CHAPTER 2

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF ATOMS

DR. FARIDAH BT ABU BAKAR

HISTORY OF THE ATOM

460 BC

Democritus develops the idea of atoms

he pounded up materials in his pestle and mortar until
he had reduced them to smaller and smaller particles

which he called ATOMA

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HISTORY OF THE ATOM

1808

John Dalton
suggested that all matter was made up of tiny spheres

that were able to bounce around with perfect elasticity

and called them ATOMS

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HISTORY OF THE ATOM

1898

Joseph John Thompson

found that atoms could sometimes eject a far smaller

negative particle which he called an ELECTRON

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1904

HISTORY OF THE ATOM

Thompson develops the idea that an atom was made up of electrons scattered unevenly
within an elastic sphere surrounded by a soup of positive charge to balance the electron's
charge like plums surrounded by pudding

PLUM PUDDING
MODEL
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HISTORY OF THE ATOM

1910

Ernest Rutherford
oversaw Geiger and Marsden carrying out his famous

experiment.
they fired Helium nuclei at a piece of gold foil which was

only a few atoms thick.

they found that although most of them passed through.
About 1 in 10,000 hit

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HISTORY OF THE ATOM

helium nuclei

gold foil

They found that while most of the

helium nuclei passed through the
foil, a small number were deflected
and, to their surprise, some helium
nuclei bounced straight back.

helium nuclei

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HISTORY OF THE ATOM

1913

Niels Bohr
studied under Rutherford at the Victoria University in
Manchester.
Bohr refined Rutherford's idea by adding that the

electrons were in orbits. Rather like planets orbiting

the sun. With each orbit only able to contain a set

number of electrons.
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Bohrs Atom
electrons in orbits

nucleus

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ATOMIC STRUCTURE
Particle

Charge

Mass

proton

+ ve charge

neutron

No charge

electron

-ve charge

nil
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He

2
4

Atomic number
the number of protons in an atom

Atomic mass
the number of protons and
neutrons in an atom

number of electrons = number of protons

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Electrons are arranged in Energy Levels or Shells around the

nucleus of an atom.
first shell

a maximum of 2 electrons

second shell

a maximum of 8 electrons

third shell

a maximum of 8 electrons
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There are two ways to represent the atomic structure of an element

or compound;

1.
2.

Electronic Configuration
Dot & Cross Diagrams

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ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION
With electronic configuration elements are represented
numerically by the number of electrons in their shells and
number of shells. For example;

Nitrogen
2 in 1st shell
5 in 2nd shell

configuration = 2 , 5
2

+5=7

7
14
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Write the electronic configuration for the following elements;

Ca

a)

20

b)

11

Na

23

40

2,8,8,2
d)

Cl

17
35

2,8,7

c)

2,8,1
e)

Si

14
28

2,8,4

8
16

2,6
f)

5
11

2,3
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DOT CROSS DIAGRAM

With Dot & Cross diagrams elements and
compounds are represented by Dots or Crosses to
show electrons, and circles to show the shells.

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Nitrogen

X X

X X

14

XX

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Draw the Dot & Cross diagrams for the

following elements;
a)

8
16

X
X

b)

35

X
X

Cl

17

X
X

Cl X

X
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Quantum

Number

The principal
quantum number

(n)

The angular
momentum
quantum number

()

The magnetic
quantum number

(m)

The electron spin

quantum number

(ms)

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The Magnetic Quantum

Number (m)
Describe the orientation of the orbital in space
The value of m depends on the value of the angular
momentum quantum number
For a certain value of , there are (2 +1) integral values of m
as follows:
-, (- + 1),.0,(+-1), +
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The Electron Spin Quantum

Number (ms)
According to electromagnetic theory, a spinning charge
generate magnetic field, and it is this motion that causes an
electron to behave like magnet.
The two possible spinning motion of the electron (clockwise
and anti-clockwise)
Hence the spin quantum number has a value of +1 2 or 1 2
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The Electron Spin Quantum

Number (ms)
No two electrons in the
same atom can have
exactly the same energy.
For example, no two
electrons in the same atom
can have identical sets of
quantum numbers.
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Atomic Orbitals
s Orbital
All s orbitals are
spherical in shape but
differ in size, which
increases
as
the
principle
quantum
number increases
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p Orbital
p orbital starts with the principle quantum number n=2 hence = 1
Therefore having 3 p orbitals (px, py and pz) *the letter in subscript
indicates the axes along which the orbital is oriented.
P orbital increase in size from 2p to 3p to 4p and so on

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d Orbital
The lowest value of n for d orbital is 3
Because can never be greater than n 1, hence when n = 3 the
= 2.

