ELECTRON CONFIGURATION

ELECTRON CONFIGURATION
 The way electrons are arranged around the nucleus of the atom
 The orderly distribution of electrons among the orbitals of an atom
 The ground state electron configuration of an atom shows the distribution of the electrons in
the subshells and the orbitals in the main or principal energy levels
 To diagram atomic orbitals, squares or rectangles are used. For degenerate orbitals such as p, d
and f orbitals, a big rectangle is subdivided into the number of corresponding equivalent
orbitals. Electrons are represented by arrow. Because the maximum number of electrons in an
orbital is two and the these two electrons must be spinning in opposite directions, one arrow
must be drawn upward and the other downward

Principle that govern the order of filling up the sublevels and orbitals in the different energy
levels:
1. Aufbau principle
 The sublevels are filled up in increasing energies. [ Aufbau comes from the German word
Aufbauen which means building up or to build up ]
 States that electrons are added one at a time to the lowest energy orbitals available
until all the electrons of the atoms are accounted for
 Beyond the second energy level, the filling up of orbitals does not follow a simple pattern
due to the overlapping of energies where the 4s orbital is filled first before the 3d
orbitals

2. Hund’s rule of multiplicity ( German physicist Frederick Hund )

 Within a given sublevel, each degenerate orbital is occupied by a single electron before
any pairing can occur.
 Hund’s rule states that the electrons must be distributed among the orbitals of a
sublevel such that the maximum of unpaired electrons have parallel spins. This is so
because the most stable electron arrangement in subshells is one with the greatest
number of parallel spins
3. Pauli Exclusion Principle
 Wolfgang Pauli – Austrian born Swiss physicist is known for his exclusion principle
 States that no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously in an
atom which simply mean that no two electrons in the same atom can share all four
quantum numbers
a. An orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons
b. The two electrons can occupy the same orbital if they spin in opposite directions.
The first electron spins in counter clockwise direction while the second electron
spins clockwise.
c. Electrons are said to be paired, if two electrons with opposite spins occupy an
orbital; unpaired if a single electron is present in the orbital

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 Illustrate the electron configuration in the sublevels of an atom of nitrogen 7 N , and diagram
the electron arrangement in the orbitals
Electron Configuration
1s22s22p3
Electron arrangement in orbitals

    
 The encircle arrow represents the last electron or differentiating electron of the nitrogen
atom. This makes the electron configuration of an atom different from that of the atom that
precedes it.
 The presence of unpaired electron in an atom can be determined by magnetic measurements.
Atoms that contain unpaired electrons are paramagnetic, that is they are drawn to a magnetic
field. The spin of the unpaired electron and the orbital motion contribute to paramagnetism
( the property of a substance to be attracted by a magnet )
 If all the electrons in an atom are paired, the atom is diamagnetic, that is, they are weakly
repelled by a magnetic field.

Concept Practice:
1. Write the electron configuration and draw the electron arrangement in the orbitals of the
following elements
59
a. 28 Ni 1224 Mg b.
23
11 Na c.
32
16 S d.
73
32 Ge
59
2. Given an atom of Nickel 28 Ni
a. Illustrate the electron configuration in the sublevels
b. Diagram the electron arrangement in the orbitals ( last sublevel )
c. Is the atom paramagnetic or diamagnetic?

How to Write a Condensed (Shorthand) Electron Configuration?

Description Example
1. Find the element on the periodic table. 1. Osmium is element 76.

2. Go back to the last noble gas that was passed 2. Going back, the last noble gas was xenon.
(atomic number)

3. Write the symbol of the noble gas in brackets 3. Os: [Xe]

to start your electron configuration. Put the 54

atomic number of the noble gas beneath the Xenon ends the fifth row on the periodic table.
symbol to let you know the number of electrons
already represented. Take note of the row the
noble gas is in on the periodic table.
4. Continue your electron configuration using the 4. Os: [Xe] 6s
row after the noble gas. For example, Krypton 54

ends the 4th row so you would begin with 5.

Always begin with the s subshell.

5. Continue writing your electron configuration 5. Os: [Xe] 6s24f145d6

following the chart until you reach the correct
number of electrons.
 Maximum Number
Sublevel Number of Orbitals of Electrons
s 1 2

p 3 6

d 5 10

f 7 14

General Classifications of Elements in Terms of Electron Configuration

General Classifications Block(s) Description

Representate Elements  s block (Groups 1A to 2A)
 p block (Groups 3A to 8A)
Transition Elements  d block (Groups 1B to 8B)
Inner transition elements  f block (Lanthanide
elements- Ce to Lu, actinide
elements- Th to Lr)
 Groups 1A to 7A:
Incompletely filled p
subshells
 Group 8A: Completely
filled p subshell except
for helium, which only
has an s orbital
 Electron configurations
are 1s2 for helium, and
ns2np6 for the other
noble gases; n refers to
period number
 Incompletely filled d
subshells for Groups 1B
and 3B to 8B
 Increasingly filled f
subshells