Valence Electrons & Bohr Diagrams

1. Valence Electrons & Bohr Diagrams

2. Atomic Structure • Atoms have a nucleus that contains Protons and Neutrons • Electrons are contained in shells that surround the nucleus • An atom is made of mostly empty space • Protons have a positive charge • Electrons have a negative charge • Neutrons are Neutral

3. Valence Electrons • Each electron shell can hold a certain number of electrons • Electron shells are filled from the inside out • Noble Gases have full outer electron shells • All other elements have partiallyfilled outer electron shells

4. Valence Electrons • The electrons in the outer most electron shell are called valence electrons • The shell containing electrons that is furthest from the nucleus is called the valence shell • The number of electron shells with electrons is the same as the period number

5. Noble Gas Stability • Noble gases are usually unreactive • This is because they have full valence shells • An element with a full valence shell is a happy element  • For two atoms to join together atoms must gain, lose or share electrons • Elements with full valence shells do not easily gain or lose electrons

6. Noble Gas Stability • Atoms want to gain stability • Atoms will try to gain or lose electrons to have a full valence shell • Metals try to lose electrons • Non-Metals try to gain electrons

7. Becoming An Ion • Electrons are negatively charged • Protons are positively charged • Neutral atoms do not have a charge because the number of protons is the same as the number of electrons • When atoms gain or lose electrons they become positively or negatively charged • An atom with a charge is called an Ion

8. Bohr Models • Niels Bohr created a visual model of the atom to make them easy to understand • A Bohr Model contains a central nucleus surrounded by electron shells • For each model you state the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus and draw a dot on the electron shells for each electron