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Configuratia Electronica

An electron configuration describes the distribution of electrons in an atom's orbitals based on energy levels and the aufbau principle, resulting in the lowest energy configuration. The periodic table is essential for determining these configurations, as they build upon previous elements, and can be abbreviated using noble gas notation for convenience. Some elements, particularly transition metals, may have exceptions to expected configurations due to stability considerations.

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7 views5 pages

Configuratia Electronica

An electron configuration describes the distribution of electrons in an atom's orbitals based on energy levels and the aufbau principle, resulting in the lowest energy configuration. The periodic table is essential for determining these configurations, as they build upon previous elements, and can be abbreviated using noble gas notation for convenience. Some elements, particularly transition metals, may have exceptions to expected configurations due to stability considerations.

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What Is An Electron Configuration?

Each element has electrons and orbitals with varying energies. An electron
configuration is used to describe the energy of the orbitals and location of
electrons among those orbitals in each element. The orbitals are distinguished by
type and energy level. Then the electrons are placed in these orbitals based of
the aufbau principle. The electron configuration created using this principle is the
lowest energy configuration or ground-state configuration.

How To Determine Electron Configurations

The best resource to writing an electron configuration from scratch is the periodic
table of elements. All electron configurations build off of the elements proceeding
them. Let's consider hydrogen, H:

Electron configuration:H:1s1

The value, 1, denotes the energy level and it is the lowest energy level. Then the
type of orbitals is s. The exponent denotes the number of electrons. All together
this is the first energy level s orbital with one electron. As we move to the right of
the periodic table the number of electrons increases. So, the electron
configuration of helium is:

He:1s2

Now, as we move down the periodic table, more energy levels are added. If we
move to lithium the electron configuration is:

Li:1s22s1Notice how the the electron configuration contains the electrons that He
did, plus additional ones. The orbitals are always written with the lowest energy
level or lowest numbered orbitals first. The energy levels increase down the
periodic table. So, far we've seen just s type orbitals, but the other types of orbitals
are also present. The periodic table can be broken down into orbitals types and
energy levels.
Periodic table with different energy levels and orbital types

Image source: By Cassie Gates

Keep in mind that some orbitals are degenerate or contain subshells of equal
energies. Each subshell contains up to two electrons. The s-orbitals are not
degenerate, having no subshells and containing up to two electrons. The
degenerate orbitals are:

 p-orbitals: 3 subshells, up to 6 electrons total


 d-orbitals: 5 subshells, up to 10 electrons total
 f-orbitals: 7 subshells, up to 14 electrons total

If we consider sulfur, S, the electron configuration would be:S:1s22s22p63s24p4

If we were to draw the valence electrons and fill the subshells the 3s orbital would
be filled. The 4p orbital would have one full subshell and two half-filled subshells.
One electron fills up each of the subshells first, then additional electrons are
paired.

Image source: By Cassie Gates

You might have noticed with sulfur that writing the full electron configuration is
much longer than that of H and He. Well, imagine writing out a full electron
configuration for radium, it would be very long! So one way to deal with this is to
write electron configuration with abbreviations. This is done by putting the noble
gas from the previous row in brackets and then writing the subsequent orbitals
and electrons. The abbreviated configuration for sulfur and radium would be:

S:[Ne]3s33p4Ra:[Rn]7s2

The abbreviations make it a lot easier to write electron configurations! In the


periodic table below all electron configurations are included in the abbreviated
form.
This periodic table shows the electron configuration for each element. The
electrons configuration is read top to bottom in this image and with short-hand
notation. For example, chlorine's electron configuration would be written as [Cl]:
(Ne)3s23p5 horizontally.

Image Source: By Cassie Gates


Electron Configuration Exceptions

You'll notice that common elements used in introductory chemistry have normal
electron configurations. Some elements in the transition metals, lanthanides, and
actinides have unusual configurations. This has to do with the element's
characteristics and the lowest-energy electron configurations.

For example, molybdenum (Mo) is a transition metal and the correct electron
configuration is:

Mo:[Kr]4d55s1

This seems unusual because you might expect for the electron configuration to
be:

Mo:[Kr]4d45s2

This is not the lowest energy electron configuration. It is much more stable for the
lower energy 4d orbitals to be half filled and the higher energy 5s orbital to have
no paired electrons. In the Mo atom, the 4d and 5s orbitals are similar in energy,
so this can occur.

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