30 Electron Configuration
LumenLearning
General Rules for Assigning Electrons to Atomic Orbitals
An atom’s electrons exist in discrete atomic orbitals, and the atom’s electron configuration can be determined using a set of guidelines.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Determine the electron configuration for elements and ions, identifying the relation between electron shells and subshells.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- If the energy of an atom is increased, an electron in the atom gets excited. To go back to its ground state, the electron releases energy. The energy of the light released when an electron drops in energy level is the same as the difference in energy between the two levels.
- Viewed simply, electrons are arranged in shells around an atom’s nucleus. Electrons closest to the nucleus will have the lowest energy. Electrons further away from the nucleus will have higher energy. An atom’s electron shell can accommodate 2n2 electrons (where n is the shell level).
- In a more realistic model, electrons move in atomic orbitals, or subshells. There are four different orbital shapes: s, p, d, and f. Within each shell, the s subshell is at a lower energy than the p. An orbital diagram is used to determine an atom’s electron configuration.
- There are guidelines for determining the electron configuration of an atom. An electron will move to the orbital with lowest energy. Each orbital can hold only one electron pair. Electrons will separate as much as possible within a shell.
Key Terms
- frequency: The number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time.
- quantization: The process of approximating a continuous signal by a set of discrete symbols or integer values.
Energy of Electrons in Atomic Orbitals
The central structure of an atom is the nucleus, which contains protons and neutrons. This nucleus is surrounded by electrons. Although these electrons all have the same charge and the same mass, each electron in an atom has a different amount of energy. Electrons with the lowest energy are found closest to the nucleus, where the attractive force of the positively charged nucleus is the greatest. Electrons that have higher energy are found further away.
Energy Quantization
When the energy of an atom is increased (for example, when a substance is heated), the energy of the electrons inside the atom is also increased—that is to say, the electrons get excited. For the excited electron to go back to its original energy, or ground state, it needs to release energy. One way an electron can release energy is by emitting light. Each element emits light at a specific frequency (or color) upon heating that corresponds to the energy of the electronic excitation.
It is helpful to think of this like going up a flight of steps. If you don’t lift your foot enough, you will bump into the step and be stuck on the ground level. You need to lift your foot to the height of the step to move on. The same goes for electrons and the amount of energy they can have. This separating of electrons into energy units is called quantization of energy because there are only certain quantities of energy that an electron can have in an atom. The energy of the light released when an electron drops down from a higher energy level to a lower energy level is the same as the difference in energy between the two levels.
Electron Shells
We will start with a very simple way of showing the arrangement of electrons around an atom. Here, electrons are arranged in energy levels, or shells, around the nucleus of an atom. Electrons that are in the first energy level (energy level 1) are closest to the nucleus and will have the lowest energy. Electrons further away from the nucleus will have higher energy. An atom’s electron shell can accommodate 2n2 electrons, where n is the energy level. For example, the first shell can accommodate 2 x (1)2 or 2 electrons. The second shell can accommodate 2 x (2)2, or 8, electrons.
As an example, fluorine (F), has an atomic number of 9, meaning that a neutral fluorine atom has 9 electrons. The first 2 electrons are found in the first energy level, and the other 7 are found in the second energy level.
Atomic Orbitals
Though electrons can be represented simply as circling the nucleus in rings, in reality, electrons move along paths that are much more complicated. These paths are called atomic orbitals, or subshells. There are several different orbital shapes—s, p, d, and f—but we will be focusing mainly on s and p orbitals for now. The first energy level contains only one s orbital, the second energy level contains one s orbital and three p orbitals, and the third energy level contains one s orbital, three p orbitals, and five d orbitals. Within each energy level, the s orbital is at a lower energy than the p orbitals.
An orbital diagram helps to determine the electron configuration of an element. An element’s electron configuration is the arrangement of the electrons in the shells. There are a few guidelines for working out this configuration:
- Each orbital can hold only two electrons. Electrons that occur together in an orbital are called an electron pair.
- An electron will always try to enter the orbital with the lowest energy.
- An electron can occupy an orbital on its own, but it would rather occupy a lower-energy orbital with another electron before occupying a higher-energy orbital. In other words, within one energy level, electrons will fill an s orbital before starting to fill p orbitals.
- The s subshell can hold 2 electrons.
- The p subshells can hold 6 electrons.
Electron configurations can be used to rationalize chemical properties in both inorganic and organic chemistry. It is also used to interpret atomic spectra, the method used to measure the energy of light emitted from elements and compounds.
