Module 1 ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Lesson 3 ELECTRON CONFIGURATION

Objective: Use the Aufbau Principle, Pauli's

What I Need to Know Exclusion Principle and Hund's Rule to write
electron configuration and orbital notations
of an element

What I Know

Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the BEST answer. Write it on your ISN.

1) What is the total number of valence electrons in an atom with the electron
configuration 2-8-5?
a) 2 b) 5 c) 8 d) 15
2) A Ca2+ ion differs from a Ca0 atom in that the Ca2+ ion has
a) more electrons c) more protons
b) fewer protons d) fewer electrons
3) Which particles are referred to as nucleons (subatomic particles located in the
nucleus)?
a) protons and neutrons c) neutrons, only
b) protons and electrons d) neutrons and electrons
4) What is the mass number of an atom that contains 19 protons, 19 electrons, and
20 neutrons?
a) 39 b) 19 c) 58 d) 20
5) What term refers to the region of an atom where an electron is most likely to be
found?
a) quantum b) spectrum c) orbital d) orbit
6) The nucleus of an atom consists of 8 protons and 6 neutrons. The total number
of electrons present in a neutral atom of this element is
a) 6 b) 8 c) 2 d) 14
7) Atoms of 16O, 17O, and 18O have the same number of
a) protons, but a different number of electrons
b) protons, but a different number of neutrons
c) electrons, but a different number of protons
d) neutrons, but a different number of protons
8) All atoms of an element have the same
a) number of neutrons c) atomic number
b) atomic mass d) mass number
9) The atomic number is always equal to the total number of
a) neutrons in the nucleus
b) neutrons plus protons in the atom
c) protons in the nucleus
d) protons plus electrons in the atom
10. Orbital n=2 hold up to
a) 2 electrons b) 8 electrons c) 11 electrons d) 18 electrons
 What’s In

In Module 1 Lesson 2, you studied the quantum mechanical model of an

atom where you learned about orbitals, a place where you can probably find the
electrons. In this lesson, you are going to apply the quantum numbers in
determining the electron configuration of an element guided by a rule and
principles. What are these rule and principles?

What’s New Draw a Bohr model for the following elements. A

model of oxygen is provided as your guide.
Element Bohr Model

Fluorine

Sodium

Answer the following questions.

1. How many electrons are found in the first energy level of fluorine?
2. Write the quantum numbers of the electrons in the first energy level of fluorine.
3. How many electrons are found in the second energy level of fluorine?
4. Write the quantum numbers of the electrons in the second energy level of
fluorine.
5. Write the quantum numbers of the electron in the last energy level of sodium.

What Is It

Electron
configurations are the
summary of where the
electrons are around a
nucleus. As you learned
earlier, each neutral
atom has a number of
electrons equal to its
number of protons. What
you will do now is place
those electrons into an
arrangement around the
nucleus that indicates
their energy and the
shape of the orbital in
which they are located.

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 Using the chart above, you need 2 electrons to fill an s orbital, 6 electrons
to fill a p orbital, 10 electrons to fill a d orbital and 14 electrons to fill the f
orbital.

How to Write an Electron Configuration

The symbols used for writing the electron configuration start with the
energy level or shell number (principal quantum number, n) followed by the type
of orbital(azimutal quantum number, l ) and finally the superscript indicates how
many electrons are in the orbital/s.

Filling of Atomic Orbitals

Aufbau Principle

This principle is named after the German word

‘Aufbeen’ which means ‘build up’. The Aufbau
principle dictates that electrons will occupy the
orbitals having lower energies before occupying
higher energy orbitals. The energy of an orbital is
calculated by the sum of the principal and the
azimuthal quantum numbers. According to this
principle, electrons are filled in the following
order: 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d, 4p, 5s, 4d, 5p, 6s,
4f, 5d, 6p, 7s, 5f, 6d, 7p…

Pauli Exclusion Principle

The Pauli exclusion

principle states that a maximum of
two electrons, each having
opposite spins, can fit in an
orbital. This principle can also be
stated as “no two electrons in the
same atom have the same values
for all four quantum numbers”.
Therefore, if the principal,
azimuthal, and magnetic numbers
are the same for two electrons,
they must have opposite spins.

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 Orbital Diagrams

Another way to represent the order of fill for an atom is by using an orbital
diagram often referred to as "the little boxes":

The boxes are used to represent the orbitals

and to show the electrons placed in them. The
order of fill is the same but as you can see from
above the electrons are placed singly into the boxes
before filling them with both electrons.

