Protons, neutrons and electrons
particle relative charge relative mass
proton +1 1 atomic mass unit
neutron 0 1 atomic mass unit
electron -1 negligible mass
§ Protons and neutrons make up the nucleus, at the centre of the atom, where virtually all the mass of the atom is concentrated. A proton and a neutron have near enough equal mass to one another.
§ Electrons orbit the nucleus in shells of various energies, and have negligible mass.
As protons in the nucleus are positively charged, they attract an equal number of electrons into shells surrounding the nucleus. The electronic structure of an atom determines its chemical reactions, so the number of protons determines the chemical identity of an atom.
Isotopes
Isotopes are atoms that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Their chemical reactions are the same, and they belong to the same element.
Most elements exist naturally as a mixture of isotopes.
§ The mass number is the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus
§ The atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus.
So you could say that isotopes are atoms with the same atomic number but different mass numbers.
Atomic mass units and relative isotopic mass
It would make sense to make one atomic mass unit the mass of something simple, like a
1
H atom, but that would be too obvious! Chemists use one-twelfth the mass of a
12C atom instead, which if you think about it, amounts to the same thing. As there are six protons and six neutrons in this nucleus, dividing its mass by 12 gives you the mass of a proton or neutron. However, it really is only the mass of a proton or a neutron in
12C atoms. Protons and neutrons actually have very slightly different masses from one element’s nucleus to another. So a proton in a
12C atom does not have exactly the same mass as one in a
1H. It very nearly does, but its not quite exactly the same. Don’t worry about why!
So, relative isotopic mass is the mass of an atom of an individual isotope, relative to one-twelfth the mass of a
12C atom.
In simple terms, relative isotopic mass is how many times more mass an atom has than a single
proton or neutron from a
12C atom. The relative isotopic mass of helium is almost exactly 4
because there are two protons and two neutrons in the nucleus. It is not totally exactly
four though because the protons and neutrons in helium nuclei do not have the exact same
mass as protons or neutrons in
12C atoms.
Relative Atomic Mass and the mole
As mentioned, most elements exist naturally as a mixture of isotopes. Because the
chemical reactions of isotopes are the same, chemists rarely have any interest in separating them. What chemists want to know, is the average mass of an atom, taking the natural abundances of its isotopes into account. This is so they can weigh out an accurate amount of a substance.
So, relative atomic mass is the average mass of an atom, taking the natural abundances of its isotopes into account, relative to one-twelfth the mass of a
12C atom.
§ Chlorine exists naturally as a mixture of 75%
35Cl and 25%
37Cl.
§ The average mass of a chlorine atom is 75/100 x 35 + 25/100 x 37 = 35.5.
One mole of substance is the amount that weighs the same in grams as the relative mass of the substance, e.g. the number of atoms in 12 g of
12C. The actual number is 6 x 10
23, and this is Avogadro’s number.
Note that relative atomic masses have no units. For chlorine, 35.5 says that the average chlorine atom has 35.5 times more mass than a proton or neutron in a
12C atom.
However, in reality the RAM or RMM is also the number of grams in one mole of substance. In this case you will learn about molar mass rather than relative masses. The molar mass of chlorine atoms is 35.5 g mol
-1, whereas the RAM is simply 35.5 (no units).
Atom Amount Mass
1
1
H 6 x 1023 atoms 1 gram
2
4
He 6 x 1023 atoms 4 grams
6
12
C 6 x 1023 atoms 12 grams
17
35
Cl 6 x 1023 atoms 35 grams
17
37
Cl 6 x 1023 atoms 37 grams
Remember, chlorine exists naturally as a mixture of 75%
35Cl and 25%
37Cl, so:
§ 35 grams of naturally occurring chlorine atoms would be slightly less than one mole
§ 37 grams of naturally occurring chlorine atoms would be slightly more than one mole The average mass of a chlorine atom is 35.5, so if you have 35.5 grams of naturally occurring chlorine atoms, you would have one mole of chlorine atoms.
(Ideally, in the calculations above the relative isotopic masses should be used. However,
they are so similar to the mass numbers that the mass numbers can be used in their place)
To summarise:
§ One atomic mass unit is one-twelfth the mass of a
12C atom.
§ Relative isotopic mass is the mass of an atom of an individual isotope, relative to one- twelfth the mass of a
12C atom.
In RIM the I stands for isotope but you can think of it as “I for individual”.
§ Relative atomic mass is the average mass of an atom, taking the natural abundances of its isotopes into account, relative to one-twelfth the mass of a
12C atom.