The Building-Up (Aufbau) Principle
The Aufbau principle determines an atom’s electron configuration by adding electrons to atomic orbitals following a defined set of rules.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Write electron configurations for elements in standard notation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- The Madelung rule defines the order in which atomic orbitals are filled with electrons. Electrons fill orbitals starting at the lowest available energy state before filling higher states.
- Aufbau procedure: Determine number of electrons for the atom of interest. Fill available orbitals starting with the lowest-energy levels first and avoid pairing electrons in a single orbital until it is necessary.
- Electron configuration notation describes the energy levels, orbitals, and the number of electron. The number and letter describe the energy level and orbital respectively, and the superscript number shows how many electrons are in that orbital.
- The Aufbau principle works well for the first 18 elements but then becomes less useful.
Key Terms
- Pauli Exclusion Principle: The quantum mechanical principle that no two identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously.
Atoms Are Built Up by Adding Electrons
Although the nucleus of an atom is very dense, the electrons around it can take on a variety of positions which can be summarized as an electron configuration. An element’s electron configuration can be represented using energy level diagrams, or Aufbau diagrams. The Aufbau principle (from the German Aufbau meaning “building up, construction”) describes a model-building method in which an atom is “built up” by progressively adding electrons. As electrons are added, they assume the most stable shells with respect to the nucleus and the electrons already present.
Filling in an Aufbau Diagram
The order in which orbitals are filled is given by the Madelung rule. The rule is based on the total number of nodes in the atomic orbital, n + ℓ, which is related to the energy. In this context, n represents the principal quantum number and ℓ represents the azimuthal quantum number. The values ℓ = 0, 1, 2, 3 correspond to the s, p, d, and f labels, respectively. According to the principle, electrons fill orbitals starting at the lowest available energy states before filling higher states (e.g., 1s before 2s).
An Aufbau diagram uses arrows to represent electrons. When there are two electrons in an orbital, the electrons are called an electron pair. Electron pairs are shown with arrows pointing in opposite directions. According to the Pauli Exclusion Principle, two electrons in an orbital will not spin the same way. That is, an Aufbau diagram uses arrows pointing in opposite directions. An arrow pointing up denotes an electron spinning one way and an arrow pointing downwards denotes an electron spinning the other way. If the orbital only has one electron, this electron is called an unpaired electron.
The following steps detail how to draw an Aufbau diagram:
- Determine the number of electrons that the atom has.
- Fill the s orbital in the first energy level (the 1s orbital) with the first two electrons.
- Fill the s orbital in the second energy level (the 2s orbital) with the second two electrons.
- Put one electron in each of the three p orbitals in the second energy level (the 2p orbitals) and then if there are still electrons remaining, go back and place a second electron in each of the 2p orbitals to complete the electron pairs.
- Continue in this way through each of the successive energy levels until all the electrons have been drawn.
Electron Configuration Standard Notation
A special type of notation is used to write an atom’s electron configuration. The notation describes the energy levels, orbitals, and the number of electrons in each. For example, the electron configuration of lithium is 1s22s1. The number and letter describe the energy level and orbital, and the number above the orbital shows how many electrons are in that orbital. Using standard notation, the electron configuration of fluorine is 1s22s22p5.
Limitations to Aufbau
The Aufbau principle is based on the idea that the order of orbital energies is fixed—both for a given element and between different elements. This assumption is approximately true—enough for the principle to be useful—but not physically reasonable. It models atomic orbitals as “boxes” of fixed energy into which at most two electrons can be placed. However, the energy of an electron in an atomic orbital depends on the energies of all the other electrons of the atom.
In a hydrogen-like atom, which only has one electron, the s-orbital and the p-orbitals of the same shell in the Aufbau diagram have exactly the same energy. However, in a real hydrogen atom, the energy levels are slightly split by the magnetic field of the nucleus. Because each atom has a different number of protons in its nucleus, the magnetic field differs, which alters the pull on each electron. In general, the Aufbau principle works very well for the ground states of the atoms for the first 18 elements, then decreasingly well for the following 100 elements.
Interactive: Energy Levels of a Hydrogen Atom: The likely location of an electron around the nucleus of an atom is called an orbital. The shape of an orbital depends on the energy state of the electron. A neutral hydrogen atom has one electron. Click in the boxes to set the energy of that electron and see the orbital shape describing where you are likely to find that electron around the nucleus.
Hund’s Rule
Hund’s Rule defines the behavior of unpaired valence shell electrons, providing insight into an atom’s reactivity and stability.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Apply Hund’s rule and justify its use to determine electron configurations for atoms in the ground state
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- Hund’s Rule states that every orbital in a sublevel is singly occupied before any orbital is doubly occupied and all of the electrons in singly occupied orbitals have the same spin.
- Electrons arrange themselves in order to minimize their interaction energy. They will always occupy an empty orbital before they pair up to minimize repulsion. Unpaired electrons have the same spins because they meet less often if traveling in the same direction than if traveling in opposite directions.
- To avoid confusion, scientists always draw the first electron, and any other unpaired electron, in an orbital as “spin-up.”
- Electron configurations help make predictions about how certain elements will react. An atom is most reactive when its valence shell is not full and most stable when its valence orbitals are full. Elements that have the same number of valence electrons often have similar properties.
Key Terms
- repulsion: A force that moves two bodies away from each other.
- hund’s rule: A rule which states that a greater total spin state usually makes the resulting atom more stable.
- quantum-mechanical calculation: Branch of physics which studies matter and energy at the level of atoms and other elementary particles, and substitutes probabilistic mechanisms for classical Newtonian ones.
Relation to Aufbau Principle
Electrons will fill the lowest energy orbitals first and then move up to higher energy orbitals only after the lower energy orbitals are full. This is referred to as the Aufbau Principle, after the scientist who proposed the concept. Although the implications are clear for orbitals of different principal quantum number (n), which are clearly of different energy, the filling order is less clear for degenerate sublevels. For example, for boron through neon, the electron filling order of the 2p orbitals follows Hund’s Rule.
Hund’s Rule states that:
- Every orbital in a sublevel is singly occupied before any orbital is doubly occupied.
- All of the electrons in singly occupied orbitals have the same spin.
Hund’s Rule Explained
According to the first rule, electrons will always occupy an empty orbital before they pair up. Electrons are negatively charged and, as a result, they repel each other. Electrons tend to minimize repulsion by occupying their own orbital, rather than sharing an orbital with another electron. Further, quantum-mechanical calculations have shown that the electrons in singly occupied orbitals are less effectively screened or shielded from the nucleus.
For the second rule, unpaired electrons in singly occupied orbitals have the same spins. If all electrons are orbiting in the same direction, they meet less often than if some of them orbit in opposite directions. In the latter case, the repulsive force increases, which separates electrons. Therefore, spins that are aligned have lower energy.
Technically speaking, the first electron in a sublevel could be either “spin-up” or “spin-down.” Once the spin of the first electron in a sublevel is chosen, the spins of all of the other electrons in that sublevel depend on that first choice. To avoid confusion, scientists always draw the first electron, and any other unpaired electron, in an orbital as “spin-up.”
Applying Hund’s Rule
For example, take the electron configuration for carbon: 2 electrons will pair up in the 1s orbital, 2 electrons pair up in the 2s orbital, and the remaining 2 electrons will be placed into the 2p orbitals. The correct orbital diagram, obeying Hund’s Rule, will note the two 2p electrons to be unpaired in two of the three available orbitals, both with “spin-up.” Since electrons always occupy an empty orbital before they fill up, it would be incorrect to draw the two 2p electrons in the same orbital, leaving open orbitals unfilled.
As another example, oxygen has 8 electrons. The electron configuration can be written as 1s22s22p4. The orbital diagram is drawn as follows: the first 2 electrons will pair up in the 1s orbital; the next 2 electrons will pair up in the 2s orbital. That leaves 4 electrons, which must be placed in the 2p orbitals. According to Hund’s Rule, all orbitals will be singly occupied before any is doubly occupied. Therefore, two p orbitals will each get 1 electron and one will get 2 electrons. Hund’s Rule also tells us that all of the unpaired electrons must have the same spin. Keeping with convention, all of the unpaired electrons are drawn as “spin-up.”
Purpose of Electron Configurations
When atoms come into contact with one another, it is the outermost electrons of these atoms, or valence shell, that will interact first. An atom is least stable (and therefore most reactive) when its valence shell is not full. The valence electrons are largely responsible for an element’s chemical behavior. Elements that have the same number of valence electrons often have similar chemical properties.
Electron configurations can also predict stability. An atom is at its most stable (and therefore unreactive) when all its orbitals are full. The most stable configurations are the ones that have full energy levels. These configurations occur in the noble gases. The noble gases are very stable elements that do not react easily with any other elements.
