ELECTRON

CONFIGURATION
ELECTRON
CONFIGURATION
Have you ever travelled long distance and have to ride a bus and
find yourself sitting at the very back on an aisle seat?

If yes, then you were probably one of the last ones on board.
Typically, when passengers board a bus, they each sit in separate
benches occupying seats close to the window until all the window
seats are taken and that is when they begin to share seats.

Electrons in atoms fill atomic orbitals in the same way.

How do you determine an atom’s
ground-state electron configuration?
LEARNING COMPETENCIES
.

Write the electronic configuration of atoms (STEM_GC11ES-IIa-b-56).

Draw an orbital diagram to represent the electronic configuration of
atoms (STEM_GC11ES-IIa-b-58).
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Describe electron configurations.

Apply the Aufbau principle, Pauli exclusion principle and Hund’s
rule to write electron configurations.
Represent electron configurations using orbital diagrams and the
electron configuration notation.
Electron Configuration
Describes the arrangement of electrons inside an atom.
The distribution of electrons on the main energy level
(shells) and sub energy levels(sub-shells).

Since low-energy systems are more

stable than high-energy ones, electrons
arrange themselves to give the atom’s
lowest possible energy.
The most stable arrangement of electrons
in an orbital is called the ground-state
electron configuration.
-
ENERGY LEVEL
The way to make an electron configuration:

_ Note that in a neutral element, atomic number is equal to

the number of electron

_ _
_ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
Electron Configuration
1s2s2p3s3p4s3d4p5s4d5p6s4f5d6p7s5f6d7p6f7d
s=2, p=6, d=10, f=14
 Representing Electron Configuration
Orbital Diagrams
This is used to determine the paired and unpaired electrons and the distribution
and direction or spin of the electrons.
When drawing orbital diagrams to represent an atom’s electron configuration,
each box is labeled with the principal quantum number and the sublevel of the
orbital. For example, the orbital diagram for nitrogen’s electron configuration is:
Sub-shells and orbitals

s= 1
p= 3
d= 5
f= 7
LET’S TRY!
Create an orbital diagram for the following elements:
THREE RULES OR
PRINCIPLES SPECIFY HOW
ELECTRONS ARE ARRANGED
INSIDE AN ATOM: AUFBAU
PRINCIPLE, THE PAULI
EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE,
HUND’S RULE.
Aufbau Principle
The Aufbau principle states
that as protons are added one
by one to the nucleus to
build up elements, electrons
are added to atomic orbitals
in a similar manner where
each new electron occupies
the lowest energy orbital
available.
THE AUFBAU DIAGRAM

The Aufbau Diagram can be explained

further by the Madelung rule.

Determining the (n + l) values for each

orbital gives a diagram for a sequence
of orbitals from lowest energy to
highest energy.
PAULI EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE

According to the Pauli exclusion

principle, a maximum of two electrons
with opposite spins may occupy a single
atomic orbital.

Electrons in an orbital can be

represented by boxes with arrows
pointing up and/or pointing down.
Pauli Exclusion Principle
No electrons can have the same set of quantum numbers; thus, two electrons
occupying the same orbital should have opposite spins.
 Hund’s Rule
Hund’s rule states that single electrons with parallel spins must
occupy each orbital of equal energy before an electron with an
opposite spin can occupy the same orbital.
Hund’s rule is based on the fact that electrons repel one another and
therefore, must remain as far apart as possible.
In simple terms, in Hund’s rule electrons are filled one at a time
before pairing.
Hund’s Rule
Consider the arrangement of 1s22s22p5.

1s 2s 2p
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING:
Noble Gas Notation
The noble gas notation is another form of the
electron configuration notation where the
electron configuration of ground state atoms
is written using a representation of the
electron configuration of noble gases.
Noble Gas Notation
Noble gases are unusually stable elements that are found at the last column of a
periodic table.
The electron configuration of noble gases is represented using bracketed symbols.

For example, if you compare the electron

configuration of neon and sodium, you can
see that except for the outermost level of
sodium, the electron configuration of neon
is identical to that of sodium.

Neon
Sodium
Determine the ground-state electron configuration for
chlorine. Show the electron configuration using an orbital
diagram and electron configuration and noble gas notations.

1s22s22p63s23p6
[Ne]3s23p5
Draw the orbital diagrams for atoms with the following electron
configurations:
A. 1s 2s 2p
2 2 5

B. 1s 2s 2p 3s 3p
2 2 6 2 3

C. 1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 4s 3d
2 2 6 2 6 2 7

D.

Determine the element:

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p1

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s2
[Kr] 5s24d105p3