| Name le Shell Game ‘Dale cena | i Electron Configurations THINK ABOUT IT i) Recall that the chemistry of the elements is closely related to the number of valence electrons in their atoms. The valence electrons are found in the outermost electron shell of an atom, What cloes the periodic table indicate about the arrangements of electrons? ‘To auswpt this question, you will explore Subshells in Atoms, Blectron Configurations Connecting the Periodic ‘Table to Flectron Arrangements } Noble Gas Shorthand EXPLORING THE TOPIC Subshells in Atoms maximum:32€ — Blectrons are arranged into shells numbered 1 = 1, 2, 3, and so on. The number osm © of electron shells in an atom is the same as the number ofthe period where the maximum2e- element is located on the periodic table, Each shell has a maximum number of electrons. For instance, the = 2 shell cannot have more than 8 electrons. Scientific evidence has led chemists to propose that electron shells are further divided into clectron subshells, Imagine magnifying the basic atomic model and finding that each shell is composed of subshells. Notice that the number of subshells that a shell has is equal to 1 ach electron shellcan havea ‘maximum pumberof electrons. Electron shells are further divided into subshells 116 Chapter | Moving ElectronsTHE s, p,d, AND f SUBSHELLS ‘The subshells have special names. They are called the s, p, d, and fsubshells, Just like the basic shells, each subshell has a maximum capacity of electrons, The s subshells can have a maximum of? electrons, p subshells can have a maximum, of 6 electrons, and d subshells can have a maximum of 10 electrons. Finally, fsubshells can have a maximum of 14 electrons, Ne Isabel ty eatin © ssibsrels ] Sodium, Nahas gg | electron at Q este) tnt Bese () datetets en pads Sate | itt esown, sasubihe ube Notice that the name of each subshell is labeled using both the basic shell number ‘and the subshell letter (1s, 2s, 2p, and 80 on). A Electron Arrangements Use the illustration of the subshells in a sodium atom above to help you answer these questions: a, How many total electrons are therein a sodium, Na, atom? Which shells are they in? 'b, How many valence electrons does sodium have? Which subshell are they in? c, How many electrons are there in the 3s subshell of sodium? In the 3p subshell? Solution ‘The atomic number of sodium is 11. a, There are a total of 11 electrons in a neutral sodium atom. The electrons are in shells, n= 1,0 = 2,0 = 3. b. Sodium has one valence electron, located in the 3s subshell ¢. ‘There is one electron in the 3s subshell of sodium, and none in the 3p subshell. Electron Configurations It can be time-consuming to draw subshell models of the atoms to show the arrangements of the electrons, especially for atoms with large atomic numbers. ‘Chemists have developed a shorthand notation called an electron configuration to keep track of the electrons in an atom. The electron configurations for the first tei elements are shown here, ki Cae Nitrogen hes 2 He Is N_ie2s'ap? == total 7electrons Li Istast 0 isastapt Be 1s'28? F istastap* B 1sta2p' Ne Is*2s?2pé Lesson24 | Electron Configurations 117] Each subshellis written using the shell number and the subshel letter.In addition, | Electrons in each subshell the number of electrons in each subshell is indicated with a superscript number. j e 4 2 Notice that the superscript numbers add up to the total number of electrons for Is 2s| that atom, 4 ‘The sequence in which electrons fill up the subshells is 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p. After the 4 element argon, the pattern changes slightly. Sebshets Electron Configuration of Sulfur ‘Write the electron configuration for sulfus, 8. Solution ’ Sulfur is located it the third row in Group 6A. The atomic number of sulfur is 16, so there are 16 electrons that need to be distributed in subshells, beginning with the 1s subshell, ‘The electron configuration of sulfur is 1s?2s?2p®3s°3p', Connecting the Periodic Table to Electron Arrangements An outline of the periodic PerodieTable-subshalls table appears here with color-coding to show the Key subshell for the outermost stock | electron of each element. prick For example, any element block te Flock located in the green area will have its outermost lectron(s) in a p subshell As you proceed across the periodic table from one clement to the next, one additional proton and one additional electton are added, along with one or more neutrons. Fach additional electron goes into a specific subshell. Ifan atom is located in the orange areas of the table, the last electron is placed into an s subshell. fan atom is located in the blue area ofthe table, the last clectron is placed into a d subshell. And so on. ‘The elements in each block have related properties. The elements in the s-block are reactive metals. The clements in the d-block tend to form colorful compounds that are used as pigments, The elements in the p-block tend to form colorless compounds. DECODING THE TABLE ‘To write out an electron configuration for a specific element, you can simply “read” from the periodic table, moving actoss from left to right and then down to the { M18 Chapter | Moving Electrons {next row. For example, the sequence of subshells for argon, Ar, is 18,28, 2p, 35, 3p. ‘The electron configuration for argon is 1s?2s'2p%3s*3p°, Periodic Table-subshels ‘Argon, Ar