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Topic: Orbital energy periodicity  (Read 2013 times)

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Offline cjxnn

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Orbital energy periodicity
« on: April 29, 2011, 04:02:51 PM »
Could somebody kindly explain the following phenomenon:

The energy separation E4s-E3d increases slowly with atomic number up until element 30 (zinc), whereupon it increases very rapidly. For the elements up to zinc, the 4s energy decreases very slowly; thus the increase in the 4s-3d energy difference is due mostly to a more rapid decrease in the 3d energies. This general trend continues beyond zinc but becomes exaggerated as 4p electrons are added.

What I don't get is, why there is no significant energy change of 3d from Sc to Cu, but a sudden decrease from Zn

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