WHERE DO ELECTRONS “LIVE”?

A. PRINCIPAL ENERGY
LEVELS
1. Principal energy levels n = 1 to 7.
• The electron’s principal energy
level is based on its location
around the nucleus.

• Electrons closer to the nucleus are

at a lower energy level and have
lower energy than those farther
away from the nucleus
B. ATOMIC ORBITALS

• An atomic orbital is a region of space in

which there is a high probability of finding an
electron
• assigned letters s, p, d or f
• Energy sublevels correspond to a shape where
the electron is likely to be found.
C. SUBLEVELS
• The number of sublevels within an energy level is equal
to the principal quantum number
• For example,
n = 1 has 1 sublevel
n = 2 has 2 sublevels
n = 1, s
n = 2, s,p
n = 3, s,p,d
n = 4, s,p,d,f
 Summary of Principal Energy Levels and Sublevels
Maximum
Principal
Number of Type of sublevel number of
energy level
sublevels (n2) electrons
(n)
(2n2)
n=1 1 1s (1 orbital) 2

n=2 2 2s (1 orbital), 2p (3 orbitals) 8

3s (1 orbital), 3p (3 orbitals),
n=3 3 18
3d (5 orbitals)

4s (1 orbital), 4p (3 orbitals),
n=4 4 32
4d (5 orbitals), 4f (7 orbitals)
ENERGY LEVELS, SUBLEVELS, AND
ORBITALS
1. Principal energy levels – n, assigned values 1-7
2. Energy sublevels- s, p, d, f
s sublevel – 1 orbital
p sublevel – 3 orbitals
d sublevel – 5 orbitals
f sublevel – 7 orbitals
3. Orbitals – Two electrons per orbital
ENERGY LEVELS AND
SUBLEVELS
• Electrons occupy energy sublevels within each level. These
sublevels are given the names: s, p, d, f.
• The number of sublevels in each level = the number of the
main level.

• The first energy level has 1 sublevel: 1s

• The second energy level has 2 sublevels: 2s & 2p The third
energy level has 3 sublevels: 3s, 3p, & 3d
Blocks of Elements
Each period on the periodic table corresponds to a
principal energy level.

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

.
Each sublevel can hold different number of
electrons:
s holds a maximum of 2 electrons.
p sublevel holds a maximum of 6 electrons.
d sublevel holds a maximum of 10 electrons.
f sublevel holds a maximum of 14 electrons
 The first electrons fill the energy sublevel closest to
the nucleus.
 Electrons continue filling each sublevel until it is full
and start filling the next closest sublevel.
 FILLING
DIAGRAM
FOR
SUBLEVELS
:
• The order
does not
strictly
follow 1, 2,
3, etc.
Electron configuration = shorthand writing of
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
2
2p
• The electron sublevels are arranged according to
increasing energy.
QUANTU
M
NUMBER
 PRINCIPAL
QUANTUM NUMBER
 refers to the main energy level of an orbital
 never have a value of zero
 the greater the value of n, the greater the
number of an electron in an orbital
 it describe the size of the orbital
2n2 rule
AZIMUTHAL
QUANTUM NUMBER
 describe the shape of the orbital
 it represent the energy sublevels or subshell and
can have a value from 0 to n-1
 value of n pertains to a particular shape of an
orbital.
Azimuthal sublevel Orbital shape
number

0 S spherical
1 P Dumbbell shape,
2 D 4 clover leaf shaped, 1
dumbbell shape w/ ring

3 F To complex to describe
AZIMUTHAL
QUANTUM NUMBER

• Illustration of the shape of S-ORBITAL

AZIMUTHAL
QUANTUM NUMBER

• Illustration of the shape of P-ORBITALS

AZIMUTHAL
QUANTUM NUMBER

• Illustration of the shape of D-ORBITALS

AZIMUTHAL
QUANTUM NUMBER

• Illustration of the shape of F-ORBITALS

MAGNETIC
QUANTUM NUMBER

 relates to the orientation in space of the angular

momentum
 it also give the number of orbital per sublevel
MAGNETIC
QUANTUM NUMBER
Number
It defines the possible l ml of orbital
(2l+1)
orientations of the
electrons in space. 0 0 1
The values are from -l
1 -1,0,+1 3
through 0 to +l.
2 -2,-1,0,+1,+2 5
MAGNETIC
QUANTUM NUMBER
For l = 0, there is only one possible orientation of
orbital

For l = 1, 3 orientations are possible

ml = -1 oriented along x-axis
ml = 0oriented along y-axis
ml = +1 oriented along z-axis
SPIN QUANTUM
NUMBER
 same set of orbitals have the same values of
n, l, ml, but different values of ms
SPIN QUANTUM
NUMBER
 It takes into account the spinning of the electron around
its own axis as it moves about the nucleus.
 The spin is either clockwise or counterclockwise.
 The values are +½ and -½ for counterclockwise and
clockwise respectively
ELECTRON
CONFIGURATIONS
• Electron configuration – the arrangement of electrons in an
atom.
• Example Sodium (Na) – 1s22s22p63s1
• Three rules determine electron configurations
1. the Aufbau Principle,
2. the Pauli Exclusion Principle
3. Hund’s rule
AUFBAU PRINCIPLE
electrons fills the orbital one at the time, starting
with the lowest energy orbital then proceeding
to the one with higher energy.

• Each electron occupies the lowest energy orbital

available
Aufbau Diagram

Which has a lower energy level 4s or 3d orbitals?

PAULI EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE

states that no two electrons in any given

atom can have exactly the set of four
quantum number.

• A maximum of two electrons may occupy

a single orbital
•Each orbital can only hold 2 electrons.
•To occupy the same orbital, two electrons must
have opposite spins
•An orbital containing paired electrons is
written as .
HUND’S RULE
state that in filling up a set of degenerate orbital, the
orbital are occupied by one electron at the time with
the electrons having the same spin.

• If two or more orbitals of equal energy are available, electrons

will occupy them singly with the same spin, before filling them in
pairs with opposite spins
• A spin is denoted with an up or down  arrow to fill orbitals
WRITING ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS
Aufbau diagram for sodium (Na) which has 11 electrons

Na electron configuration1s22s22p63s1
Three electrons would occupy three
orbitals of equal energy as follows.
P subshell:

Electrons then occupy each orbital

so that their spins are paired with the
first electron in the orbital.
Writing Electron Configurations

The atomic number of Phosphorus is 15. Write

the electron configuration of a phosphorus atom.
1s22s22p63s23p3.
Note: The superscripts add up to the number of
electrons.
EXCEPTIONS TO ELECTRON CONFIGURATIONS
• Copper and chromium are exceptions to the Aufbau
principle.
Element Should be Actually is
Copper 1s22s22p63s23p63d44s2 1s22s22p63s23p63d54s1
Chromium 1s22s22p63s23p63d94s2 1s22s22p63s23p63d104s1

• Some configurations violate the Aufbau Principle because

half-filled sublevels are not as stable as filled sublevels,
but they are more stable than other configurations
VALENCE ELECTRONS

• Valence electrons are electrons in the outermost orbital

• For A group elements the group number corresponds to
number of valence electrons.
• Electron-dot structures – Element’s symbol
surrounded by dots representing the valence electrons
8A