Lesson -Atomic structure

Scientist Discovery
Acharya Kanad All matter is made up of tiny particles called Paramanus now
called as atoms.
Democritus All matter is made up of ultimate particles called as atomos [
indivisible]

John Dalton The first scientific theory about the structure of matter was
given by John Dalton. According to his theory,
All matter is made up of extremely small indivisible particles
called atoms.
Atoms of same elements are alike.
Atoms of different elements are different.
Atoms is the smallest particle that takes part ina chemical
reaction.
Atoms of different elements combine in a simple whole
number ratio to form compounds.
Atoms can neither be created nor be destroyed.
Failure of Daltons theorey.
According to his theory all matter is composed of tiny
indivisible atoms. We now know that atoms are divisible and
are composed of smaller, subatomic particles (electrons,
protons, and neutrons).
2)He also stated that atoms of an element are identical in
mass- this is incorrect because all elements have isotopes
(atoms with same number of protons but different numbers
of neutrons) which means that atoms of an element should
not have the same mass.
J.J. Thomson • atom is a uniform sphere of positive charge in which
Plum pudding model tiny negatively charged particles are embedded like
seeds in a watermelon.
• The total positive charged protons are equal to total
negatively charged electrons so that an atom on the
whole is electrically neutral.
Failure of Thomson’s Model
• It could not explain the results of alpha particles
scattering.

Rutherford An atom consist of dense heavy positively charged particles

Gold foil experiment. called nucleus.
1. Most of the alpha particles could pass It consists of protons and neutrons.
 through gold foil due to large empty
space in the atom
2. Some alpha particles were slightly
deflected from their path and very few
were deflected by large angles. This
shows that the atom consist of very
heavy positively charged central part
called nucleus.
Neil Bohr
Discovery of Electrons:
A discharge tube is a sealed glass tube containing gases at very low pressure. Electrodes are sealed at
opposite ends of the tube. The positive electrode is called the anode and the negative electrode is called
the cathode.
Size of nucleus is so small when compared to size of atom.
There is a large vacant space between nucleus and electrons.
The total positive charge on the nucleus is equal to the total
negative charge of the electrons. So the atom on the whole is
neutral.
The electrons are revolving around the nucleus in circular
paths.
Failure of his model.
It could not explain the stability of the atom .
If electrons continuously revolve around the nucleus it must
lose energy and finally should collapse, but actually that does
not take place.
An atom consist of dense heavy positively charged particles
called nucleus containing protons, neutrons
The electrons are revolving around the nucleus in fixed
circular paths called as orbits or energy levels or shells.
The total positive charge on the nucleus is equal to the total
negative charge of the electrons. So the atom on the whole is
neutral.
The various energy levels are numbers as 1,2,3., starting from
nucleus and are called as K,L,M<N shells
The maximum no. of electrons in each shell is calculated
using the formula 2n2 where n is the number of shell.
The energies of various shells are in the increasing order
from K-shell to L-shell, L shell to M-shell and so on.
There is no change in the energy of an atom as long they
remain in the same shell.
Whenever an electron jumps from higher to lower energy
shell, it releases energy.
Whenever an electron jumps from lower to higher energy
shell it gains energy.
When the gas pressure in the discharge tube is around 0.01 mmHg, a greenish yellow glow is observed at
the end opposite to cathode when a high voltage current is passed across the electrodes. The rays
causing this glow is called cathode rays.

Properties of cathode rays

1. They travel in straight line from cathode to anode

2. When an object is placed in their path they cast shadows.
3. They consist of material particles because they cause rotation of light paddle wheel when placed
in their path.
4. The particles constituting the cathode rays carry negative charge because they are deflected
towards positive plate .J.J. Thomson called these negatively charged particles as electrons.

Discovery of Protons:

Goldstein repeated the discharge tube experiment using perforated cathode. He found that when any
gas taken in the discharge tube is subjected to high voltage of current under very low pressure of
0.00qmmHg, some rays were also detected at the back of perforated cathode and he called these rays as
anode rays or canal rays. As these rays consists of very light particles which originate from anode are
called as protons

Discovery of neutrons :

Since the atom is electrically neutral, it should contain the same no. of protons and electrons.

The total mass of the atom should be equal to the sum of masses of sub atomic particles.

Since proton is much more massive than electron, the contribution of electron towards mass of an atom
is negligible.

Hydrogen atom contains 1 proton and helium atom contains 2 protons, so the mass of helium should be
twice that of hydrogen but actually is 4 times a hydrogen atom. This led to the discovery of third sub
atomic particle. James Chadwick discovered electrically neutral particle having a mass nearly same as
that of proton and called as neutron.

Atomic Number;

It is the no. of protons present in the nucleus of an atom. It is denoted by the letter Z.

Every element has different no. of protons. Chemical properties of an atom depends upon its atomic
number.

Mass Number
It the sum of protons and neutrons present in the atom. It is denoted by the letter A. we can calculate
the no. of neutrons by using the formula mass number – atomic number [ A-Z]

Isotopes:

Atoms of an element having same atomic number but different mass number are known as isotopes..

Isotopes have same chemical properties since same no. of electrons but they have different physical
properties as they differ in no. of neutrons.

Uses:

Some isotopes are radio active and used for treatment of cancer and other diseases. They are used in
diagnosis and treatment of illness. They are used in biomedical researches

1. Carbon -14 is used for determining the age of fossil fuels.

2. Iodine -131 is used for treating goiter.
3. Iron- 59 is used for finding anemia.
4. Iodine-123 is used for whole body scan[CT/ MRI]. To evaluate thyroid cancer
5. Cobalt 60 is used to inspect metal parts and welds for defects.
6. Cobalt 60 is used to scan rail cars for cargo
7. Cobalt 60 is used to kill micro organisms present in food stuffs
8. Xenon -133 is used for lung imaging
9. Gold=198 is used for diagnosing liver diseases
10. Phosphorous 32 is used to cancer detection and treatment especially in eyes and skin.