Lesson 4 - Electron Configuration PDF

Lesson 4 – Electron Configuration I. Electron Arrangement Within Atoms i. Electron Shells Electrons that occupy the first electron shell are closer to the nucleus and have a lower energy than electrons in the second electro...

Lesson 4 – Electron Configuration I. Electron Arrangement Within Atoms i. Electron Shells Electrons that occupy the first electron shell are closer to the nucleus and have a lower energy than electrons in the second electron shell. ii. Electron Subshells  The letters used to label the different types of subshells come from old spectroscopic terminology associated with the lines in the spectrum of the element hydrogen. These lines were denoted as sharp, principal, diffuse, and fundamental. Relationships exist between such lines and the arrangement of electrons in an atom. iii. Electron Orbitals Figure 3.8 An s orbital has a spherical shape, a p orbital has two lobes, a d orbital has four lobes, and an f orbital is shown within a cube to illustrate that its lobes are directed toward the corners of a cube. Some d and f orbitals have shapes related to, but not identical to, those shown.  iv. Electron Spin II. Electron Configurations and Orbital Diagrams i. Subshell Energy Order ii. Writing Electron Configurations and Orbital Diagrams All electrons in a given subshell have the same energy because all orbitals within a subshell have the same energy. An electron configuration specifies subshell occupancy for electrons, and an orbital diagram specifies orbital occupancy for electrons.