Particles

Everything around us, including our bodies is made up of particles. These particles are so small it
is impossible to pick them up and view with the naked eye.

To give you an idea of how small particles are, if you imagine a small raindrop, it contains over
1000 000 000 000 000 000 000 particles- amazing!

But if particles are so small that we cannot see them, what evidence do we have for their
existence?

Evidence 1:

Around 150 years ago a Scottish scientist called Robert Brown observed that pollen on water
appeared to dance around as it was knocked around in all directions by the moving water
particles (which were too small to see even under a microscope).

In the same way, if we examine smoke trapped in a glass box and shining light through it, we
observe the tiny smoke specks dancing around in a random manner - continually on the move.
This random motion of smoke and pollen is called Brownian Motion, after Robert Brown.

Evidence 2:

If you were to place a crystal of potassium manganate (VII) in a beaker of water, the water will
eventually over time turn purple!

The reason behind this observation is:

If we imagine both the crystal and the water to be made up of particles, the bombardment of the
water particles against the purple crystal will cause the gradual separation of the crystal particles.
Eventually, the individual crystal particles spread throughout the water as they find space
between the water's particles. If water and the crystal were not made up of particles, then mixing
between the two would be impossible!

Evidence 3:

When a gas jar of colourless air is placed on top of a gas jar of red-brown bromine, the bromine
vapour is seen to move upwards through the top gas jar, until a few minutes later both gas jars
appear alike!

Both bromine and air are made up of fast gas particles at room temperature and pressure. When
they come into contact with one another they collide and bounce off each other in all directions.
Eventually they become evenly mixed. This is an example of diffusion.
 Atoms

Everything is made of atoms. An atom is the smallest piece of a substance that can exist.
7 million atoms joined together in a straight line would be about 1mm long. All atoms have a
nucleus (the big bit in the middle). The nucleus contains protons and neutrons. All atoms have
electrons. For any atom, the number of protons is the same as the number of electrons. If an atom
loses or gains electrons it is called an ion.

This is a picture of a sodium atom.

It has 11 protons, 11 electrons and 12 neutrons.

The electron structure is 2, 8, 1. Each proton has an electrical charge of +1. Each electron has an
electrical charge of -1. The neutron has no charge (it is neutral). An atom has the same number of
protons and electrons so the overall charge is zero (it is neutral).

The mass of a neutron and a proton are the same. An electron is very much smaller, about
1÷2000 times the size of a proton although it has an equal and opposite electrical charge.
The electrons, although tiny, take up most of the space of an atom. This means that most of the
space of an atom contains hardly any mass. It is mostly empty space with nearly all the mass
centered at the nucleus

Summary

Particle Relative Mass Relative Charge

Proton 1 +1
Neutron 1 0
Electron 0.0005 -1
The Mole

Relative atomic mass

The mass of an atom is tiny. A single hydrogen atom is only about 0.000 000 000 000 000 000
000 002 grams!

Dealing with such small numbers is difficult. Therefore, scientists found a simpler way of
comparing the mass of different atoms.

They chose the carbon atom and compared all the other atoms with it. Since a carbon atom
consists of 6 protons and 6 neutrons, they gave it a mass of 12 units (they ignored the electrons).

The mass of an atom relative to that of carbon-12 is called the Relative Atomic Mass.

If we compare the mass of a hydrogen atom with that of the carbon-12, we find its mass is a
1/12th of the carbon-12 atom. Therefore, a hydrogen atom is assigned the mass unit 1.

When a magnesium atom was compared, its mass was found to be twice that of carbon-12,
therefore magnesium was assigned the mass unit 24.

Relative Atomic Mass

The mass of an atom is tiny. A single hydrogen atom is only about 0.000 000 000 000 000 000
000 002 grams!

Dealing with such small numbers is difficult. Therefore, scientists found a simpler way of
comparing the mass of different atoms.

They chose the carbon atom and compared all the other atoms with it. Since a carbon atom
consists of 6 protons and 6 neutrons, they gave it a mass of 12 units (they ignored the electrons).