Potassium. K, 1— Arsenic, As Everything runs smoothly until you reach the fourth row of the periodic table. ae _ After argon, you might expect the next electron to be in the 3d subshell. However, ‘The ssubshells this does not happen. ‘The next element is potassium, K. Like the other elements in : filwith electrons Group LA, potassium has one electron in the s subshell So, you place an electron © helore thed subshellsfrom in 4s before 3d. The electron configuration for potassium is 1s"2s’2p*3s"3p%4s', the previous shell For “the electron configuration for arsenic is 1s°2s"2p*3s°3p%4s'34'4p". example, the 4s subshell ills hice we esse a You may have noticed that you only have to look at the ending of each electron aaa eenanel he configuration to figure out the identity of the element associated with it.‘he ending provides you with the exact spot an the periodic table where you can find +e the element. Elect Write the electron configuration for cobalt, Co, Solution Locate cobalt on the periodic table. It is element number 27 and is located in the fourth period of the periodic table. Simply trace your finger across the periodic table of subshells, writing the subshells as you go. When you get to cobalt stop writing, Every subshell up to the 4s subshell is, completely filled. In addition, cobalt has seven electrons in the 3d subshell. The answer is 1s?2st2p®3e3p%4s?3d You can check that you have the correct electron configuration by adding the superscript numbers to make sure there are 27 electrons. Lesson 24 | Electron ConfigurationsNoble Gas Shorthand Depending on the element, the electron configuration can be lengthy to write, Plus, each element just repeats the electron configuration of the previous element but adds one more electron. Rather than repeat the same thing every time, chemists have devised a quicker way to write out electron configurations. They use the noble gas atthe end of each period asa placeholder to symbolize al ofthe filled subshells before that place on the table. Using this “shorthand” method, the electron configuration of cobalt is [Ar]4s*3¢’, | Shorthand notation allows you to make some interesting comparisons, Notice that the noble gas shorthand notation emphasizes the valence electrons. Using this method, itis ensy to sce that each element in Group 2A has two valence electrons, both located in an s subshell c Group 2A Blements [ Symbol | Electron configurati eryltum | Be te magnesium (nei? i, (arlss? strontium (Kris? acum ele radium (Raine Electron Configuration of Selenium Find the element Selenium, Se, element number 34, on the periodic table. a. What is the electron configurati b. Write the electron configuration using noble gas shorthand. ‘c. In what subshells are selenium’s valence electrons? n of selenium? Solution a, Sclenium is in the p-block, in Period 4. The electron configuration of selenium is 1s%2s?2p%3stap%4s'3d 4p! . ‘The noble gas that comes before selenium is argon, Ar. So, the noble gas shorthand for this configuration is (Ar}4s*3d"4p* . Scleniumts valence electrons are in subshells 4s and 4p. LESSON SUMMARY ‘What does the periodic table indicate about the arrangements of electrons? Electrons in atoms are arranged into basic shells labeled m= 1, 2, 3, and so on. G ‘These shells are divided into subshells. The number of subshells in each shell is 120 Chapter4 | Moving Electronsequal to 1, The subshells are referred to ass, p. d, and f subshells. The sp, d, and f subshells can havea maximum of2, 6, 10, and 14 electrons, respectively. Chemists use electron configurations to specify the arrangements of electrons in subshells. “The periodic table provides the information needed to writ electron configurations. Reading Questions 1. What are electron subshells? 2. What isan electron configuration? 3. How is the arrangement of electrons in an atom related to the location of the atom on the periodic table? Reason and Apply 4 How many sutShells are in each shel = 1,n= 2, = 3,0 = 5. Whatis the total number of subshells for elements in Period 5 of the periodic table? 6. Draw a subshell model for each of these elements, putting the electrons in their appropriate places. a. sodium,Ne —b. neonNe carbon, C 7. What is the outermost subshell for bromine, Br? 8, Name an clement with electrons in the f subshell. 9. vanadium, V Consider the element with the atomic number 13, a. What is the electron configuration for the element with atomic number 13? b, How many valence electrons does element number 13 have? How do you know? , How many core electrons does element number 13 have? How did you figure that out? 10, Explain why the chemical properties of argon, krypton, and xenon are similar, even though there are 18 elements between argon and krypton and 32 elements between krypton and xenon, 11, Waite the electron configuration for each of these atoms, Then write it noble gas shorthand method. a. oxygen b. chlorine. iron d, caleiutn fe, magnesium silver @ silicon hy mercury 12. You should be able to figure out the identity of an atom from its electron configuration alone, Describe at least two ways you could do this 13. Which elements are described by these electron configurations? a. 1s%2s"2p%3s'3p'dsi3d b. 1st2s?2p%3s%3p* c. Is'2sp? i. 15°2s%2p%stapas?d'tap ss'4dlsp%6s! fe. 1s°2s%2p%3s"3p'ds?3d4p'sst4dsp'es"At"'sd 6p? f [Kr]5s%4d? the Lesson 2s | Electron Configurations