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LlecLronlc sLrucLure ls anoLher dlfflculL Loplc LhaL ls probably Lhe mosL dlfflculL Lo undersLand
aL AS level. uon'L worry lf you flnd lL dlfflculL, you wlll begln Lo undersLand lL soon.
LlecLrons are Lhe mosL lmporLanL parLlcle and deLermlne Lhe reacLlvlLy of an elemenL or
compound.
ln Lhe aLomlc sLrucLure secLlon we looked aL Lhe model of an aLom and sald LhaL lL conslsLed
of a poslLlve nucleus surrounded by negaLlvely charged elecLrons.
1hls ls a blL slmpllsLlc and we are now golng Lo look aL how Lhe elecLrons are arranged ln
more deLall.
!"#$%&'( +-#"".
When Lhe elecLrons move around Lhe nucleus, noL all Lhe elecLrons are Lhe same dlsLance
from Lhe nucleus. 1hey are arranged ln shells".
l lmaglne Lhls a blL llke planeLs orblLlng Lhe sun. Some elecLrons wlll be close Lo Lhe sun llke a
planeL such as venus. Some more elecLrons wlll be furLher away, ln an orblL such as LarLh,
and Lhen some furLher ouL and so on.
1hls orblL plcLure lsn'L Lechnlcally correcL as Lhe elecLrons don'L have deflned orblLs llke a
planeL. 1hey can move anywhere wlLhln a shell, buL l am [usL Lrylng Lo glve you an ldea of
whaL ls happenlng.
1he flrsL shell ls a space from Lhe nucleus ouLward Lo a cerLaln polnL and elecLrons wlll exlsL
somewhere wlLhln Lhls area. 1he second shell beglns where Lhe flrsL shell ends and exLends
ouLward Lo anoLher polnL somewhere.
As Lhe number of elecLrons lncreases wlLh dlfferenL elemenLs, Lhen Lhe more shells LhaL are
needed Lo accommodaLe Lhem. 1he shells lncrease ln energy as Lhey geL furLher from Lhe
nucleus.
1he shells are slmply glven a number, so Lhe flrsL shell wlll be 1, Lhe second 2 and so on. 1he
hlgher Lhe number, Lhe furLher from Lhe nucleus and Lhe hlgher Lhe energy lL wlll have.
+,/ +-#"".
1o geL lnLo a blL more deLall, Lhese shells are spllL up furLher lnLo sub shells. 1hls ls [usL Lo Lry
Lo LheoreLlcally pln down" where Lhe elecLrons are. 1he sub shells are named elLher s, p or
d, alLhough aL AS level you only need Lo really worry abouL s and p.
0&/)%1".
An exLenslon of sub shells are orblLals. An orblLal ls sald Lo be Lhe space where Lhe elecLrons
exlsL wlLhln Lhe sub shell. Lach orblLal can hold 2 elecLrons.
1he s sub shell has 1 orblLal (so can only hold 2 elecLrons ln LoLal), Lhe p sub shell has 3
orblLals (holds 6 elecLrons ln LoLal), and Lhe d sub shell has 3 orblLals (holds 10 elecLrons).
Comblnlng Lhe shell and sub shell noLaLlon from above, for Lhe flrsL shell we can wrlLe 1 for
Lhe flrsL shell and s for Lhe sub shell, Lo glve 1s. 1haL's all LhaL exlsLs for Lhe flrsL shell, Lhere
are no p or d sub shells.
lor Lhe second shell, we can do Lhe same Lo geL 2s and 2p. 1he Lhlrd shell has 3s, 3p and 3d.
1hls noLaLlon ls descrlblng orblLals. So 1s, 2s eLc. are orblLals. We can Lalk abouL Lhe 1s or 2s
or 2p orblLal.
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1he elecLronlc conflguraLlon ls a noLaLlon for elemenLs LhaL Lells you how Lo dlsLrlbuLe Lhe
elecLrons. lrom Lhe perlodlc Lable we can geL Lhe LoLal number elecLrons for an elemenL and
now we need Lo puL Lhem lnLo Lhe orblLal noLaLlon we [usL looked aL.
llrsLly, lL would be a good ldea Lo remember Lhe followlng order: 1s 2s 2p 3s 3p
uslng sodlum as an example, whlch has 11 elecLrons. We know LhaL Lhe s orblLals hold 2
elecLrons and Lhe p orblLals hold 6 elecLrons.
So we can wrlLe ouL: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
1
1haL's all Lhe 11 elecLrons dlsLrlbuLed uslng Lhe rules we seL ouL above for orblLals. ?ou can
do Lhls for any elemenL.
Cf course, when Lhe elemenL has more Lhan 12 elecLrons, we wlll need more orblLals Lhan
up Lo 3s. We can Lhen add 3p, whlch glves anoLher 6.
5)"")(4 0&/)%1".
SomeLlmes you may have Lo draw Lhe elecLrons ln Lhe orblLals raLher Lhan slmply wrlLlng ouL
Lhe elecLronlc conflguraLlon. 1hls lsn'L anymore dlfflculL.
Cne elecLron ls normally represenLed by a or a symbol.
When Lhere are 2 elecLrons ln an orblLal Lhey are wrlLLen as: or
When Lhey are drawn llke Lhls, Lhe elecLrons are palred", whlch ls a sLable arrangemenL.
!6178"#9 nlLrogen has 7 elecLrons, whlch would glve us an elecLronlc conflguraLlon of 1s
2
2s
2
2p
3
. 1o draw orblLals, you can use a box or a llne wlll do.
1he 1s and 2s orblLals are full, so we need Lo draw palred elecLrons.
1he 2p sub shell lsn'L full Lhough as Lhere are 3 orblLals LhaL can hold 6 elecLrons ln LoLal. ln
Lhls case we don'L palr Lhem up, we puL 1 elecLron ln each of Lhe Lhree p orblLals. lL ls [usL
more sLable Lhls way:
lf we were looklng aL oxygen, whlch has 8 elecLrons ln LoLal, we would need Lo sLarL palrlng
up Lhe elecLrons ln Lhe p orblLals Lo glve:
