The development of modern atomic theory revealed much about the inner structure of atoms. It was learned that an atom contains a very small nucleus composed of positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons, surrounded by a much larger volume of space containing negatively charged electrons. The nucleus contains the majority of an atom’s mass because protons and neutrons are much heavier than electrons, whereas electrons occupy almost all of an atom’s volume. The diameter of an atom is on the order of 10⁻¹⁰ m, whereas the diameter of the nucleus is roughly 10⁻¹⁵ m—about 100,000 times smaller. For a perspective about their relative sizes, consider this: If the nucleus were the size of a blueberry, the atom would be about the size of a football stadium (Figure 1).

Figure 1. If an atom could be expanded to the size of a football stadium, the nucleus would be the size of a single blueberry. (credit middle: modification of work by “babyknight”/Wikimedia Commons; credit right: modification of work by Paxson Woelber)

Atoms—and the protons, neutrons, and electrons that compose them—are extremely small. For example, a carbon atom weighs less than 2 × 10⁻²³ g, and an electron has a charge of less than 2 × 10⁻¹⁹ C (coulomb). When describing the properties of tiny objects such as atoms, we use appropriately small units of measure, such as the atomic mass unit (amu) and the fundamental unit of charge (e). The amu was originally defined based on hydrogen, the lightest element, then later in terms of oxygen. Since 1961, it has been defined with regard to the most abundant isotope of carbon, atoms of which are assigned masses of exactly 12 amu. (This isotope is known as “carbon-12” as will be discussed later in this module.) Thus, one amu is exactly [latex]\frac{1}{12}[/latex] of the mass of one carbon-12 atom: 1 amu = 1.6605 × 10⁻²⁴ g. (The Dalton (Da) and the unified atomic mass unit (u) are alternative units that are equivalent to the amu.) The fundamental unit of charge (also called the elementary charge) equals the magnitude of the charge of an electron (e) with e = 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ C.

A proton has a mass of 1.0073 amu and a charge of 1+. A neutron is a slightly heavier particle with a mass 1.0087 amu and a charge of zero; as its name suggests, it is neutral. The electron has a charge of 1− and is a much lighter particle with a mass of about 0.00055 amu (it would take about 1800 electrons to equal the mass of one proton. The properties of these fundamental particles are summarized in Table 1. (An observant student might notice that the sum of an atom’s subatomic particles does not equal the atom’s actual mass: The total mass of six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons is 12.0993 amu, slightly larger than 12.00 amu. This “missing” mass is known as the mass defect, and you will learn about it in the chapter on nuclear chemistry.)

The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom is its atomic number (Z). This is the defining trait of an element: Its value determines the identity of the atom. For example, any atom that contains six protons is the element carbon and has the atomic number 6, regardless of how many neutrons or electrons it may have. A neutral atom must contain the same number of positive and negative charges, so the number of protons equals the number of electrons. Therefore, the atomic number also indicates the number of electrons in an atom. The total number of protons and neutrons in an atom is called its mass number (A). The number of neutrons is therefore the difference between the mass number and the atomic number: A – Z = number of neutrons.

[latex]\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \text{atomic number}\left(\text{Z}\right)& =& \text{number of protons}\hfill \\ \hfill \text{atomic mass}\left(\text{A}\right)& =& \text{number of protons}+\text{number of neutrons}\hfill \\ \hfill \text{A}-\text{Z}& =& \text{number of neutrons}\hfill \end{array}[/latex]

Atoms are electrically neutral if they contain the same number of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. When the numbers of these subatomic particles are not equal, the atom is electrically charged and is called an ion. The charge of an atom is defined as follows:

Atomic charge = number of protons − number of electrons

As will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter, atoms (and molecules) typically acquire charge by gaining or losing electrons. An atom that gains one or more electrons will exhibit a negative charge and is called an anion. Positively charged atoms called cations are formed when an atom loses one or more electrons. For example, a neutral sodium atom (Z = 11) has 11 electrons. If this atom loses one electron, it will become a cation with a 1+ charge (11 − 10 = 1+). A neutral oxygen atom (Z = 8) has eight electrons, and if it gains two electrons it will become an anion with a 2− charge (8 − 10 = 2−).

