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Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: helpplsbro on December 06, 2019, 11:57:02 PM

Title: 1s1 2s2 3s1 3p0 4s2 3d7 4p4 - Possible excited state electronic configuration?
Post by: helpplsbro on December 06, 2019, 11:57:02 PM

Hello - my question is essentially the title - I wanted to know if the above excited state electronic configuration is THEORETICALLY possible.

I truthfully don't know how to compute wavefunctions as I am still in high-school, hence wanted to know from someone else who can.

Of course, this is assuming that the Pauli's exclusion principle is obeyed and no orbital contains more than 2 electrons.

Thanks :D.

Title: Re: 1s1 2s2 3s1 3p0 4s2 3d7 4p4 - Possible excited state electronic configuration?
Post by: Borek on December 07, 2019, 04:22:28 AM

I would say yes. While in normal circumstances electrons are being first removed from the outermost shells, it is also possible to ionize an atom by removing electrons from inner shells (google Auger effect), and I see no reason why you couldn't remove more than one.

That being said - such excited ions have very short lifetime and probability that the other electron would get kicked off in this particular time period if extremely low. So while there is no reason why such an excited ion could not exist for a tiny fraction of a second, there are practical reasons why such an ion would be never produced.

I can be wrong though.

Title: Re: 1s1 2s2 3s1 3p0 4s2 3d7 4p4 - Possible excited state electronic configuration?
Post by: helpplsbro on December 07, 2019, 07:55:51 PM

Thanks a lot - that's all I wanted to know.