CHEM1011

Chemistry A: Atoms, Molecules and Energy

Introduction
A/Prof. John A. Stride
Dalton 131
j.stride@unsw.edu.au

Lecture content - Week 1

Atoms and their structure.
Nomenclature of simple organic and inorganic ions.
Stoichiometry and balancing equations
Mole Concept. Solution stoichiometry
Empirical vs molecular formula
Percentage composition by mass

Learning objectives - Week 1

After this week you should be able to:
Name the constituent parts of an atom, together with their relative masses and
charges.
Calculate numbers of protons, neutrons, electrons in atoms of a particular
element.
Name simple inorganic and organic compounds and write the formulae for
simple compounds from their name.
Write and balance simple chemical equations.
Understand the quantity amount of substance and the SI unit mole
Calculate molar mass from chemical formula.
Calculate mass fraction of each element in a compound and determine
empirical formula from mass fractions.
Calculate concentration of solutions in various units. Calculate yield in a
chemical reaction, identify the limiting reagent.

Why am I here?
Good question!

Chemistry: - The Central Science

ENGINEERING

MEDICINE

BIOLOGY

CHEMISTRY
MATHEMATICS

MATERIALS SCIENCE
PHYSICS

Chemistry (from Egyptian kme (chem), meaning "earth") is the science

concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as
the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions (Wikipedia)

Chemistry: - Study of Matter

MATTER

MIXTURES

ELEMENTS

anything that takes up

space and has mass

PURE SUBSTANCES

COMPOUNDS

How many times can you slice an apple pie?

looks delicious(!!), but

how many times could
you slice it before you
could no longer slice it?
(you can assume you
have a special knife with
zero thickness!)

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

less than 20
20-40
41-60
60-80
more than 80

Recommended viewing first 20 minutes of:

Carl Sagan's Cosmos: Episode 9 - The Lives of the Stars

THE ATOM
Democritus: There be atoms and there be void.
Aristotle:

Earth, Air, Fire & Water.

Alchemists: Base metals to gold.

Dalton:

First atomic theory

supported with observation
and measurement.

John Dalton
1766-1844

First page of Dalton's "A New System of

Chemical Philosophy", published in 1808

THE ATOM
DALTON'S ATOMIC THEORY: (1803) mostly correct.
All matter consists of tiny particles :- ATOMS
Atoms of one element can neither be subdivided nor
changed into atoms of another element.
Atoms can neither be created, nor destroyed.
All atoms of the same element are identical in size, mass
and other properties.
Atoms of one element differ in mass and other properties
from the atoms of other elements.
Chemical combination is the union of atoms of different
elements, the elements combine in simple, whole number
ratios with each other.

The atomic theory

Law of conservation of mass (Lavoisier)
No detectable gain or loss of mass occurs in chemical
reactions. Mass is conserved.

Law of definite proportions (J.L.Proust)

In a given chemical compound, the elements are always
combined in the same proportions by mass.

Law of multiple proportions (post Daltons theory)

Whenever two elements form more than one compound, the
different masses of one element that combine with the same
mass of the other element are in the ratio of small whole
numbers

The atomic theory fact!

Chemists no longer talk of
atomic theory, we
talk of atomic fact
Scanning tunnel microscopy and
atomic force microscopy allow us to
view and manipulate individual
atoms

Above image: Don Eigler

What are atoms made of?

CRITICAL EXPERIMENTS
POST-DALTON.
The Cathode Ray:- A
stream of electrons.
(Faraday, Crookes,
Stoney, Thomson, Millikan)
see opposite
Canal Rays:- Protons.
(Goldstein and Wien)

J.J. Thomsons experiment to measure the mass of

cathode rays (1897)
Showed they were made of particles, but were around
1800 times lighter than the lightest atom, hydrogen. The
negatively charged particles were named electrons.

