Chemistry Chapter 2

STPM Chemistry Form 6 Terminology and Concepts: The Electronic Structure of Atoms (Part 1)
Spectrum a display of the components of a beam of radiation.
Hydrogen Spectrum
1. Hydrogen molecules break up to form hydrogen atoms when hydrogen gas (at low
pressure) in a discharge tube that has been passed through by an electrical discharge.
2. Hydrogen molecules do not emit visible light.
3. Emission spectrum contains separate sets of lines.
4. Each line corresponds to a light of a particular frequency / wavelength.
5. The series of lines is called the Balmer series that consist of four colours lines.
6. These lines are: 656 nm (red), 486 nm (blue-green), 434 nm (indigo) and 410 nm (violet)
visible to the unaided eyes.
7. Other sets of lines are: infrared region (Paschen series, Brackett series and Pfund series)
and ultraviolet (Lyman series).
8. Convergence limit wavelength / frequency at which the converging spectral lines merge
together.
Balmer formula: 1/ = R
H
(1/2
2
1/n
2
)
where = wavelength, R
H
= Rydberg constant, n = 3,4
9. Hydrogen gas also emits light in the ultraviolet and infrared regions of
the electromagnetic spectrum.
Rydberg equation: 1/ = R
H
(1/n
1
2
1/n
2
2
)

10. Important Table of Summary for the Series:
Series n
1
n
2
Type of electromagnetic radiation
Lyman 1 2, 3, 4 Ultraviolet
Balmer 2 3, 4, 5 Visible
Paschen 3 4, 5, 6 Infrared
Brackett 4 5, 6, 7 Infrared
Pfund 5 6, 7, 8 Infrared
Electronic Energy Levels
1. The electrons in an atom can exist at certain energy level.
2. The electron nearest to the nucleus has the lowest energy.
3. The further the electron from the nucleus, the higher the energy.
4. Excited state: sufficient energy (heating or electricity discharge) is needed to promote an
electron from a lower energy level to higher one.
5. The electron will not remain at the high energy level because it is unstable.
6. Therefore, it will fall back to the level from it started or to the intermediate level.
7. It will lose an amount of energy (energy = difference between the two energy levels).
8. Convergence of the spectral lines difference between successive energy levels becomes
smaller with the increasing distance of the energy levels from the nucleus.
9. Quantum radiation small amount of radiation emitted by an electron when it falls from
higher to a lower energy level.
Plancks equation: E = E1 E2 = hf = h (c / )
where = wavelength, h = Plancks constant = 6.63 X 10
-34
Js,
c = speed of light = 3.00 X 10
8
ms
-1

E = difference in energy of two energy levels (quantum of radiation)
First ionisation energy minimum energy required to remove one mole of electrons from one
mole of the atoms of an element in the gaseous state.
Example: M > M
+
+ e
Ground state is the energy level nearest to the nucleus and it is the lowest possible energy
state.
Calculation for the Ionisation Energy of Hydrogen
(Convergence limit in Balmer serier)
Step 1: Find frequency difference between the successive lines in the series.
Step 2: Plot a graph of frequency difference (y-axis) against the lower frequency (x-axis).
Step 3: Extrapolate the graph to obtain the frequency (x-axis) when frequency difference
= 0 (convergence limit)
Step 4: Calculate the ionisation energy by using E = hf
STPM Chemistry Form 6 Terminology and Concepts: The Electronic Structure of Atoms (Part 2
Final)
Atomic orbital the region, or volume, of space in an atom within the high probability (95%
chance) of finding an electron in an atom.
Neil Bohr developed the model of atomic structure assuming that the electrons in an atom are in
constant motion around the nucleus in circular orbits.
Heisenberg uncertainty principle states the position and momentum (mass x velocity) of an
electron cannot be known with great precision. Charged particles in motion create magnetic
fields, therefore it is possible to learn about the pathway and position of the moving electron.
Types of orbital: s, p, d and f orbital
Core shell first shell that holds two electrons
Valence shell the outermost shell
Effective nuclear charge (Nuclear attraction) accounts for (increases from left to right of the
periodic table):
i) attraction to the nucleus
ii) repulsion from core electrons
iii) minimal repulsion by other valence electrons
Ionisation energy is influenced by:
i) nuclear charge (nuclear charge increases, the force of attraction on the electrons
becomes stronger and the ionisation energy increases.)
ii) distance of the electrons from the nucleus (further the outer electrons are from the
nucleus, ionisation energies will be lower.)
iii) screening effect (outermost electrons in an atom are shielded from the attraction of
the nucleus by the repelling effect of the inner effect. The higher the screening effect,
lower the ionization energies.)
Electronic Structure
Number of electrons in shell = 2(n)
2

