Electron configuration explained.......
Energy levels within an atom.... Shell number Total number of electrons (2n2) Number of subshells Subshell in shell Number of orbitals in subshell 1 2 1s 8 2s 2p 3 18 3s 3p 3d 5 4 32 4s 4p 4d 4f 7 50 5s etc etc 1 etc etc
Subshell energy levels
How do the sub shells fill up? 2s 2p 3s 3p 3d 4s 4p 4d 4f 5s 5p 5d 5f 6s 6p 6d 6f etc 7s 7p 7d 7f etc
Orbital shapes d orbitals s orbital p orbitals
Why is all this sooooooo important? Outer most electrons are called the: VALENCE ELECTRONS Valence e- are involved in chemical reactions!!! By knowing the configuration, we can attempt to predict the chemical nature of an element
Why is all this sooooooo important? We have been describing “ground state” for e- configuration or the most stable state. If 1 or more e- occupies a higher energy subshell out of order, then the atom is in an: “EXCITED STATE”