Electron configurations can help to make predictions about the ways in which certain elements will react and the chemical compounds or molecules that different elements will form. These principles help to understand the behavior of all chemicals, from the most basic elements like hydrogen and helium, to the most complex proteins (huge biological chemicals made of thousands of different atoms bound together) found in the human body.
The Shielding Effect and Effective Nuclear Charge
The shielding effect, approximated by the effective nuclear charge, is due to inner electrons shielding valence electrons from the nucleus.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Calculate effective nuclear charges experienced by valence electrons.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- The shielding effect describes the balance between the pull of the protons on valence electrons and the repulsion forces from inner electrons.
- The shielding effect explains why valence-shell electrons are more easily removed from the atom. The effect also explains atomic size. The more shielding, the further the valence shell can spread out and the bigger atoms will be.
- The effective nuclear charge is the net positive charge experienced by valence electrons. It can be approximated by the equation: Zeff = Z – S, where Z is the atomic number and S is the number of shielding electrons.
Key Terms
- cation: A positively charged ion, as opposed to an anion.
- valence shell: The outermost shell of electrons in an atom; these electrons take part in bonding with other atoms.
- valence shell electron pair repulsion theory: A set of rules used to predict the shape of individual molecules.
- core electrons: Those that are not part of the valence shell and as such, are not involved in bonding.
- nucleus: The positively charged central part of an atom, made up of protons and neutrons.
- effective nuclear charge: That experienced by an electron in a multi-electron atom, typically less for electrons that are shielded by core electrons.
- anion: A negatively charged ion, as opposed to a cation.
The Shielding Effect
Electrons in an atom can shield each other from the pull of the nucleus. This effect, called the shielding effect, describes the decrease in attraction between an electron and the nucleus in any atom with more than one electron shell. The more electron shells there are, the greater the shielding effect experienced by the outermost electrons.
In hydrogen-like atoms, which have just one electron, the net force on the electron is as large as the electric attraction from the nucleus. However, when more electrons are involved, each electron (in the n-shell) feels not only the electromagnetic attraction from the positive nucleus but also repulsion forces from other electrons in shells from 1 to n-1. This causes the net electrostatic force on electrons in outer shells to be significantly smaller in magnitude. Therefore, these electrons are not as strongly bound as electrons closer to the nucleus.
The shielding effect explains why valence shell electrons are more easily removed from the atom. The nucleus can pull the valence shell in tighter when the attraction is strong and less tight when the attraction is weakened. The more shielding that occurs, the further the valence shell can spread out. As a result, atoms will be larger.
EXAMPLE
Why is cesium bigger than elemental sodium?
The element sodium has the electron configuration 1s22s22p63s1. The outer energy level is n = 3 and there is one valence electron. The attraction between this lone valence electron and the nucleus with 11 protons is shielded by the other 10 core electrons.
The electron configuration for cesium is 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p65s24d105p66s1. While there are more protons in a cesium atom, there are also many more electrons shielding the outer electron from the nucleus. The outermost electron, 6s1, therefore, is held very loosely. Because of shielding, the nucleus has less control over this 6s1 electron than it does over a 3s1 electron.
Effective Nuclear Charge
The magnitude of the shielding effect is difficult to calculate precisely. As an approximation, we can estimate the effective nuclear charge on each electron.
The effective nuclear charge (often symbolized as Zeff or Z*) is the net positive charge experienced by an electron in a multi-electron atom. The term “effective” is used because the shielding effect of negatively charged electrons prevents higher orbital electrons from experiencing the full nuclear charge.
The effective nuclear charge on an electron is given by the following equation:
Zeff = Z – S
where Z is the number of protons in the nucleus (atomic number), and S is the number of electrons between the nucleus and the electron in question (the number of nonvalence electrons).
EXAMPLE
Consider a neutral neon atom (Ne), a sodium cation (Na+), and a fluorine anion (F–). What is the effective nuclear charge for each?
Start by figuring out the number of nonvalence electrons, which can be determined from the electron configuration.