The Plum Pudding Model of the atom

the atoms of the elements consist of a number of negatively electrified

corpuscles enclosed in a sphere of uniform positive electrification J.J.
Thomson, 1904.
- Accounts for the presence of electrons but overall neutral charge
- Disproved by Rutherfords experiment

CRITICAL
EXPERIMENTS
POST-DALTON.
alpha - Particle
scattering:(Rutherford)

Showed that the mass of an atom is

concentrated in a very small volume
the nucleus

Atoms and their composition

ATOM: Smallest unit of an element,
Composed of three elementary particles
protons, neutrons and
electrons
protons and neutrons are in the nucleus,
electrons are in surrounding shells.
Neutrons have mass about the same as a proton
but no charge.
Charges: Proton +1; electron -1.
Masses:
Proton mass = 1.673 x 10-27 kg
Neutron mass = 1.675 x 10-27 kg
Electron mass = 6.63 x 10-34 kg

(1)
(1)
(1/ 1833)

Dimensions of the Atom

The H atoms electron cloud is
10,000 times larger than its
nucleus.
The nucleus of H is 1833 times
heavier than its electron.
THEREFORE:
The size of the atoms electron
cloud defines the atoms size.
The composition of the atoms
nucleus defines the atoms
weight.

Atoms vs Ions
NEUTRAL ATOM:

number of protons = number of electrons

(Individual atoms are electrically neutral)

ION:

Charged particle (single atom or group of atoms )

ANION: Negatively charged species, protons < electrons
CATION: Positively charged species, protons > electrons
Fundamental Property of elements:
- same number of protons in each atom.

Elements
A chemical element is a substance consisting of one
type of atom distinguished by its atomic number,
which is the number of protons in its nucleus.
So, it is the number of protons in the nucleus that
determine the element
1 proton => hydrogen
6 protons => carbon
79 protons => gold
Chemistry is just a counting exercise!

Dimitri Mendeleev, 1834-1907

Isotopes

Not all atoms of an element need be identical.

ISOTOPES:

have same number of protons

different numbers of neutrons
different atomic mass numbers.
similar chemical properties
- slightly different physical properties.

Nuclear (Atomic) Arithmetic

Formalism:

M
Z

Be sure to do the
tute exercises!

A = symbol of element
M = mass number (protons plus neutrons)
Z = number of protons (atomic number)
Examples:

12
C
6

6 protons, 6 neutrons, 6 electrons

13 2+
C
6

6 protons, 7 neutrons, 4 electrons

Isotopes of the Hydrogen atom

e.g., The three common isotopes of hydrogen are written:
1
H
1

2
H
1

3
H
1

Protons:
1
1
1
Neutrons:
0
1
2
Electrons:
1
1
1
Other symbols:
H
D
T
Alternative names for these isotopes are protium,
deuterium and tritium (respectively).
(Dont have alternative names for other elements just
name the isotope number, e.g. carbon-14)

Properties of Hydrogen
Boiling points: H2 (-253C); D2 (-250C)
Melting points: H2 (-259C); D2 (-255C)
Densities: H2 (0.1 g/ml); D2 (0.2 g/ml)
Molar mass: H2 (2 g/mol); D2 (4 g/mol)

Properties of Water

Boiling points: H2O (100C); D2O (101C)

Melting points: H2O (0C); D2O (4C)
Densities: H2O (1 g/ml); D2O (1.1 g/ml)
Molar mass: H2O (18 g/mol); D2O (20 g/mol)

Dimitri Mendeleev, 1834-1907

Atomic Mass:
To find mass of an atom?
ATOMIC MASS:

- Experimentally

average mass in amu of the atoms of the

naturally occurring mixture of isotopes.

ATOMIC MASS UNIT:

1/12 th of the mass of a carbon-12 atom

Example:
Calculate the (average) atomic mass of naturally occurring
magnesium.
Isotope Mass Number
24
25
26
Atomic Mass

Abundance
78.99%
10.00%
11.01%
=

Isotopic Weight
23.98504
24.98584
25.98259

EXAMPLE
Copper occurs naturally as a mixture of two isotopes: 63Cu (abundance 69.09%)
and 65Cu (30.91%). Their atomic masses are 62.930 amu and 64.928 amu,
respectively. Calculate the average atomic mass of copper.
Whenever dealing with percentages, a useful trick is to consider 100 of whatever
the items are.
In this case, consider you have 10000 atoms of natural copper (2 decimal places)
Of these, 6909 atoms will be 63Cu, of weight = 6909 x 62.930 amu.
Similarly the weight of the 65Cu atoms will be = 3091 x 64.928 amu.
Thus, the total weight of all 10000 atoms
= [6909 x 62.930 + 3091 x 64.928] amu.
= 635480 amu.
Thus, the average atomic mass of one atom = 635480 /10000
= 63.55 amu.

End lecture 1