Electron Configuration

• Electron configurations tells us in which orbitals the

electrons for an element are located.
• Three rules:
– electrons fill orbitals starting with lowest n and moving
upwards;
The order is: 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d, 4p, 5s, 4d etc.
Orbital
Diagram
• The electron configuration of an atom is a
shorthand method of writing the location of
electrons by sublevel.
• The sublevel is written followed by a
superscript with the number of electrons in the
sublevel.
– If the 2p sublevel contains 2 electrons, it is written
2p2
Writing Electron Configurations
• First, determine how many electrons are in the
atom. Iron has 26 electrons.
• Arrange the energy sublevels according to
increasing energy:
– 1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 4s 3d …
• Fill each sublevel with electrons until you have
used all the electrons in the atom:
– Fe: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d 6
• The sum of the superscripts equals the atomic
number of iron (26)
Electron Configurations and the Periodic Table

• The periodic table can be used as a guide for

electron configurations.
• The period number is the value of n.
• Groups 1A and 2A have the s-orbital filled.
• Groups 3A - 8A have the p-orbital filled.
• Groups 3B - 2B have the d-orbital filled.
• The lanthanides and actinides have the f-
orbital filled.
 Blocks and Sublevels
• We can use the periodic table to predict which
sublevel is being filled by a particular element.
 Noble Gas Core Electron Configurations
• Recall, the electron configuration for Na is:
Na: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s1
• We can abbreviate the electron configuration by
indicating the innermost electrons with the
symbol of the preceding noble gas.
• The preceding noble gas with an atomic number
less than sodium is neon, Ne. We rewrite the
electron configuration:
Na: [Ne] 3s1
 EXCEPTIONS:

Chromium (24 electrons)

EC = 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s23p64s23d4 is INCORRECT

EC = 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s23p64s13d5 is CORRECT!
The d-orbital becomes half-filled so, it
changes to 4s13d5 instead.

The next element, Manganese will have an EC

of:
1s2 2s2 2p6 3s23p64s23d5
 This exception also appears near the end of the d-orbital
filling:

Copper

EC = 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s23p64s23d9 is

INCORRECT
EC = 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s23p64s13d10 is CORRECT

Additional exceptions are Mo 5s14d5; Ag

5s14d10; Au 6s15d10 That is reasonable
considering their position on the periodic
chart.
 ORBITAL-BOX DIAGRAMS
Similar to EC, except, you are now expected to draw out
the orbitals and place the electrons to show proper
spinning.
Rules for drawing orbital-Box diagrams
1) The Pauli Exclusion Principle-
each orbital can hold 2e-, where those 2e- are
always in opposite spin.
2) Hund's Rule –
Electrons occupy all the orbitals of a given
sublevel singly before pairing begins. Spins of
electrons in different incomplete orbitals are parallel
in the ground state.The most stable arrangement of
electrons in the subshells is the one with the
greatest number of parallel spins.
Suppose we want to draw the
orbital-box diagram of carbon:

Step 1: Draw the orbitals.

Step 2: Fill the electrons in the 1st two s-
orbitals, showing opposite spin. These
electrons must fill the lower energy orbitals
first before advancing to the next higher
energy level (AUFBAU’s PRINCIPLE).
Step 3: Fill the 2p sublevels one at a time
(HUND’s RULE).
Orbital Diagrams
Examples
 IONS
VALENCE ELECTRONS
The electrons in the outermost shell of the
Bohr diagram.

Lose electrons = become positively

charged (Cation)
Gain electrons = becomes negatively
charged (Anion)
 ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS OF
IONS
Electrons do not come out the same way as we
put them in according to the Aufbau Principle.
Electrons leave the outer most shell first.

Let's look at V vs V2+

23 V 1s2
2s2
2p 6
3s 2
3p 6
4s 2
3d3

23 V2+
1s 2
2s 2
2p 6
3s2
3p 6
3d 3