Hund’s Rule

This rule describes the order in which electrons are filled in all the orbitals
belonging to a subshell. It states that every orbital in a given subshell are singly
occupied by electrons before a second electron is filled in an orbital. In order to
maximize the total spin, the electrons in the orbitals that only contain one electron
all have the same spin (or the same values of the spin quantum number).

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 The standard notation often yields lengthy electron configurations (especially
for elements having a relatively large atomic number). In such cases, an abbreviated
or condensed or shorthand notation may be used instead of the standard notation.
In the abbreviated notation, the sequence of completely filled subshells that
correspond to the electronic configuration of a noble gas is replaced with the symbol
of that noble gas in square brackets. Therefore, the abbreviated electron
configuration of sodium is [Ne]3s1 (the electron configuration of neon is 1s 22s22p6,
which can be abbreviated to [He]2s22p6).

Exceptions

It is important to note that there exist many exceptions to the Aufbau

principle such as chromium and copper. These exceptions can sometimes be
explained by the stability provided by half-filled or completely filled subshells. In
the d block, specifically the groups containing Chromium and Copper, there is an
exception in how they are filled. Here are the actual configurations:

Electron Configurations are useful for:

1. Determining the valency of an element. Electron configurations provide

insight into the chemical behavior of elements by helping determine the
valence electrons of an atom.
2. Predicting the properties of a group of elements (elements with similar
electron configurations tend to exhibit similar properties). It helps
classify elements into different blocks (such as the s-block elements,
the p-block elements, the d-block elements, and the f-block elements).
3. Interpreting atomic spectra. This makes it easier to collectively study
the properties of the elements.

What’s More

Learning Activity 3: Writing electron configuration of elements. Write the

electron configuration of bromine and barium. Show the orbital diagram,
longhand (standard) and shorthand notations.

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 What I Have Learned
Complete the sentences/ideas by filling the blank.

1. The ________ of an element is a symbolic notation of the manner in which

the electrons of its atoms are distributed over different atomic orbitals.
2. The _____ says that electrons must completely fill the atomic orbitals of
a given energy level before occupying an orbital associated with a higher
energy level.
3. _______ states that no two electrons can have equal values for all four
quantum numbers.
4. All the subshells in an orbital must be singly occupied before any subshell
is doubly occupied. Furthermore, the spin of all the electrons in the singly
occupied subshells must be the same (in order to maximize the overall
spin). This is the _______.

Key Terms:

Aufbau Principle – electrons enter orbitals of lowest energy first.

Pauli Exclusion Principle – only 2 electrons can occupy an orbital and they
must have opposite spins.
Hund’s Rule – When electrons occupy orbitals of equal energy (degenerate
orbitals), one electron enters each orbital until all the orbitals
contain one with parallel spins, then they will pair up.

What I Can Do

Study the electron configuration of elements in Group 6 and Group 11.

Assessment

Supply the table with the electron configuration of N and Fe.

Number Longhand Shorthand

Orbital
Symbol of (Standard) Electron
Diagram
Electrons Configuration Configuration
N
Fe

What is Emission spectroscopy

Atoms or molecules that are excited to high energy levels can decay to
lower levels by emitting radiation (emission or luminescence). For atoms

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 excited by a high-temperature energy source this light emission is commonly
called atomic or optical emission (atomic-emission spectroscopy,) and for
atoms excited with light it is called atomic fluorescence (atomic-fluorescence
spectroscopy.)

Atomic-emission spectroscopy (AES) uses quantitative measurement of the

optical emission from excited atoms to determine analyte concentration.
Analyte atoms in solution are aspirated into the excitation region where they
are desolvated, vaporized and atomized by a flame, discharge, or plasma.
These high-temperature atomization sources provide sufficient energy to
promote the atoms into high energy levels. The atoms decay back to lower
levels by emitting light.

References:

https://www.chemteam.info/Electrons/WS-Configs&light.pdf
https://en.ppt-online.org/504252
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atpro.html
https://byjus.com/chemistry/electron-configuration/
https://www.chem.fsu.edu/chemlab/chm1045/e_config.html
http://hiq.linde-
gas.com/en/analytical_methods/other_spectroscopy/emission_spectroscopy.html
Chang, Raymond (2009). Chemistry (10th Edition). New York: Mc-Graw Hill College