Electron Antics

Simple atoms
Small nuclei Relatively small amount of + charge. Electrons reside in lowest energy level. Ground state is relatively close to the nucleus.

What about larger atoms?

Larger Atoms
Nucleus is larger (more mass) Relatively larger + charge. Ground state must be farther away and have more energy than ground states of smaller atoms. Too many electrons to all reside in lowest energy level!

Where are electrons found in large atoms?

In the lowest energy level they can find that has space available.

Pauli Exclusion Principle

No two electrons can have the exact same properties at the same time.

Fill orbitals first w/ up-spin electrons Only after each orbital has 1 electron do you add a second one.

Filling up atoms w/electrons

How many electrons are in the outermost shell?

 Outermost shell is called the valence shell It is the one that determines how many bonds an atom will form.

How many more electrons do you need to fill the valence shell here? How many electrons would you need to lose to drop down to a full valence shell?

Bonds
Atoms want a full valence shell. They can share or take electrons from another atom to fill.
Carbon wants 4 electrons so will form 4 bonds

They will do whatever is easiest - gain a few to fill it Or lose a few to drop down to their already filled shell.
both atoms gain electrons by sharing to = full valence shell

Periodic Table is organized by electron configuration in valence shell

SO, DONT memorize number of electrons per shell.

Just know the rules, understand the periodic table, and you can reason it out.