Electron

CONFIGURATION
 How are electrons arranged?
•Electrons are arranged around the Orbital Max Electrons in orbital
Nucleus in SHELLS
s 2
•The Octet Rule : that 1st shell has two
electron but the next shell has 8 e¯ p 6

•Electrons are found in orbital's. Each d 10

orbital has a specific amount of f 14
electrons it can hold (see table on the
left). It is categorized into orbital's called
“spdf”

•Each period in the periodic table tells

you how many shells there are
indicating how many orbital's.

The shells that are filled first are 1s, 2s, 2p,
3s, 3p, 4s. 3d, 4p, etc
For example, Mn (Manganese) – 1s(2),
2s(2), 2p(6), 3s(2), 3p(6), 4s(2), 3d(5)
 ELECTRON SPIN
• Something that affects the filling
of orbitals is the electron spin
• An electron can spin either
clockwise or anticlockwise and
can be represented by a small
arrow pointing up () to
represent spin in one direction
and down () to represent spin
in the opposite direction.
• Two electrons in the same
orbital cannot have the same
spin. This means each orbital
can contain a maximum of two
electrons with opposite spins
 ELECTRON SPIN DIAGRAMS
Hund's Rule
When assigning electrons in
orbital's, each electron will first
fill all the orbital's with similar
energy before pairing with
another electron in a half-filled
orbital. Atoms at ground states
tend to have as many unpaired
electrons as possible. When
visualizing this processes, think
about how electrons are
exhibiting the same behaviour
as the same poles on a magnet
would if they came into contact;
as the negatively charged
electrons fill orbital's they first
try to get as far as possible from
each other before having to pair
up.
 CONFUSING ORBITAL'S
•It can get very confusing once
you reach the transition
metals. This is because you get
something called half filled
orbital's. These exceptions can
be found in the transition
metals (between group 2&3)

•The reason these exceptions

occur is because some
elements are more stable with
less electrons in some sub
shells and more electrons
within others.
Chromium and copper have electron
configurations [Ar] 3d5 4s1 and [Ar] 3d10 4s1
respectively, i.e. one electron has passed from
the 4s-orbital to a 3d-orbital to generate a half-
filled or filled sub shell. In this case, the usual
explanation is that "half-filled or completely
filled sub shells are particularly stable
arrangements of electrons".
 SHAPES OF ORBITAL'S
(S-ORBITAL)
S orbital’s are in a sphere shape on the axis. Having a 1s then 2s means that the
sphere just increases in size as shown in the diagram below.
 SHAPES OF ORBITAL'S
(P-ORBITAL)
P orbital’s are in a eight shape on the axis. Having a 2p then 2p means that the
eight just increases in size as shown in the diagram below. The p orbital has 6
electrons therefore on each orbital there is a max of 2 electrons in each which
was described earlier.
 SHAPES OF ORBITAL'S
(D-ORBITAL)
D orbital’s start off as a doughnut shape around other orbital's and then they turn
into crazy looking “X’s” as shown below.
 SHAPES OF ORBITAL'S
(F-ORBITAL)
F-orbital’s are much more complex in shape as you can see below. It is a range of many
different type of orbital's from doughnut shaped to little blobs above each axis.
 ELECTRON DENSITY MAPS
A three-dimensional description of the electron density in a crystal structure,
determined from X-ray diffraction experiments. X-rays scatter from the electron clouds
of atoms in the crystal lattice

The electron density map describes the contents of the unit cells averaged over the
whole crystal and not the contents of a single unit cell (a distinction that is important
where structural disorder is present).

Three-dimensional maps are often evaluated as parallel two-dimensional contoured

sections at different heights in the unit cell.