Example 1: Composition of an Atom

Iodine is an essential trace element in our diet; it is needed to produce thyroid hormone. Insufficient iodine in the diet can lead to the development of a goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland (Figure 2).

Figure 2. (a) Insufficient iodine in the diet can cause an enlargement of the thyroid gland called a goiter. (b) The addition of small amounts of iodine to salt, which prevents the formation of goiters, has helped eliminate this concern in the US where salt consumption is high. (credit a: modification of work by “Almazi”/Wikimedia Commons; credit b: modification of work by Mike Mozart)

 

The addition of small amounts of iodine to table salt (iodized salt) has essentially eliminated this health concern in the United States, but as much as 40% of the world’s population is still at risk of iodine deficiency. The iodine atoms are added as anions, and each has a 1− charge and a mass number of 127. Determine the numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons in one of these iodine anions.

Show Answer

The atomic number of iodine (53) tells us that a neutral iodine atom contains 53 protons in its nucleus and 53 electrons outside its nucleus. Because the sum of the numbers of protons and neutrons equals the mass number, 127, the number of neutrons is 74 (127 − 53 = 74). Since the iodine is added as a 1− anion, the number of electrons is 128 [127 − (1−) = 128].

Check Your Learning

An atom of platinum has a mass number of 195 and contains 74 electrons. How many protons and neutrons does it contain, and what is its charge?

Show Answer

78 protons; 117 neutrons; charge is 4+

Chemical Symbols

Figure 3. The symbol Hg represents the element mercury regardless of the amount; it could represent one atom of mercury or a large amount of mercury.

A chemical symbol is an abbreviation that we use to indicate an element or an atom of an element. For example, the symbol for mercury is Hg (Figure 3). We use the same symbol to indicate one atom of mercury (microscopic domain) or to label a container of many atoms of the element mercury (macroscopic domain).

The symbols for several common elements and their atoms are listed in Table 2. Some symbols are derived from the common name of the element; others are abbreviations of the name in another language. Most symbols have one or two letters, but three-letter symbols have been used to describe some elements that have atomic numbers greater than 112.

To avoid confusion with other notations, only the first letter of a symbol is capitalized. For example, Co is the symbol for the element cobalt, but CO is the notation for the compound carbon monoxide, which contains atoms of the elements carbon (C) and oxygen (O). All known elements and their symbols are in the periodic table.

Traditionally, the discoverer (or discoverers) of a new element names the element. However, until the name is recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the recommended name of the new element is based on the Latin word(s) for its atomic number. For example, element 106 was called unnilhexium (Unh), element 107 was called unnilseptium (Uns), and element 108 was called unniloctium (Uno) for several years. These elements are now named after scientists (or occasionally locations); for example, element 106 is now known as seaborgium (Sg) in honor of Glenn Seaborg, a Nobel Prize winner who was active in the discovery of several heavy elements.

Isotopes

The symbol for a specific isotope of any element is written by placing the mass number as a superscript to the left of the element symbol (Figure 4). The atomic number is sometimes written as a subscript preceding the symbol, but since this number defines the element’s identity, as does its symbol, it is often omitted. For example, magnesium exists as a mixture of three isotopes, each with an atomic number of 12 and with mass numbers of 24, 25, and 26, respectively. These isotopes can be identified as ²⁴Mg, ²⁵Mg, and ²⁶Mg. These isotope symbols are read as “element, mass number” and can be symbolized consistent with this reading. For instance, ²⁴Mg is read as “magnesium 24,” and can be written as “magnesium-24” or “Mg-24.” ²⁵Mg is read as “magnesium 25,” and can be written as “magnesium-25” or “Mg-25.” All magnesium atoms have 12 protons in their nucleus. They differ only because a ²⁴Mg atom has 12 neutrons in its nucleus, a ²⁵Mg atom has 13 neutrons, and a ²⁶Mg has 14 neutrons.

