share their valence electrons in order to achieve eight electrons
in their outer shell when they are involved with bonds (octet rule).

e.g. How many valence electrons are present in an atom of magnesium, which has an atomic
number of 12?

e.g. How many valence electrons are present in an atom of sulphur, which has an atomic number
of 16?

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The Schrödinger model of the Atom

The shell model of the atom that developed from the work of Niels Bohr mathematically explained
the lines in the emission spectrum of hydrogen atoms. However, there were some things that the
model could not explain.
Flaws of the Bohr Model:
1. It cannot accurately predict the emission spectra of atoms with more than one electron
2. It is unable to explain why electron shells can only hold 2n2 electrons
3. It does not explain why the fourth shell accepts two electrons before the third shell is
completely filled

The Schrödinger Model (Subshell Model) of the Atom

The fundamental difference between the Bohr model and the Schrödinger model of the atom is the
way they viewed the electron. Bohr viewed electrons as tiny, hard particles that revolve around the
nucleus in circular orbits. Schrödinger viewed electrons as having wave-like properties. In this
model, the electrons occupy a three-dimensional space around the nucleus known as an orbital.

By assuming that electrons have wave-like properties, Schrödinger found the following:
• There are major energy levels in an atom that which were called shells.
• These shells contain separate energy levels of similar energy, called subshells.
o He labelled these s, p, d and f subshells.
o Each subshell can only hold a certain number of electrons.
• Each subshell is made up of smaller components known as orbitals.
o Orbitals can be described as regions of space surrounding the nucleus of an atom in
which electrons may be found.
▪ An s-subshell has just one orbital
▪ A p-subshell has three orbitals
▪ A d-subshell has five orbitals and an f-subshell has seven
• The total number of orbitals in a shell = n2.
• Each orbital can contain a maximum of two electrons.
o Therefore, the total number of electrons per shell is given by 2n 2.

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Energy levels within an atom

Shell Number Subshells Orbitals in Maximum Maximum
(n) subshell number of number of
electrons per electrons per
subshell shell
1 1s 1 2 2
2 2s 1 2
2p 3 6 8
3 3s 1 2
3p 3 6
3d 5 10 18
4 4s 1 2
4p 3 6
4d 5 10
4f 7 14 32

Electronic Configurations and the Schrödinger Model

• The electronic configurations for the Schrödinger model are more complicated than the
electronic configurations of the Bohr model.
• The Schrödinger model specifies subshells that electrons occupy
The electronic configuration of a sodium atom is represented as so:

Sodium has 11 electrons. The electronic configuration that for sodium, there:
- are two electrons in the s-subshell in the first shell
- are two electrons in the s-subshell of the second shell
- are six electrons in the p-subshell of the second shell
- is one electron in the s-subshell of the third shell.
Rules when determining an atom’s electronic configuration:
1. Each shell can only contain a maximum number of electrons of 2n2, where n is the electron
shell number.
2. Lower energy shells fill before higher energy shells.
3. Electron shells fill in this particular order:

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Krypton has 36 electrons.

According to the order of subshell filling, its electronic configuration is:
1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p6
Although the 4s-subshell is filled before the 3d-subshell, the subshells of the third shell are usually
grouped together. Therefore, the electronic configuration for a krypton atom is written as:
1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p6

Exceptions: CHROMIUM and COPPER

Electronic configuration predicted Actual electronic configuration
according to the rules above
Chromium 1s22s22p63s23p63d54s1
Copper 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s1

Each orbital can hold two electrons. In the d-subshell there are five orbitals and therefore 10
electrons that can be held within them.
- As a subshell fills, a single electron is placed in each orbital first. Then a second electron is
entered into the orbitals until the filling process is complete.
There is very little difference in energy between 3d- and 4s-orbitals, and the 3d54s1 configuration
for chromium is slightly more stable than the 3d44s2 configuration. This is because each of the five
d-orbitals is exactly half filled with one d-orbital empty.
Similarly, for copper, the 3d104s1 arrangement with five completely filled d-orbitals is more stable
than the 3d94s2 configuration with partially filled d-orbitals.
E.g. Write the Schrödinger model of electronic configuration for a manganese atom with 25
electrons.

E.g. Write the Schrödinger model of electronic configuration for a vanadium atom with 23
electrons.

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