Ne has 10 electrons. The electron configuration is 1s22s2 2p6. The valence shell is shell 2 and contains 8 valence electrons. Thus the number of nonvalence electrons is 2 (10 total electrons – 8 valence). The atomic number for neon is 10, therefore:
Zeff(Ne) = 10 – 2 = 8+
Flourine has 9 electrons but F– has gained an electron and thus has 10. The electron configuration is the same as for neon and the number of nonvalence electrons is 2. The atomic number for F– is 9, therefore:
Zeff(F–) = 9 – 2 = 7+
Sodium has 11 electrons but the Na+ ion has lost an electron and thus has 10. Once again, the electron configuration is the same as in the previous examples and the number of nonvalence electrons is 2 (by losing one electron, the valence shell becomes the n=2 shell). The atomic number for Na+ is 11, therefore:
Zeff(Na+) = 11 – 2 = 9+
In each of the above examples ([latex]\text{Ne}[/latex], [latex]\text{F}^-[/latex], [latex][/latex]\text{Na}^+[latex][/latex]) an atom has 10 electrons but the effective nuclear charge varies because each has a different atomic number. The sodium cation has the largest effective nuclear charge, which results in electrons being held the tightest, and therefore Na+ has the smallest atomic radius.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
- Curation and Revision. Provided by: Boundless.com. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTION
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. September 17, 2013. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Electron configuration. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_configuration. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Provided by: AskApache. Located at: http://nongnu.askapache.com/fhsst/Chemistry_Grade_10-12.pdf. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
- frequency. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frequency. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- quantization. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quantization. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. September 17, 2013. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Aufbau principle. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufbau_principle. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Electron configuration. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_configuration. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Pauli Exclusion Principle. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli%20Exclusion%20Principle. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Klechkovski rule. Provided by: WIkipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufbau_principle%23mediaviewer/File:Klechkovski_rule.svg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Hund’s rules. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hund’s_rules. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. September 17, 2013. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- High School Chemistry/Orbital Configurations. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/High_School_Chemistry/Orbital_Configurations. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- repulsion. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/repulsion. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Hund’s rule of maximum multiplicity. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hund’s_rule_of_maximum_multiplicity. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- quantum-mechanical calculation. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quantum-mechanical+calculation. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Klechkovski rule. Provided by: WIkipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufbau_principle%23mediaviewer/File:Klechkovski_rule.svg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orbital_diagram_four_2p_-_Hund’s_Rule.svg&page=1. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orbital_diagram_carbon_-_Hund’s_Rule.svg&page=1. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Effective nuclear charge. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_nuclear_charge. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- General Chemistry/Periodicity and Electron Configurations. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/General_Chemistry/Periodicity_and_Electron_Configurations. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- High School Chemistry/Atomic Size. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/High_School_Chemistry/Atomic_Size. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Shielding effect. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shielding_effect. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Boundless. Provided by: Boundless Learning. Located at: http://www.boundless.com//chemistry/definition/core-electrons. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Valence shell electron pair repulsion theory. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valence_shell_electron_pair_repulsion_theory. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Boundless. Provided by: Boundless Learning. Located at: http://www.boundless.com//chemistry/definition/effective-nuclear-charge. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- nucleus. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nucleus. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- cation. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cation. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- valence shell. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/valence_shell. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Klechkovski rule. Provided by: WIkipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufbau_principle%23mediaviewer/File:Klechkovski_rule.svg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orbital_diagram_four_2p_-_Hund’s_Rule.svg&page=1. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orbital_diagram_carbon_-_Hund’s_Rule.svg&page=1. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Effective nuclear charge diagram. Provided by: Wikimedia. Located at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Effective_nuclear_charge_diagram.svg. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Paramagnetic. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramagnetic. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Diamagnetic. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamagnetic. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- High School Chemistry/The Electron Spin Quantum Number. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/High_School_Chemistry/The_Electron_Spin_Quantum_Number%23When_Electrons_are_Paired.2C_They_are_Diamagnetic_.28i.e._No_Magnetic_Attraction.29. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Paramagnetic. Provided by: Wikipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramagnetic. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- lanthanide. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lanthanide. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- quantum number. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quantum_number. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 15, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Klechkovski rule. Provided by: WIkipedia. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufbau_principle%23mediaviewer/File:Klechkovski_rule.svg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Free High School Science Texts Project, The Atom: Energy Quantisation and Electron Configuration. October 16, 2012. Provided by: OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/content/m39967/latest/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orbital_diagram_four_2p_-_Hund’s_Rule.svg&page=1. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orbital_diagram_carbon_-_Hund’s_Rule.svg&page=1. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Effective nuclear charge diagram. Provided by: Wikimedia. Located at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Effective_nuclear_charge_diagram.svg. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Diamagnetic graphite levitation. Provided by: Wikimedia. Located at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diamagnetic_graphite_levitation.jpg. License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
This chapter is an adaptation of the chapter "Electron Configuration" in Boundless Chemistry by LumenLearning and is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
The number of vibrations per second.
Ions that are positively charged because they have more protons than electrons.
Ions that are negatively charged because they have more electrons than protons.