ATOMS AND MOLECULES :

Laws of chemical combination : Whenever reactants react together to form the products or the elements combine
together to form a compound they do this according to certain laws. These laws are called laws of chemical combination.
1) Laws of conservation of mass : Law of conservation of mass states that mass can neither be created nor
destroyed in a chemical reaction. In any chemical reaction, the total mass of the reactants is equal to the total
mass of the products and there is no change in mass during the chemical reaction.
2) Law of constant proportions/ law of definite proportions: In a chemical substance the elements are always
present in definite proportions by mass.”
a) In a compound such as water, the ratio of the mass of hydrogen to the mass of oxygen is always 1:8.
If 9 g of water is decomposed, 1 g of hydrogen and 8 g of oxygen are always obtained.
b) In ammonia, nitrogen and hydrogen are always present in the ratio 14:3 by mass,
c) . In carbon dioxide, carbon and oxygen are always present in the ratio 3:8.
If a sample of CO2 contains 36 g of carbon then it is compulsory that the sample has 96 g oxygen.
3 36 36×8
This is calculated as 8 = 𝑥 ; x = = 96 g
3

Dalton’s atomic theory

(i) All matter is made of very tiny particles called atoms.
(ii) Atoms are indivisible particles, which cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.
(iii) Atoms of a given element are identical in mass and chemical properties.
(iv) Atoms of different elements have different masses and chemical properties.
(v) Atoms combine in the ratio of small whole numbers to form compounds.
(vi) The relative number and kinds of atoms are constant in a given compound.

Atoms :Atoms are the smallest particles of an element which may have or may not have independent existence
but take part in a chemical reaction. Atoms are building blocks of all matter.
Size of an atom
a) Atoms like helium, neon etc are capable of independent existence.
b) Atoms are very small and their radius is measured in nanometer, (1nm = 10 -9 m)
c) Hydrogen atom is smallest atom and its radius is 0.1 nm.
Modern day symbol of elements
a) Dalton was the scientist who introduced symbols for representing elements for the first time
b) Modern symbols for the elements were introduced by J J Berzilius
c) Symbols are representative of an element. It is simple to use the symbol of an element rather writing a
whole word of an element. Therefore, symbols are used to represent an element.
d) The IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) who approves the names and symbols of
the elements.
e) Many of the symbols are the first one or two letters of the element's name in English.
f) The first letter of a symbol is always written in capital letter and the second letter as a small letter. e.g. chlorine (Cl),
zinc (Zn) and aluminum (Al).
Atomic Mass
To determine the Relative atomic masses, initially 1/16 of the mass of an atom of naturally occurring oxygen was
taken as standard unit because of the following two reasons:
(1) Oxygen reacted with a large number of elements and formed compounds.
(2) This unit gave masses of most of the elements as whole numbers

. However in 1961, carbon (C-12 isotope) was chosen as standard reference for measuring atomic masses
universally.
Atomic mass unit (a.m.u.) :It is defined as the mass unit equal to exactly 1/12th of the mass of one atom of C-12
isotope.
According to IUPAC, a.m.u.t is now written as `u'— unified mass.

Relative Atomic Mass : The relative atomic mass of the atom of an element is defined as the average mass of the
atom, as compared to 1/12th the mass of one carbon-12 atom. It is also defined as the number of times a given
atom is heavier than 1/12th of mass of 1 atom of carbon-12
Why is Carbon 12 isotope used as a standard reference for measuring atomic mass?
The adavantage of using this reference was that by taking it as reference the atomic mass of all other
elements were found exactly.
Also, Carbon-12’s atomic mass could be measured particularly accurately compared to the other elements
on the periodic table.

MOLECULE
a) The smallest particle of an element or compound which is capable of independent existence and shows all
the properties of that substance is called a molecule.
b) In general, molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are chemically bonded together. Atoms of the
same element or of different elements can join together to form molecules.
Molecules can be divided into two categories:
1. Molecules of Elements:
The molecules of an element contains same type of atoms. Molecules of many elements are made up of one atom of
that element. e.g. noble gases like argon (Ar), helium (He) etc.
 The molecules of most of the non-metals are made up of more than one atom. e.g. a molecule of oxygen (o2) consists
of two atoms of oxygen and is known as diatomic molecule, Ozone (o 3) consists of three atoms of oxygen.
Atomicity It is defined as the number of atoms present in a molecule. On the basis of atomicity, molecules can
be classified as:
a) Monoatomic molecules they consist of only one atom. E.g. He, Ne, Ar, Xe etc.
b) Diatomic molecules they consist of to atoms. H2, O2
c) Triatomic molecules they consist of three atoms. O3, CO2
d) Tetra atomic molecules consists of 4 atoms P4
e) Polyatomic molecules they consist of more than four atoms. S8

2. Molecules of Compounds
Atoms of different elements join together in definite proportions to form the molecules of various compounds.
For example, a molecule of water consists of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen to form a
triatomic molecule H2O,
A compound or molecule reacts with another and forms a different compound. Here the proportion in which
they react always remain constant. For example, in real experiments, we always see that 2 gm of hydrogen
always react with 16gm of oxygen and forms a water molecule. Thus water has always molecules in the ratio
of 1:8. We call this as the “law of definite proportion”.

