CHM142 | CHAPTER 1 | 1.

1 ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION

1.1 ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION

Quantum Number,n,l,m,s. Pauli’s Principle, Hund’s Rule and Aufbau’s Principle.

From atomic model, we know that;

 Electrons surrounding the nucleus are distributed in shells or specific energy levels
with discrete amounts of energy.
 Electrons are free to move between these shells (quantized).
 Shells are divided into subshells or energy levels. Within these shells, electrons
are grouped into orbitals.

Shell and subshell

• Each shell can hold a maximum of 2n2 electrons.

• Orbital within a shell are divided into subshell.
• To identify the shell and subshell in which the orbital belong, two-character is used.
– Example 2p and 3d :
The first character is the shell (n = 2 and n = 3) and the second is subshell (l
= 1 and l = 2)

Quantum Number

• The position of an electron is designated by 4 quantum numbers:

1. Principle quantum number (n)

2. Angular momentum quantum number or azimuthal quantum number (l)
3. Magnetic quantum number (ml)
4. Spin quantum number (ms)

1. Principle quantum number (n)

• n = 1, 2, 3, 4 to infinity are belong to the K, L, M and N,….. shells respectively.

• Orbitals (a wave function for an electron in an atom) of the same quantum state n
are said to belong to the same shell.
• It determine the energy of an orbital and the energy level of an electron.
• The size of orbitals also depends on n.
• As the value of ‘n’ increase, the electron are taken farther from the nucleus and so
giving it more and more energy.

n Shell Number of electron

1 K 2(1)2 = 2

2 L 2(2)2 = 8

3 M 2(3)2 = 18

4 N 2(4)2 = 32

Max electron capacity of the first four shells

  Each shell can hold a maximum of 2n2 electron, where n is the principal quantum
number of the shell.

2. Angular momentum quantum number or azimuthal quantum number (l)

• Have integral values from 0 to n-1, where n is the principal quantum number.
• For example,
If n=1, l can be only 0
If n=2, n-1; 2-1 = 1 (l can have values of 0 and 1)

• For a given value of n, l = 0, 1, 2, 3, … n -1

n = 1, l = 0
n = 2, l = 0 or 1
n = 3, l = 0, 1, or 2

n l

1 0

2 0,1

3 0,1,2

4 0,1,2,3

• The l values are represented by s,p,d,f,g…………

l Energy sublevel (orbital)

0 s

1 p

2 d

3 f

4 g

 Notice that the orbital follows the notation or symbol for different energy levels.
 The s orbital contains only 1 orbital
 The p orbital contains 3 orbitals (Px, Py and Pz)

n l Suborbital notation

1 0 1s
 2 0 2s
1 2p

3 0 3s
1 3p
2 3d

4 0 4s
1 4p
2 4d
3 4f

3. Magnetic quantum number (ml)

• The possible value of ml depends on the l values.

• For a given value of l, ml = -l, …., 0, …. +l
• If l = 1 (p orbital), ml = -1, 0, or 1
• If l = 2 (d orbital), ml = -2, -1, 0, 1, or 2
• ml - Give the orientation of the orbital in space and the number of orbital in the same
subshell.

l ml Number of orbitals Type of orbital

0 0 1 s

1 -1
0 3 p
+1

2 -2
-1
0 5 d
+1
+2

3 -3
-2
-1
0 7 f
+1
+2
+3

4. Spin quantum number (ms)

• ms = +½ or -½
• The spin of electron
Shape of Orbitals

l = 0 (s orbitals)

l = 1 (p orbitals)

Electron Configurations

 The electron configuration of an atom is the the way electrons are arranged in the
subshell of an atom.
 For example, indicates that the electron in a ground state hydrogen atom must be the
1s orbital, so its electron configuration 1s1

denotes the number of electron in the

orbital or shell
1s1
denotes the principal denotes the angular momentum
quantum number, n quantum number, l

 The electron configuration can also represented by an orbital diagram that shows the
spin of the electron.
 H ↑

1s1
 The upward arrow denotes one of the two possible spinning motions of the electron.
 Alternatively, we could have represented the electron with a downward arrow.
 The box represents an atomic orbital.

The arrangement of electrons in an atom follow three rules:

1. Pauli Exclusion Principle

– No two electrons can have the same set of four quantum numbers.
2. Aufbau Principle
– The electrons are filled to the orbitals of lowest energy in sequence.
3. Hund’s Rule
– The electron tent to be singly before pairing in the same subshell.

1.Pauli Exclusion Principle

 The principles state that no two electrons in an atom can have the same four
quantum numbers.
 If two electron in an atom should have the same n, l and ml values (that is these two
electrons are in the same atomic orbital, then they must have different values of ms)
 In other word, only two electrons may accupy the same atomic orbital, and these
electrons must have opposite spin.
 For example,
Helium atom, which has two electron, the three possible ways of placing two
electrons in the 1s orbital are as follows;

He ↑↑ ↓↓ ↑↓
1s2 1s2 1s2
(a) (b) (c)

2. Aufbau Principle

 Aufbau Principle state that the electrons are filled to the orbitals of lowest energy in
sequence.
 The electrons are filled in different orbitals in the order of increasing energy of
orbitals starting with the 1s orbital.
 The maximum number of electron can be filled in s = 2 ; p = 6 ; d = 10

 Figure The order in which atomic

subshell are filled in a many-electron
atom.
 Start with the 1s orbital and move
downward the direction of the
arrows.
 Thus the order goes as follows:

1s<2s<2p<3s<3p<4s<3d<........
l
3. Hund’s Rule

 Hund’s rule state that electrons enter orbitals of the same energy level singly before
they become paired.
 The nitrogen atom, N which has 7 electron gives the electron configuration using the
subshell notations 1s2 2s2 2p3.
 All three electrons in the subshell or 2p orbital has the spin value s=+½ (or all has
-½).

N ↑↓ ↑↓ ↑ ↑ ↑

1s2 2s2 2p3

 On the other hand, the oxygen atom, O has an electron configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p4.
 3 out of electrons have the same spin value s=+½ while the fourth electron has a
value of s= -½.
 This electron is paired up with the first 2p orbital as shown in the boxes and arrows
diagram below:

O ↑↓ ↑↓ ↑↓ ↑ ↑

1s2 2s2 2p4

Element Electron configuration Element Electron configuration

1 H 1s1 11 Na 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s1

2 He 1s2 Mg
12 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2

3 Li 1s2 2s1 13 Al 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p1

4 Be 1s2 2s2 14 Si 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p2

5 B 1s2 2s2 2p1 15 S 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p3

6 C 1s2 2s2 2p2 16 P 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p4

7 N 1s2 2s2 2p3 17 Cl 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p5

8 O 1s2 2s2 2p4 18 Ar 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6

9 F 1s2 2s2 2p5 19 K 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s1

10 Ne 1s2 2s2 2p6 20 Ca 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2

Electron configuration for atoms of the first 20 elements