Electron Arrangement

This topic often confuses people so don't worry if you don't understand it first time. Read up on electron arrangment in
textbooks and get other people to explain it to you.

Before this level of study you will have been told that electrons have fields of 2,8,8 maximum capacity. Well, this is not
true. As well as main energy levels, there are also sub-shells. The table below outlines this information.

For these sub-shells it is important to note that the 4s requires less energy for electrons to enter it than the 3d. Other than
this the electrons fill up each successive sub shell in order to form electrons. So below are the electron configurations of
some elements.

On the image, highlighted in blue are two features:

 The first is that at Scantium (Sc) the electrons in 3d start to fill up after 4s.
 The second is [Ne], this is a shorthand way of writing the electronic configuration, the bit highlighted means the
electron configuration of Neon then the rest. You can use any noble gas dependent on its size.

Hund's Maximum Multiplicity Rule

This rule is an important one when considering electron arrangement and ionisation energy. It states that in subshells, the
electrons will as far as possible be unpaired before; this is to be as energy efficient as possible. It is demonstrated below
using spin diagrams.

Ionisation Energy

The first ionisation energy is defined as: The energy/enthalpy change when one mole of electrons is removed from one
mole of a gaseous element, the equations for the first and second ionisation energies are shown below.

The ionisation energies of elements have a distinctive pattern, which provide evidence for the structure of electrons that is
explained above.

Group II patterns

Down the groups there is a decrease in first ionisation energy. This is because of the following factors:

Atomic Radius. This is the distance of the outermost electron to the nucleus. As you go down the groups, this distance
gets bigger, so it becomes easier to remove electrons (less energy is required) as they are further from the attractive force
of the nucleus.
Electron Shielding. As you go down the group there is a new n (main) electron level. This means that other electrons are
below the outermost. Because of this, there is a degree of repulsion, which means the electron is more readily lost.

Period III Patterns

The pattern of first ionisation energies across a period is a little more complex, because it does not show a perfect pattern.
However, there is a general increase along the period because of increasing nuclear charge the force of attraction from the
increasing number of protons means the electrons are being held in place with more force so more energy is required to
remove them.

There is a drop in first ionisation energy from magnesium to aluminium, this is because from Al, the electrons start filling
the 3p sub-shell, and because this is in a higher energy level, it is lower.

The next slight fall is from Phosphorus to Sulphur. This is because of Hund's maximum multiplicity as explained above.
The electrons begin to pair up, and so less energy is required to remove it since the two electrons in a pair repel each other
slightly.

Hund's Rule of Maximum Multiplicity is an observational rule which states that a greater total spin state usually makes
the resulting atom more stable. Accordingly, it can be taken that if two or more orbitals of equal energy are available,
electrons will occupy them singly before filling them in pairs. The rule, discovered by Friedrich Hund in 1925, is of
important use in atomic chemistry, spectroscopy, and quantum chemistry. As a result this rule is often abbreviated to
Hund's Rule, ignoring Hund's other two rules.[1]

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The increased stability of the atom, most commonly manifested in a lower energy state, arises because the high-spin state
forces the unpaired electrons to reside in different spatial orbitals. A false, but commonly given, reason for the increased
stability of high multiplicity states is that the different occupied spatial orbitals create a larger average distance between
electrons, reducing electron-electron repulsion energy. In reality, it has been shown that the actual reason behind the
increased stability is a decrease in the screening of electron-nuclear attractions[2]. Total spin state is calculated as the total
number of unpaired electrons + 1, or twice the total spin + 1 written as 2S+1.

As a result of Hund's rule, constraints are placed on the way atomic orbitals are filled using the Aufbau principle. Before
any two electrons occupy an orbital in a subshell, other orbitals in the same subshell must first each contain one electron.
Also, the electrons filling a subshell will have parallel spin before the shell starts filling up with the opposite spin
electrons (after the first orbital gains a second electron). As a result, when filling up atomic orbitals, the maximum number
of unpaired electrons (and hence maximum total spin state) is assured.

In 2004, researchers reported the synthesis of 5-dehydro-m-xylylene (DMX), the first organic molecule known to violate
Hund's rule.[3]