The A in RAM stands for atomic but you can think of it as “A for average”.
§ One mole is the number of atoms in 12g of
12C atoms.
§ One mole of any substance has a mass that is equal to the substance’s relative mass.
Relative Molecular Mass
In a molecule, such as CH
3CH
2Cl there are atoms present from different elements, in this case carbon, hydrogen and chlorine. In addition, the chlorine atoms occur as a mixture of
35
Cl and
37Cl, the carbon occurs as
12C and about 1%
13C. The hydrogen exists almost entirely as
1H but there are tiny amounts of both
2H and
3H.
However, the RAM values for each element already take the different isotopes of each element into account.
Element C H Cl
RAM (3 s.f.) 12.0 1.00 35.5
The RMM of CH
3CH
2Cl is therefore 2 x 12.0 + 5 x 1.00 + 1 x 35.5 = 64.5 (no units).
The molar mass of CH
3CH
2Cl therefore 64.5 g mol
-1So, relative molecular mass is the weighted sum of the individual relative atomic masses of its atoms.
In this context the word “molecule” is used quite loosely. If the compound were MgCl
2the method is exactly the same, even though MgCl
2is not a molecular substance, it is ionic and consists of Mg
2+cations and Cl
-anion.
The RMM of MgCl
2is 24.3 + 2 x 35.5 = 94.3 (no units) The molar mass of MgCl
2is 94.3 g mol
-1Sometimes the term formula mass is used to avoid having to remember when to say
atomic mass and molecular mass.
Mass spectrometry of atomic species, such as Ne atoms
Neon is a mainly a mixture of
20Ne and
22Ne . If such a mixture is injected into a mass spectrometer, the following processes would occur:
§ The atoms are ionised by bombardment with high-energy electrons. This makes them positively charged.
20
Ne + e
-è
20Ne
++ 2e
-22
Ne + e
-è
22Ne
++ 2e
-§ The positively charged species are accelerated by attraction towards negatively charged plates. This has the effect of focussing them into a narrow beam and bringing them all up to the same velocity (see diagram later in these notes).
§ The positively charged species are deflected by a magnetic field. Because they are travelling at the same velocity, the ease with which they can be deflected is determined only by their mass to charge ratio. Also, because they are accelerated out of the
ionisation chamber as soon as they become positively charged, they are unlikely to have any charge other than +1. Effectively, mass to charge ratio is just the same as mass. The heavier particles need a stronger magnetic field to deflect them into the detector, whereas the lighter particles need a weaker magnetic field to deflect them into the detector.
§ The particles are detected as a small current, because they are charged. A computer counts the number of particles detected per second and plots them against their mass to charge ratio.
Abundance
20Ne
+9 to 1 ratio of peak heights
22
Ne
+16 18 20 22 24 m/e ratio
§ From the graph, you can calculate the relative atomic mass of Neon to be:
9/10 x 20 + 1/10 x 22 = 20.2
NB The mass spectrometer is under a high vacuum; otherwise none of the process
Mass spectrometry of diatomic species, such as Cl
2molecules
Chlorine exists as Cl
2molecules, the atoms are made up of 75%
35Cl and 25%
37Cl.
Abundance
35Cl-
35Cl
+35
Cl-
37Cl
+9 to 6 to 1 height ratio 3 to 1 height
ratio
35
Cl
+37
Cl
+ 37Cl-
37Cl
+35 37 70 72 74 m/e ratio There are three different types of Cl
2molecule, each with its own peak in the mass
spectrum:
§ The chance of a
1735Cl -
1735Cl
+species existing is 3/4 x 3/4 = 9/16
§ The chance of a
1735Cl -
1737Cl
+species existing is 3/4 x 1/4 x 2 = 6/16
(there is double the chance because it can be made from a 35 then a 37 or from a 37 then a 35. If you don’t get this then don’t worry, its really maths, not chemistry)
§ The chance of a
1737Cl -
1737Cl
+species existing is 1/4 x 1/4 = 1/16 Therefore the peaks for the above species exist in a 9:6:1 ratio
In addition to these molecular species, some chlorine molecules break down into atoms, so there are two additional peaks for
1735Cl
+and
1737Cl
+. Due to the isotopic abundances of Cl atoms, these peaks exist in a 3:1 ratio.
Bromine atoms exist as 50%
79Br and 50%
81Br , and bromine molecules are also diatomic like those of chlorine. A mass spectrum of bromine is shown below:
Abundance
79
Br-
81Br
+1 to 2 to 1 height ratio 1 to 1 height
ratio
79