Example: Lithium atom.
Nucleus = made up of both neutrons and protons
Core shell = 1
st
energy level (electron occupancy of 2)
Valence shell = 2
nd
energy level (electron occupancy up to 8 )
Arrangement of electrons in an atom
Aufbau principle Electrons occupy orbitals with the lowest energy level first
Pauli exclusion principle Each orbital can hold maximum of two electrons withopposite
spin
Hunds rule Orbital with the same energy level (degenerate orbitals), electron will
occupy different orbital singly/one electron first the parallel spin, before pairing
Electronic Configurations
The electrons are filled according the orbitals (Aufbau principle).
1. Fills the 1s orbital to: 1s
2

2. Fills the 2s orbital to: 2s
2

3. Fills the 2p then 3s orbitals to: 2p
6
3s
2

4. Fills the 3p then 4s orbitals to: 3p
6
4s
2

5. Fills the 3d, 4p then 5s orbitals to: 3d
10
4p
6
5s
2

(Extended knowledge: the process is repeated until all of the electrons have been accounted for.
g-, h- and j-orbital exist in theory but the periodic table contains no elements that have electrons
in either g-, h- and j-orbitals.)
The first break from numerical sequencing comes when the 4s level is filled before the 3d level,
despite the fact that the perimeter of the 3d level is closer to the nucleus than the 4s orbital. The
reason is that the energy of the level is based on an average position of the electron, not the
extreme position.
Ionising electrons are not removed from the atom in reverse order! However, the outer shell
electrons are always removed first when forming cations.
Examples
Example 1: Electronic configuration for manganese.
-> Solution 1:
Neutral manganese (Mn) atom must contain 25 electrons.
Electronic configuration of Mn: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
4s
2
3d
5

Example 2: Which column of the periodic table is diamagnetic?
-> Solution 2:
Column 2 (alkaline earth metals) and Column 8 (noble gas). A diamagnetic compound
has its entire electron spin-paired. There must be an even number of electrons in the
element. Valence electronic configuration for alkaline earth metals is ns
2
. Valence
electronic configuration for noble gas is ns
2
np
6
.
Column 1 (alkali metals) and Column 7 (halogen) are not diamagnetic.
Column 6 (chalcogen) are paramagnetic. Valence electronic configuration for chalcogen
is ns
2
np
4
.
Example 3: Electronic configuration for chromium
-> Solution 3:
Half-filled d-shell stability in chromium: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
4s
1
3d
5
rather than
1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
4s
2
3d
4
. (Others half-filled d-shell element are molybdenum and
tungsten)
Example 4: Electronic configuration for copper.
-> Solution 4:
Fully-filled d-shell stability in copper: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
4s
1
3d
10
rather than
1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
4s
2
3d
9
.
Example 5: Which of the following electronic configuration represents an exited state?
A. He: 1s
2

B. Li: 1s
2
2p
1

C. N: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
3

D. F: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6

-> Solution 5:
B (Li should have 1s
2
2s
1
as a ground state and the electronic configuration has the last
electron in a 2p-orbital that is higher energy than the ground state 2s.)
An excited state electronic configuration does not follow energetic sequence. An excited
state has at least one electron in an energy level higher than the ground state.
Important: Not to confuse an ion (either cation or anion) with an excited state. A cation is an
atom that has a deficit of at least one electron and thus carries a positive charge. An anion is an
atom that has an excess of at least one electron and thus carries a negative charge.
Periodic Table can be classified into 4 main groups.
1) The s-block elements:
Group 1 general electronic configuration ns
1
.
Group 2 ns
2
.
2) The p-block elements
Group 13 ns
2
np
1
.
Group 14 ns
2
np
2
.
Group 15 ns
2
np
3
.
Group 16 ns
2
np
4
.
Group 17 ns
2
np
5
.
Group 18 ns
2
np
6
.
3) The d-block elements
Between Group 2 and Group 13 that the d orbitals are partially occupied.
4) The f-block elements
Lanthanides (15 elements) 4f orbitals are partially filled and must have a 6s
2
.
Actinides (15 elements) 5f orbitals are partially filled and must have a 7s
2
.