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Electron Configuration &

Quantum Number
The 4 quantum number n, , m and ms enable us to lable
completely an electron in any orbital in any atom
It is convenient to write out all the individual quantum number
according to (n, , m, ms) notations
The value of ms has no effect on the energy, size, shape or
orientation of an orbital but determine how electrons are arranged
in an orbital

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Example
Write the 4 quantum numbers for an electron in a 3p orbital

n=3

3p

=1

Orbitals

3
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3p
Final answer to (n, , m, ms)
n=3
=1

(3,1,-1, + ) (3,1,-1, )

Hence

(3,1,0,

m = -1 , 0 , 1
1
1
ms = + ,
2

+ )

(3,1,1, + )

(3,1,0,

(3,1,1, )
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Electron Configurations
Distribution of all electrons in
an atom
consist of
Number denoting the
energy level

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Distribution of all electrons in

an atom
Consist of
Number denoting the
energy level
Letter denoting the type
of orbital

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Distribution of all electrons in

an atom.
Consist of
Number denoting the
energy level.
Letter denoting the type of
orbital.
Superscript denoting the
number of electrons in
those orbitals.
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Electronic Configuration
The electron configuration of an atom is the representation of the
arrangement of electrons distributed among the orbital shells and
subshells.
The electron configuration is used to describe the orbitals of an
atom in its ground state, but it can also be used to represent an
atom that has ionized into a cation or anion by compensating with
the loss of or gain of electrons in their subsequent orbitals.

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Electronic Configuration
Many of the physical and chemical properties of elements can be
correlated to their unique electron configurations.
The valence electrons, electrons in the outermost shell, are the
determining factor for the unique chemistry of the element.

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Occupations of Orbitals
Electrons fill orbitals in a way
to minimize the energy of the
atom. Therefore, the
electrons in an atom fill the
principal energy levels in
order of increasing energy
(the electrons are getting
farther from the nucleus).
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Pauli Exclusion Principle

No two electrons can have the same four quantum
numbers.

The first three (n, l, and ml) may be the same, but the
fourth quantum number must be different.
A single orbital can hold a maximum of two electrons,
which must have opposing spins
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Pauli Exclusion Principle

One electron is spin up (ms = +1/2) and the other would spin down
(ms = -1/2).
This tells us that each subshell has double the electrons per orbital.

The s subshell has 1 orbital that can hold up to 2 electrons, the p

subshell has 3 orbitals that can hold up to 6 electrons, the d
subshell has 5 orbitals that hold up to 10 electrons, and the f
subshell has 7 orbitals with 14 electrons.
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Example
Hydrogen (H) have 1 electron (1s1)
n=1
=0
m = 0

1
s = +2

Hydrogen have only 1e- hence m

1 s1
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Example
Helium (He) have 2 electron (1s2)
n=1
=0
m = 0

1
1
Helium have 2e hence ms = +2 and -2

1 s2
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Diamagnetic and Paramagnetic

Paramagnetic substance are those that contain net unpaired
spins and are attracted by a magnet.
If the electron spin are pared or antiparallel to each other, the
magnetic effects cancel out.
Diamagnetic substance do not contain net unpaired spins and
are slightly repelled by a magnet
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1 s2

2s1

Paramagnetic

1 s2

2s2

Diamagnetic
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Hunds rule
When assigning electrons in orbitals, each electron will first fill all the
orbitals with similar energy (also referred to as degenerate) before
pairing with another electron in a half-filled orbital.
Atoms at ground states tend to have as many unpaired electrons as
possible.

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Example
Carbon possess 6 electrons

1s

2s

2p

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Example
Oxygen possess 8 electrons

1s

2s

2p

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The building-up principle

The Aufbau principal
Aufbau comes from the German word "aufbauen" meaning "to
build."
When writing electron configurations, orbitals are built up from
atom to atom.

When writing the electron configuration for an atom, orbitals are

filled in order of increasing atomic number.

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The building-up principle

The Aufbau principal
As protons are added one by one to
the nucleus to build up the elements,
electrons are similarly added to the
atomic orbitals

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Writing electron configurations

When writing an electron configuration

First write the energy level (the period), then the subshell to be
filled and the superscript, which is the number of electrons in
that subshell.
The total number of electrons is the atomic number, Z.
The rules above allow one to write the electron configurations
for all the elements in the periodic table.
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~ End of Chapter Two ~

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