Chapter 3

In 1782, a French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier, made measurements of chemical change in a sealed container. He observed that the mass of reactants in the container before a chemical reaction was equal to the mass of the products after the reaction. Lavoisier concluded that when a chemical reaction occurs, mass is neither created nor destroyed but only changed. This was known as the law of conservation of mass. In 1799, another French chemist, Joseph Proust studied many other compounds and observed that the elements that composed the compounds were always in a certain proportion by mass. This is known as the law of definite proportions. John Dalton was an English schoolteacher and chemist. He proposed his atomic theory of matter in 1803. His theory said all mater is made up of atoms, atoms are indestructible and cannot be divided into smaller particles, and all atoms of one element are exactly alike, but are different from atoms of other elements. Electrons- are invisible negatively charged particles. Protons- electrically charged particles. Atoms of an element that are chemically alike but differ in mass are called isotopes of the elements. Neutrons- neutral particle Atoms are nearly all empty space. Atoms have a small, dense, positively charged central core called a nucleus. The atomic number of an element is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. The number of protons determines the identity of an element, as well as many of its chemical and physical properties. The atomic number of an element also tells the number of electrons in a neutral atom of that element. The mass of a neutron is almost the same as the mass of proton. The sum of the protons and neutrons in the nucleus is the mass number of that particular atom. Isotopes of an element have different mass numbers because they have different numbers of neutrons, but all have the same atomic number.

In order to have a simpler way of comparing the masses of individual atoms, chemists have devised a different unit of mass called an atomic mass unit, which is given the symbol u. Niels Bohr , a Danish scientist, proposed that electrons must have enough energy to keep them in constant motion around the nucleus. Electrons have energy of motion that enables them to overcome the attraction of the positive nucleus. This energy keeps the electrons moving around the nucleus.

Radiant energy travels in the form of waves that have both electrical and magnetic properties. These electromagnetic waves can travel through empty space. Electromagnetic waves travel through space at the speed of light.

The spectrum of light released from excited atoms of an element is called the emission spectrum of that element. Bohr theorized that electrons absorbed energy and moved to higher energy states. Then, these excited electrons gave off that energy as light waves when they fell back to a lower energy state.

Because electrons can have only certain amounts of energy, they can move around the nucleus only at distances that correspond to those amounts of energy. These regions of space in which electrons can move about the nucleus of an atom are called energy levels.

The space around the nucleus of an atom where the atoms electrons are found is called the electron cloud. The first energy level holds a maximum of 2 electrons. The second energy level holds 8 electrons. The third energy levels hold 18 electrons. The fourth energy level holds 32. The electrons in the outermost energy level are called valence electrons. A Lewis dot diagram illustrated valence electrons as dots around the chemical symbol of an element. Each dot represents one valence electron. In the dot diagram, the elements symbol represents the core of the atom-the nucleus plus all the inner electrons.

The atomic number of an element differs from the elements mass number because the atomic number of an element is the number of protons in the nucleus. The mass number is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons.

Law of multiple proportions- if two or more different compounds are composed of the same two elements, then the ratio of the masses of the second element combined with a certain mass of the first element is always a ratio of small whole numbers.