ELECTRONIC

STRUCTURE OF ATOM
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
The student should be able to:
 Describe the electrons in terms of quantum
numbers
 Describe the different atomic orbitals

 Determine the maximum number of electrons per

energy level
 Write the electron configuration of an atom

 Draw the orbital diagram

 Determine the number of valence electrons

IMPORTANCE OF ELECTRON
1. The properties and reactivity of substances
depend on the electronic structure
2. Electron has a direct relationship to the
behaviour of all substances in chemical reactions
3. Electrons are important in the formation of
chemical bonds
QUESTIONS ABOUT ELECTRONS

1. How many electrons are present in a

particular atom?
2. Where in the atom can electrons be found?

3. What energies do individual electrons

possess?
HEISENBERG UNCERTAINTY
PRINCIPLE
 It
is impossible to know simultaneously
both the momentum (mass x velocity) and
position of the particles with certainty
ERWIN SCHRODINGER
 Formulated equation describing behaviour and
energies of sub-microscopic particles
 Described both particle behaviour in terms of
mass and wave behaviour in terms of psi
 From mathematical solution of Schrodinger
equation, the quantum numbers are derived
QUANTUM NUMBERS
 Describes the distribution of electrons in H and
other atoms
 Quantum numbers are:

Principal Quantum number

Secondary Quantum number
Magnetic Quantum numbers
Spin Quantum numbers
PRINCIPAL QUANTUM NUMBER

 Refers to the main energy level where

electrons can be found
 Related to the distance of the electron
from the nucleus
 Indicate roughly the binding force
between the nucleus and electron
 Electrons increase in energy as they
increase distance from the nucleus.
The nearest the electron, the lesser
the energy
 Indicate the size of electron orbit

 Value of n= 1,2,3,4….
SECONDARY QUANTUM NUMBER
 Also known as AZIMUTHAL OR ANGULAR
MOMENTUM Quantum number
 Related to the sublevel within the main energy
level
 Specify the shape of the orbital/s in a sublevel

 Designates the angular momentum of electron in

its motion around the nucleus
 Describes the shape of the electron orbit
SECONDARY QUANTUM NUMBER
 Value of ( l ) can have integral value from 0 to (n-1)
 l =n–1

 Value describes particular sublevel and determines the

shape of the orbital

Value of l Sublevel Shape

0 S Spherical
1 P Dumbbell
2 D Four-lobed
3 f complicated
ATOMIC ORBITALS
 A mathematical or visual depiction of a region in
space around the nucleus in which there is a high
probability of finding the electron
 The secondary quantum number provides the key
to the letter designation of the orbitals
 Have characteristic shapes, sizes and energies

 But it does not how electrons actually move

Value of l Type of Orbital

0 s
1 p
2 d
3 f
ATOMIC ORBITAL
 The origin of the letter designation is from the
language used to describe the lines seen in early
studies of atomic spectra:
s – sharp
p – principal
d - diffuse
f - fundamental
 Beyond f the letter designation proceeds in
alphabetical order
 There is no known atom that has electrons in any
subshell higher than f when it is the ground state
S- ORBITAL

 Spherical in shape
 Symmetrical around the nucleus

 Non-directional- bonding or overlapping can

occur at any point
 Only orbital in the 1st energy level
P- ORBITAL

 dumbbell shaped or 2 lobed

 With nodal plane where the probability of
finding the electron is zero
 Directional- overlap only at specific regions at
right angle to each other
 Oriented along 3 axes: px, py, pz –equivalents,
differ only in orientation in space
D-ORBITAL

 Four lobed shaped

F-ORBITAL

 Complicated shape
MAGNETIC QUANTUM NUMBER
 Defines orbit of electron in magnetic field
 Determines the specified orientation in
space of the orbital relative to the nucleus
 Specifies which orbital of a given subshell
the electron is found
 m has a value from +1 to -1 including zero

