Electron configuration can be described as how electrons are assembled within the orbitals shells and subshells of an atom. It is important to understand what an electron is in order to fully understand the electron configuration. An electron is a sub atomic particle that is associated with a negative charge. Electrons are found outside of the nucleus, as opposed to neutrons (particles with neutral charge,) and protons (particles with positive charge.) Furthermore, electrons are associated with energy, more specifically quantum energy, and exemplify wave-like and particle-like characteristics. The word configuration simply means the arrangement of something. Therefore electron configuration in straightforward language means the arrangement of electrons.
IntroductionIn general when filling up the electron diagram, it is customary to fill the lowest energies first and work your way up to the higher energies. Principles and rules such as the Pauli exclusion principle, Hund’s rule, and the Aufbau process are used to determine how to properly configure electrons. The Pauli exclusion rule basically says that at most, 2 electrons are allowed to be in the same orbital. Hund’s rule explains that each orbital in the subshell must be occupied with one single electron first before two electrons can be in the same orbital. Lastly, the Aufbau process describes the process of adding electron configuration to each individualized element in the periodic table. Fully understanding the principles relating to electron configuration will promote a better understanding of how to design them and give us a better understanding of each element in the periodic table.How the periodic table was formed has an intimate correlation with electron configuration. After studying the relationship between electron configuration and the period table, it was pointed out by Niels Bohr that electron configurations are similar for elements within the same group in the periodic table. Groups occupy the vertical rows as opposed to a period which is the horizontal rows in the table of elements.
S, P, D, and F BlocksWriting electron configurations of an element in noble gas notation makes electron configuration a much easier task.Noble Gas notation helps simplify writing out electron configurations and the concise form makes locating an element when given the electron configuration easier.
EXAMPLE 1: OXYGEN
Write the electron configuration of the element oxygen atoms.
SOLUTION
Oxygen has atomic number 8 in the periodic table and is located in period 2 and group 17 of the periodic table of elements. In order to write the electron configuration of this element, we use the noble gas preceding the period. In the case of Oxygen, the noble gas we use is Helium (He). We begin the configuration with the noble gas in brackets:[He]. We then continue writing the electron configuration from the noble gas (He) to the element oxygen as we normally would. Oxygen then becomes [He]2s22p4.When writing the configuration for elements farther down the periodic table, such as barium or iodine, this notation is especially helpful.
Similarities WithinA GroupIt is easy to see how similar electron configurations are in a group when written out. (Allow “n” to be the principal quantum number.) Lets first take a look at group 1 atoms. Group 1 atoms are thealkali metals.Let n=1. Notice the similar configuration within all the group 1 elements.
Group | Element | Configuration |
1 | H | 1s1 |
1 | Li | [He]2s1 |
1 | Na | [Ne]3s1 |
1 | K | [Ar]4s1 |
1 | Rb | [Kr]5s1 |
1 | Cs | [Xe]6s1 |
1 | Fr | [Rn]7s1 |
Now considergroup elements. These elements also will also have similar electron configurations to each another because they are in the same group; these elements have 6 valence electrons.
Group | Element | Configuration |
16 | O | [He]2s22p4 |
16 | S | [Ne]3s23p4 |
16 | Se | [Ar]3d104s24p4 |
16 | Te | [Kr]4d105s25p4 |
16 | Po | [Xe]4f145d106s26p4 |