Figure 4. The symbol for an atom indicates the element via its usual two-letter symbol, the mass number as a left superscript, the atomic number as a left subscript (sometimes omitted), and the charge as a right superscript.

Information about the naturally occurring isotopes of elements with atomic numbers 1 through 10 is given in Table 3. Note that in addition to standard names and symbols, the isotopes of hydrogen are often referred to using common names and accompanying symbols. Hydrogen-2, symbolized ²H, is also called deuterium and sometimes symbolized D. Hydrogen-3, symbolized ³H, is also called tritium and sometimes symbolized T.

Atomic Mass

Because each proton and each neutron contribute approximately one amu to the mass of an atom, and each electron contributes far less, the atomic mass of a single atom is approximately equal to its mass number (a whole number). However, the average masses of atoms of most elements are not whole numbers because most elements exist naturally as mixtures of two or more isotopes.

The mass of an element shown in a periodic table or listed in a table of atomic masses is a weighted, average mass of all the isotopes present in a naturally occurring sample of that element. This is equal to the sum of each individual isotope’s mass multiplied by its fractional abundance.

[latex]\text{average mass}=\sum _{i}{\left(\text{fractional abundance}\times \text{isotopic mass}\right)}_{i}[/latex]

For example, the element boron is composed of two isotopes: About 19.9% of all boron atoms are ¹⁰B with a mass of 10.0129 amu, and the remaining 80.1% are ¹¹B with a mass of 11.0093 amu. The average atomic mass for boron is calculated to be:

[latex]\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \text{boron average mass}& =\left(0.199\times \text{10.0129 amu}\right)+\left(0.801\times \text{11.0093 amu}\right)\hfill \\ & =\text{1.99 amu}+\text{8.82 amu}\hfill \\ & =\text{10.81 amu}\hfill \end{array}[/latex]

It is important to understand that no single boron atom weighs exactly 10.8 amu; 10.8 amu is the average mass of all boron atoms, and individual boron atoms weigh either approximately 10 amu or 11 amu.

The occurrence and natural abundances of isotopes can be experimentally determined using an instrument called a mass spectrometer. Mass spectrometry (MS) is widely used in chemistry, forensics, medicine, environmental science, and many other fields to analyze and help identify the substances in a sample of material. In a typical mass spectrometer (Figure 5), the sample is vaporized and exposed to a high-energy electron beam that causes the sample’s atoms (or molecules) to become electrically charged, typically by losing one or more electrons. These cations then pass through a (variable) electric or magnetic field that deflects each cation’s path to an extent that depends on both its mass and charge (similar to how the path of a large steel ball bearing rolling past a magnet is deflected to a lesser extent that that of a small steel BB). The ions are detected, and a plot of the relative number of ions generated versus their mass-to-charge ratios (a mass spectrum) is made. The height of each vertical feature or peak in a mass spectrum is proportional to the fraction of cations with the specified mass-to-charge ratio. Since its initial use during the development of modern atomic theory, MS has evolved to become a powerful tool for chemical analysis in a wide range of applications.

Figure 5. Analysis of zirconium in a mass spectrometer produces a mass spectrum with peaks showing the different isotopes of Zr.

Glossary

anion: negatively charged atom or molecule (contains more electrons than protons)

atomic mass: average mass of atoms of an element, expressed in amu

atomic mass unit (amu): (also, unified atomic mass unit, u, or Dalton, Da) unit of mass equal to [latex]\frac{1}{12}[/latex] of the mass of a ¹²C atom

atomic number (Z): number of protons in the nucleus of an atom

cation: positively charged atom or molecule (contains fewer electrons than protons)

chemical symbol: one-, two-, or three-letter abbreviation used to represent an element or its atoms

Dalton (Da): alternative unit equivalent to the atomic mass unit

fundamental unit of charge: (also called the elementary charge) equals the magnitude of the charge of an electron (e) with e = 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ C

ion: electrically charged atom or molecule (contains unequal numbers of protons and electrons)

mass number (A): sum of the numbers of neutrons and protons in the nucleus of an atom

unified atomic mass unit (u): alternative unit equivalent to the atomic mass unit