ELECTRONIC STRUCTURES

This page explores how you write electronic structures for atoms using s, p, and d notation. It assumes that you know about simple atomic
orbitals - at least as far as the way they are named, and their relative energies. If you want to look at the electronic structures of simple
monatomic ions (such as Cl-, Ca2+ and Cr3+), you will find a link at the bottom of the page.

The electronic structures of atoms

Relating orbital filling to the Periodic Table

UK syllabuses for 16 - 18 year olds tend to stop at krypton when it comes to writing electronic structures, but it is possible that you could be
asked for structures for elements up as far as barium. After barium you have to worry about f orbitals as well as s, p and d orbitals - and that's
a problem for chemistry at a higher level. It is important that you look through past exam papers as well as your syllabus so that you can
judge how hard the questions are likely to get.
This page looks in detail at the elements in the shortened version of the Periodic Table above, and then shows how you could work out the
structures of some bigger atoms.

The first period

Hydrogen has its only electron in the 1s orbital - 1s1, and at helium the first level is completely full - 1s2.
The second period
Now we need to start filling the second level, and hence start the second period. Lithium's electron goes into the 2s orbital because that has a
lower energy than the 2p orbitals. Lithium has an electronic structure of 1s22s1. Beryllium adds a second electron to this same level - 1s22s2.
Now the 2p levels start to fill. These levels all have the same energy, and so the electrons go in singly at first.
B 1s22s22px1
1s22s22px12py
C 1

1s22s22px12py1
N
2pz1

The next electrons to go in will have to pair up with those already there.
1s22s22px22py
O 1
2pz1
1s22s22px22py
F 2
2pz1
N 1s22s22px22py2
e 2pz2
You can see that it is going to get progressively tedious to write the full electronic structures of atoms as the number of electrons increases.
There are two ways around this, and you must be familiar with both.
Shortcut 1: All the various p electrons can be lumped together. For example, fluorine could be written as 1s22s22p5, and neon as 1s22s22p6.
This is what is normally done if the electrons are in an inner layer. If the electrons are in the bonding level (those on the outside of the atom),
they are sometimes written in shorthand, sometimes in full. Don't worry about this. Be prepared to meet either version, but if you are asked
for the electronic structure of something in an exam, write it out in full showing all the px, py and pz orbitals in the outer level separately.
For example, although we haven't yet met the electronic structure of chlorine, you could write it as 1s22s22p63s23px23py23pz1.
Notice that the 2p electrons are all lumped together whereas the 3p ones are shown in full. The logic is that the 3p electrons will be involved
in bonding because they are on the outside of the atom, whereas the 2p electrons are buried deep in the atom and aren't really of any
interest.
Shortcut 2: You can lump all the inner electrons together using, for example, the symbol [Ne]. In this context, [Ne] means the electronic
structure of neon - in other words: 1s22s22px22py22pz2 You wouldn't do this with helium because it takes longer to write [He] than it does 1s2.
On this basis the structure of chlorine would be written [Ne]3s23px23py23pz1.
The third period
At neon, all the second level orbitals are full, and so after this we have to start the third period with sodium. The pattern of filling is now
exactly the same as in the previous period, except that everything is now happening at the 3-level.
For example:
short version
M
1s22s22p63s2 [Ne]3s2
g
1s22s22p63s23px23 [Ne]3s23px23py
S 1
py 3pz 1 1
3pz1
1s22s22p63s23px23 [Ne]3s23px23py
Ar 2
py 3pz 2 2
3pz2

The beginning of the fourth period

At this point the 3-level orbitals aren't all full - the 3d levels haven't been used yet. But if you refer back to the energies of the orbitals, you will
see that the next lowest energy orbital is the 4s - so that fills next.
1s22s22p63s23
K
p64s1
C 1s22s22p63s23
a p64s2
There is strong evidence for this in the similarities in the chemistry of elements like sodium (1s22s22p63s1) and potassium (1s22s22p63s23p64s1)
The outer electron governs their properties and that electron is in the same sort of orbital in both of the elements. That wouldn't be true if the
outer electron in potassium was 3d1.
s- and p-block elements
The elements in group 1 of the Periodic Table all have an outer electronic structure of ns1 (where n is a number between 2 and 7). All group 2
elements have an outer electronic structure of ns2. Elements in groups 1 and 2 are described as s-block elements.
Elements from group 3 across to the noble gases all have their outer electrons in p orbitals. These are then described as p-block elements.
d-block elements

Remember that the 4s orbital has a lower energy than the 3d orbitals and so fills first. Once the 3d orbitals have filled up, the next electrons
go into the 4p orbitals as you would expect.
d-block elements are elements in which the last electron to be added to the atom is in a d orbital. The first series of these contains the
elements from scandium to zinc, which at GCSE you probably called transition elements or transition metals. The terms "transition element"
and "d-block element" don't quite have the same meaning, but it doesn't matter in the present context.

d electrons are almost always described as, for example, d5 or d8 - and not written as separate orbitals. Remember that there are five d
orbitals, and that the electrons will inhabit them singly as far as possible. Up to 5 electrons will occupy orbitals on their own. After that they
will have to pair up.

d5 means
d8 means
Notice in what follows that all the 3-level orbitals are written together, even though the 3d electrons are added to the atom after the 4s.
1s22s22p63s23p63
Sc
d14s2
1s22s22p63s23p63
Ti
d24s2
1s22s22p63s23p63
V
d34s2
 1s22s22p63s23p63
Cr
d54s1
Whoops! Chromium breaks the sequence. In chromium, the electrons in the 3d and 4s orbitals rearrange so that there is one electron in each
orbital. It would be convenient if the sequence was tidy - but it's not!
M 1s22s22p63s23p63 (back to being
n d54s2 tidy again)
1s22s22p63s23p63
Fe
d64s2
1s22s22p63s23p63
Co
d74s2
1s22s22p63s23p63
Ni
d84s2
1s22s22p63s23p63 (another awkward
Cu
d104s1 one!)
1s22s22p63s23p63
Zn
d104s2
And at zinc the process of filling the d orbitals is complete.
Filling the rest of period 4
The next orbitals to be used are the 4p, and these fill in exactly the same way as the 2p or 3p. We are back now with the p-block elements
from gallium to krypton. Bromine, for example, is 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24px24py24pz1.