5-3 ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS

 Electron configuration – arrangement of e- in atoms;

lower nrg arrangements
 Arrangements defined by:

1. Aufbau principle – e- occupy lowest nrg orbital available

a. All orbitals in a sublevel are = in nrg (px py pz )
b. Sublevels within an energy level have different energies
 Ex: 2s lower in nrg than 2p
c. Order of energy = s, p, d, f
d. Sublevels in one energy level can overlap with sublevels in another
principal energy level.
a. Ex: 4s lower in nrg than 3d
AUFBAU DIAGRAM
ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS
2. Pauli exclusion principle – a max of 2 e- may occupy
a single orbital only if they have opposite spins.
3. Hund’s rule – energy charged e- repel each other.
 All same nrg orbitals are filled first with e- containing same
spin before extra e- can occupy the same orbital with
opposite spins.
 Ex: 3 orbitals of 2p

2px 2py 2pz

FILLING SUBLEVELS WITH ELECTRONS
 Energy sublevels are filled from lower energy to higher
energy following the diagram.
 ALWAYS start at the beginning of each level and follow it
until all e- in an element have been placed.

1s
2s 2p
3s 3p 3d
4s 4p 4d 4f
5s 5p 5d 5f
6s 6p 6d
7s 7p
ORBITAL DIAGRAM AND E-
CONFIGURATIONS
 Orbital diagram for Fe:
 Iron has how many e- ?
 26 e-

1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 4s 3d
 Electron configuration for Fe:
 Iron has 26 e-
 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d6
 Shortcut to the E- config. for Fe is Noble gas notation
 Group 18 or 8A are the Nobel Gases
 Argon has 18 e-
 Iron has 26 e-
 Noble gas notation:
[
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6
]
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d6
[Ar] 4s2 3d6
VALENCE ELECTRONS AND ELECTRON
DOT STRUCTURES
 Valence electrons – outer energy level/orbital electrons
which are involved in bonding.
 Valence electrons = groups 1A to 8A
 B GROUPS DO NOT COUNT
 E- dot structures- consists of the element’s:
a. Symbol - represents the atomic nucleus & inner-level
electrons
b. Surrounded by dots- represent the valence electrons.
c. Ex: O = 1s2 2s2 2p4 or [He]2s2 2p4 ve- =6 in grp 6A

O
 PERIODIC TABLE SHORTCUT
1A 8A
Groups (A only) = Valence e-
2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A
Periods = Energy Level

Energy level = n-1 for d sublevel

Energy level =
n-2 for f sublevel