The mass of an atom relative to that of carbon-12 is called the Relative Atomic Mass.

If we compare the mass of a hydrogen atom with that of the carbon-12, we find its mass is a
1/12th of the carbon-12 atom. Therefore, a hydrogen atom is assigned the mass unit 1.

When a magnesium atom was compared, its mass was found to be twice that of carbon-12,
therefore magnesium was assigned the mass unit 24.
Mass and Isotopes

Many elements possess atoms with differing masses due to them having different numbers
of neutrons.

The atoms shown above belong to the isotopes of chlorine. They have different masses because
one has two more neutrons than the other. Also it was found that chlorine-35 is more abundant
than chlorine-37. For every four chlorine atoms, one will be a chlorine-37 the other three will be
chlorine-35. Therefore, the average mass of a chlorine atom is 35.5.

The presence of isotopes and their abundances must be taken into account when calculating
Relative Atomic Mass (RAM).

The RAM of an element is the average mass of its isotopes relative to an atom of carbon-12.

States of Matter
SOLIDS

Solids have a regular shape; the particles are packed in a regular pattern. Solids cannot be
compressed, the particles are as close together as they can possibly get. Solids are dense; there is
very little space between the particles.

LIQUIDS

Liquids take up the shape of the bottom of a container in which you place them, the particles are not in
any fixed position. Liquids are very difficult to compress, as the particles cannot get much closer. Liquids
are quite dense, there is not much empty space between the particles

GASES

Gases have no shape, they fill up whatever space is available as the particles move rapidly
around in all directions. Gases are easily compressed, the particles have large spaces between
them, so it is easy to push them closer together. Gases have very low densities; there are huge
amounts of space between particles.

The diffusion of gases

The lighter the particles of gas, the faster the gas will diffuse.

Example: A particle of ammonia gas (the pink particle) has about half the mass of a particle of
hydrogen chloride (the grey particle), so it will diffuse faster. This is shown in the experiment
below. The cloud formed when the two gases meet is nearer to the hydrogen chloride than the
ammonia.
Gas pressure changes

How gas pressure changes with temperature

When you raise the temperature of a gas you increase the number of collisions that the particles
have with one another and the container. They hit the container wall with more force and more
often. So gas pressure increases as temperature increases for a fixed mass of gas.

If you reduce the size of the container i.e. the volume of the gas, the number of collisions
between the gas particles and the container wall increases since they have less space to move
within. Hence, as you decrease volume of a gas you increase its pressure, for a fixed mass of gas.

How gas volume changes with temperature

When a gas is heated the particles gain more energy and therefore move around quicker
bouncing off each other and the container wall with more energy. This means that they take up a
greater volume as they bounce further from one another. This shows that increasing the
temperature of a gas increases its volume, for a fixed mass of gas.

Changes of state

Melting

When a solid is heated, its particles gain more energy and vibrate more. Due to the increase in
vibrations, the solid expands. At melting point, the particles vibrate so much that they break
away from their positions. It is at this point that a solid becomes a liquid.

Boiling

When a liquid is supplied with heat, its particles gain more energy and therefore move around
quicker. This increase in movement causes the liquid to expand. At boiling point the liquid
particles gain enough energy to overcome the forces holding them together - these particles break
away from one another and the liquid now becomes a gas.

Evaporating

Not all particles in a liquid contain the same amount of energy - some have more! This is why
evaporation of a liquid can take place below its boiling point. This is called evaporation and
explains why puddles dry up on sunny days.

Condensing

When you cool a gas, the particles lose energy. This loss in energy causes the particles to move
more slowly as they move closer together. When the particles no longer have sufficient energy to
move away as they bump into one another the gas becomes a liquid.
Solidifying

When a liquid is cooled, the particles once more lose energy, they vibrate less as they slow
down. Eventually they stop moving, except for vibrations in fixed positions. A solid has now
formed.