Binary Compounds: A binary compound is a substance composed of exactly two different

elements, which are substances that cannot be simplified further by chemical means.
Examples of binary compounds include H2O, H2S, and NH3.
Ions : The charged species are called ions.
Cations The positively charged ions are known as cations. e.g. Na +, K+ , Al3+ etc. These are formed when elements losess
electrons. Usually, metals form cations.
Anions The negatively charged ions are known as anions. e.g. Cl- , Br- , O2-, etc. These are formed when elements gain
electrons. Usually, non-metals form anions.
Polyatomic Ion
A group of atoms carrying a charge is known as a polyatomic ion. e.g. NO -3 (nitrate ion), CO32- (carbonate ion) and
SO42- (sulphate ion) etc.
Some Ionic Compounds
Ionic Compounds Constituting Elements Mass Ratio
Calcium oxide Calcium and oxygen 5:2
Magnesium sulphide Magnesium and sulphur 3:4
➢ Ionic compounds are formed by cations and anions, e.g. sodium chloride or common salt (NaCI) consists
of a positively charged sodium Ion (Na +cation) and negatively charged chloride ion (CI- anion).
➢ The compound which consists of ions as its constituent particles is known as ionic compound. It contains
ionic bonds. Calcium oxide or quicklime (CaO) consist of calcium cation (Ca2+) and oxide anion (O2-).
➢ Molecular compounds are those compounds in which the atoms of the elements share electrons via
covalent bonds. Thus, in these compounds, covalent bonds are present. e.g. methane (CH4 ), water (H20)
etc.
Valency : The combining power (or capacity) of an element is called its valency. Valency can be used to find out how the
atoms of an element will combine with the atom(s) of another element to form a chemical compound. The valency of an
ion is equal to the charge on the ion.
WRITING CHEMICAL FORMULAE
To represent a compound with the help of symbols and valency of elements is known as chemical formula.
Chemical formula of a compound shows its constituent elements and the number of atoms of each combining
element. I
(i) The valencies or charges on the ion must be balanced.
(ii) When a compound consists of a metal and a non-metal, the symbol of the metal is written first and on the left
whereas of non-metal on its right. e.g. calcium oxide (CaO), sodium chloride (NaCl), iron sulphide (FeS), copper
oxide (CuO) etc., where oxygen, chlorine, sulphur are non-metals and are written on the right, whereas calcium,
sodium, iron and copper are metals and are written on left.
(iii) When compound is formed with polyatomic ions, the ion is enclosed in a bracket before writing the number to
indicate the ratio. e.g. Ca(OH) 2. In case if the number of polyatomic ion is one, the bracket is not required. e.g.
NaOH.
R
Assignment 1::Write the chemical formulas of the following compounds

1) Hydrogen Chloride 33) Barium chloride

2) Hydrogen sulphide 34) Barium sulphate
3) Carbon tetrachloride 35) Calcium phosphate
4) Magnesium chloride 36) Hydrogen iodide
5) Aluminum oxide 37) Aluminum oxide
6) Calcium oxide 38) Sodium oxide
7) Sodium nitrate 39) Calcium sulphite
8) Calcium hydroxide 40) Magnesium phosphate
9) Sodium carbonate 41) Sodium hydrogencarbonate
10) Ammonium sulphate 42) Calcium fluoride
11) Sodium oxide 43) Cuprous sulphate
12) Aluminum chloride 44) Ferric oxide
13) Sodium sulphide 45) Sodium sulphite
14) Magnesium hydroxide 46) Calcium nitride
15) Aluminum sulphate 47) Magnesium carbonate
16) Calcium chloride 48) Nitric acid
17) Potassium sulphate 49) Ferrous oxide
18) Potassium nitrate 50) Copper (II)oxide
19) Calcium carbonate 51) Sodium sulphite
20) Magnesium chloride
21) Copper nitrate 52) Quick lime
22) Aluminum chloride 53) Baking powder
23) Calcium carbonate 54) Sulphuric acid
24) Hydrogen bromide 55) Hydrochloric acid
25) Ferrous sulphate 56) Acetic acid
26) Lead sulphate
27) Lead chloride
28) Aluminum nitrate
29) Cupric oxide
30) Sodium nitrate
31) Ammonium chloride
32) Ferric chloride
Molecular mass and formula unit mass

MOLECULAR MASS. The molecular mass of a substance is the sum of the atomic masses of all the
atoms in a molecule of the substance. It is the relative mass of a molecule expressed in atomic mass
units (u).
Example (a) Calculate the relativemolecular mass of water (H2O). (b) Calculate the molecular mass of
HNO3
.
Solution:
(a) the molecular mass of water,
= 2 × 1+ 1×16 = 18 u
(b) The molecular mass of HNO3
= 1 + 14 + 48 = 63 u
FORMULA UNIT MASS :The formula unit mass of a substance is a sum of the atomic masses of all
atoms in a formula unit of a compound.
Formula unit mass is calculated in the same manner as we calculate the molecular mass. The only
difference is that we use the word formula unit for those substances whose constituent particles are
ions. For example, sodium chloride as
has a formula unit NaCl. Its formula unit mass is1 × 23 + 1 × 35.5 = 58.5 u