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Topic: Simple and quick way for electron configuration - and a question  (Read 1252 times)

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Offline Kukla

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Simple and quick way for electron configuration - and a question
« on: February 23, 2015, 08:55:00 PM »
To evaluate the filling of the s,p,d,f,g... orbitals, here is a simple method which does not rely on p-blocks, noble gas cores, periodic chart, diagonals or aufbau:
create a list of orbitals, with each series represented twice, eg:
s
p
d
s
p
d
s
p
s
p
s
s
(you would include spdFspdF if you needed to increase for higher Atomic Number)
Remember that s-suborbitals have a max of 2 electrons; p-suborbitals 6, d have 10, f has 14 (2n, where n = 1,3,5,7,...)
Now, just fill from the bottom s, going up, eg:
5s
4p
3d  shell 3 (M) has three, this is third - we skipped over shell 4 (N)
4s   This is the first suborbital for shell 4 (N) -
3p  shell 3 (M) has three, this is second p
3s  shell 3 (M) has three, this is first s
2p  shell 2
2s  shell 2 (L) has two, s and p
1s  shell 1 (K) has only the s-suborbital

s suborbitals have max 2 electrons
p have max 6, d have max 10, etc.

just fill the suborbitals UPwards from the bottom, and you will be able to represent ALL the electron configurations (in theory)

5s (2)
4p (6)
3d (10)
4s (2)
3p (6)
3s (2)
2p (6)
2s (2)
1s (2)

the configuration for Z=38, Strontium: 1s2,2s2,2p6,3s2,3p6,4s2,3d10,4p6,5s2.

 - The exceptions (Z=24,29,41,42,44-47,57,58,64,78,79,89-93,103…) are only found through experiment or complex quantum evaluations.

Question: Why does this simplistic pattern arrangement expose the preferential filling of the sub-orbitals?

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