So Youre a Bit Confused About Electron Configurations

This step-by-step process will help you with completing your own backfilling. You should have your
periodic table handy as you read this. Refer to it as you go through these instructions.
1. Your periodic table should be color-coordinated to help you. You may use any combo of colors but
the pattern must be the same as below.
PATTR!"
Row 1 # blue $so color % and %e blue&
Row ' # orange $so color (i through !e orange&
Row ) # green $!a through Ar&
Row * # + and ,a are brown. -c through .n are green. /a through +r are brown.
Row 0 # Rb and -r are yellow. Y through ,d are brown. 1n through 2e are yellow.
Row 3 # ,s and 4a are red.
55!othing else should be shaded in at this time.
'. ach row of the periodic table is an energy shell. $or orbital& Therefore6 %ydrogen$%& and %elium
$%e& are the first shell and contain ' electrons. lectrons are written6 in this case6 as 7e-7 The
second shell $or row& starts at (i and ends with !e. 4ecause there are 8 elements in the '
nd
row6 we
indicate that row as9 78e-7
). Row ) works the same as row ' e:cept the colors are different. 8e-
*. Row * is where the fun begins" 1t has 18 elements but 1; are transition metals and colored green
because when we diagram one of these guys6 they will 7backfill< some of their electrons to a
previous row or shell or energy level. $all the same&
0. =hen counting electrons6 you should have the same number of shells $or energy levels& as the row
> of the element you are diagramming. ?or instance6 @inc $.n&6 reAuires that you have * total shells
since @inc is on the *
th
row.
3. +eeping with .n" $this is the set up&
1
st
shell" &'e- '
nd
shell" &8e- )
rd
shell" &8e- *
th
shell" &1'e-
$!ote" ?or each shell6 you are simply counting the number of elements in each row $shell&. 1n the
*
th
shell $row&6 there are 18 elements for the whole row but .n is only the 1'
th
element in that row
so we stop counting at .inc9 since that is what we are diagramming.&
B. Cnce we have the set up done $as in >3 above& then we backfill. This is where the colors come in.
!otice that .n is colored in green but in the fourth row $or shell.& =hat we have to do6 is backfill
.inc and all the green elements on the fourth row before it6 and only the green elements6 to the )
rd

shell $because the greens go in the )
rd
shell.&
8. Therefore6 written properly $and it is e:pected you will cross out >Ds and backtrack& you should
end up with the following seAuence"
&'e- &8e- &18e- &'e- $for a total of ); electrons& $!otice" what happened here is we took 1;
electrons from the original *
th
shell $which used to have 1'e-& and backfilled them in the )
rd

shell9 because 1; of the 1' elements on the *
th
row are green and greens belong with the greens.
The two browns $+ and ,a& stay in the *
th
shell9 because they are not cool enough to be green9&
-TCPEEEEEE
4?CR RAF1!/ C!6 1 =1(( FC 2AGP(- C! T% 4CARF.
H. =e only need the backfilling process for the elements -c through 4a9 or element >'1-03. 4elieve
it or not6 after 036 the rules change again. FonDt blame meEEEE
1;. ?rom >Ds 1-';6 we donDt need to do backfilling. 4ackfilling is a process we need to do in order to
properly diagram electron configuration for the transition metals.
11. YouDre thinking6 7=hat will > 11 sayI< /ood Auestion. > 11 is here to tell you to write the electron
configurations $backfilling& for elements ''-03 evens.
1'. /ood luckE