 m = 2l + 1
SPIN QUANTUM NUMBER (S)
 Refers to direction of magnetic spin
 Only 2 electrons simultaneously
occupy an orbital and these 2
electrons must spin in opposite
direction
 There are only two possible values of
s:
+1/2 and -1/2
QUANTUM NUMBERS
 ELECTRON
CONFIGURATION
ELECTRON CONFIGURATION
 describes the distribution of electrons among
orbitals of an atom
 Describes where the electrons are found and
what energies they possess
 Determined by distributing the atom’s electrons
among main energy level, sublevels, and orbitals
based on the set of stated principles:
Aufbau Principle
Pauli Exclusion Principle
Hund’s Rule
PAULI EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE
 No two electrons in an atom may
have the same set of quantum
numbers
 An orbital can hold a maximum of
2 electrons and these electrons
spin in opposite direction
 When electrons with opposite
spins occupy an orbital, the
electrons are said to be paired.
 A single electron present in an
orbital is said to be unpaired.
HUND’S RULE
 Within the subshell of an atom, electrons occupy
orbitals individually first before pairing
 Electrons occupy equal-energy orbitals so that a
maximum number of unpaired electrons result
 The most stable arrangement of electrons in
subshells is the one with the greatest number of
parallel spins
PARAMAGNETIC AND
DIAMAGNETIC
 PARAMAGNETIC- attracted to a magnet
- substance that contain one or
more unpaired electrons

 DIAMAGNETIC – repelled by a magnet

-contains only paired electrons
ORBITAL DIAGRAM
 Representation of an atom in which arrows in
boxes are used to show the electron configuration
of an atom
 Each electron is represented by arrow

 By convention, the arrow points upward when

the electron spin counterclockwise and downward
when electron spin clockwise.
 The direction of the arrow is based on the
magnetic properties of spinning electron
ORBITAL DIAGRAM FOR NITROGEN
ORBITAL DIAGRAM
AUFBAU PRINCIPLE
 Aufbau- German word for building up
 Electrons are added one at a time to the lowest
energy orbitals available until all the electrons of
the atom have been accounted for.
AUFBAU ORDER
 Order of filling up the different orbitals
 The d energy level has a slightly higher
energy than the s energy level of the lower
electron shell, so the higher s energy level
will fill before the lower d energy level.
For writing an electron configuration this
means it will look like this:

1s22s22p63s23p64s23d10
ELECTRON CONFIGURATION
ELECTRON CONFIGURATION AND
ORBITAL DIAGRAM
EXCEPTION OF PAULI EXCLUSION
PRINCIPLE
 Due to subtle electron interactions, a new configuration is formed which
allows the atom to be more stable.
 The exception is applied when the configuration ends in any of the
following ways: d4, d9, f 6, or f 13. For example, chromium is one of those
elements. Chromium, with 24 electrons, would normally have the
following configuration:

 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d4

 However, to make the atom more stable, one of the electrons from the 4s
orbital jumps into the 3d orbital, changing the configuration to:

 1s22s22p63s23p64s13d5

 Another example: Silver with 47 electrons

 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p65s24d9 becomes 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p65s14d10

 The inner electrons, which lie closer to the nucleus, are
referred to as core electrons.

 Core electrons can be represented by the noble gas with the same
electronic configuration.

 The outer electrons are usually referred to as valence

electrons.

 Valence electrons are shown explicitly when a noble gas

shorthand is used to write electronic configurations.

 Valence electrons determine reactivity.

THE NOBLE GAS ELECTRON
CONFIGURATION

 shortcut to writing out the full electron

configuration of an element
 summarize the electron configuration of an
element while providing the most relevant
information about the valence electrons of that
element
 The noble gas is substituted to represent all of
the electrons that aren’t valence electrons.
 The noble gases are helium, neon, argon,
krypton, xenon, and radon and are found in the
last column of the periodic table.
 A simplified depiction uses superscripts to
indicate the number of electrons in an orbital set.

 1s2 2s2 2p2 is the electronic configuration for carbon.

 Noble gas electronic configurations are used as a

shorthand for writing electronic configurations.

 Relates electronic structure to chemical bonding.

 Electrons in outermost occupied orbitals give rise to
chemical reactivity of an element.
 [He] 2s2 2p2 is the shorthand for carbon
NOBLE GAS CONFIGURATION
VALENCE ELECTRONS
 Electrons in outermost energy level of an atom
 Available to be gained, lost or shared in the formation of
chemical bonds
EXERCISE

 Write the electron configuration of the following

elements and determine the number of valence
electrons
1. Cl
2. Na
3. Ca
4. As
5. Zn