Questions tagged [electronic-configuration]
In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, the electron configuration is the distribution of electrons of an atom or molecule (or other physical structure) in atomic or molecular orbitals.
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Comparing two oxidizing agents using electron configuration
Which oxidizing agent from the pair $\ce{K_2IrCl_6/K_2PtCl_6}$ is stronger? Explain your answer using their electron configurations.
We write the electron configurations for $\ce{Ir/Ir^{4+}}$ and $\...
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Some abnormalities in the Periodic Table
I observe some elements like $\ce{Cr}$ and $\ce{Cu}$. Some of them have strange oxidation numbers that don't really fit the purpose of making the element as stable as possible. Just Chromium, for ...
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What is the reason for the anomalous electronic configuration of palladium? [duplicate]
The p block elements generally have the general valence shell configuration as $$n\mathrm{p}^{1-6}\,n\mathrm{s}^{1-2}.$$ Expected electronic configuration for palladium is $$\ce{^46Pd} = \mathrm{1s^2\,...
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How many bonds can Hydrogen make?
Recently I saw a video which told me that Hydrogen has a valency of 1, i.e, Hydrogen can only bond with 1 other atom. But since hydrogen wants a complete shell, it can have 2 covalent bonds with 2 ...
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Are the Phosphate and Sulfate ion diagrams with double bonds an invalid picture?
Whenever you see an image of phosphate, it's always shown having 5 bonds. 3 single bonds to anionic oxygen atoms and a double bond to an extra neutral oxygen.
Not only that, but they're shown being ...
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Where does the 9th electron go in a N=O bond?
In the first resonating structure you can see 5 unpaired electrons and 4 shared electrons on nitrogen, then isn't this a extended octet? If it is so, then in which orbital that 9th electron is ...
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How P(C2H5)3 acts as a ligand?
How does $\ce{P(C2H5)3}$ acts as a ligand and forms dπ-dπ bonds with transition elements. Why not pπ-dπ bond?
I understand that transition elements have d subshell available to accept electrons. ...
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Fundamental doubts about energy levels vs. shells vs. subshells vs. orbitals
First in school I learnt that when supplied enough energy, the electron in a hydrogen atom will jump energy level(s), denoted by $n=1$, $n=2$ and so on for integral values of $n$. Then I learnt about ...
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Why do subshells and orbitals exist? [closed]
I'm just a curious high school student. Sorry if this sounds dumb.
How exactly did the concept of atomic subshells and orbitals come about? And why exactly are there n-1 subshells and 2l+1 orbitals?
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What is wrong with the Aufbau principle that results in so many exceptions?
From what I have observed in the periodic table is that many transition elements do not follow the Aufbau principle. And it's not just the elements like $\ce{Cu}$ and $\ce{Cr}$ that differ from ...
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What is the electronic configuration of Cr (+1) ion
I believe it should be $\ce{d^5}$ , but i found out that it is $\ce{d^4s^1}$. Is it so?
I have not found any explanation for the following. So why the strange configuration?
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Ground state electron configuration of chromium [duplicate]
What is the ground state electron configuration of chromium?
Is it $\ce{[Ar]}4s^23d^4$ or
Is it $\ce{[Ar]}4s^13d^5$
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Why does ammonia have sp hybridization?
Apparently it has $sp^3$ hybridization, but I don't understand why. Ammonia ($\ce{NH3}$) seems to me to not require $sp$ hybridization because all of its bond lengths are already equal. It has 3 ...
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Ammonium considered as metal
Why ammonium ion has very similar properties to the heavier alkali metals and is often considered a close relative?
Ammonium is expected to behave as a metal ($\ce{NH4+}$ ions in a sea of electrons) ...
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What do the molecular orbitals of a single water molecule look like?
Some time ago, (a few years back) I heard that the orbitals of a single water molecule were solved analytically (or was it just numerically). What do they look like?
I am interested in the shape (...
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What is meant by complete outer shell? Why do the noble gases have zero valency?
Does having 8 or 2 electron in the outmost shell mean its outmost shell is full and its valency is zero?
I know that the 3rd and 4th shell can contain 18 and 32 electrons.
Then how can Argon's (2,8,...
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Electronic configuration of tellurium
Below is a copy of the method I am using to determine electron configurations.
Question:
Write the full and short electron configuration for tellurium.
My final answer was:
Full Configuration: ...
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Bonding in 1,4-dihydro-1,4-diborinine
In most aromatic compounds (e.g. benzene), their $\pi$-bonding molecular orbitals are completely occupied and their antibonding molecular orbitals are unoccupied. I'm wondering if there are any ...
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Comparing the mesomeric effects of amino and mercapto groups
I was quite surprised to find that $\ce{NH2}$ has much more $+M$ effect than $\ce{SH}$. But shouldn't we also consider the fact that $\ce{SH}$ has 2 lone pairs? Or is the greater electron density of ...
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Electron shell, how do they know it?
I started to learn Chemistry with something like Hydrogen having 1 electron in the first shell, Oxygen having 2 electron in the first shell and 6 electron in the second shell... But I don't really ...
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How many electrons with l = 1 does Si in its ground state have?
I was solving practice problems for electron configuration and periodic table, and I got stuck through a question:
An atom of silicon in its ground state has how many electrons with quantum number $...
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Stability of transition metals in aqueous solution
Which is more stable in aqueous solution: $\ce{Cr^3+}$ or $\ce{Mn^3+}$? Why?
My approach: $\ce{Cr^{3+}}$ should be more stable as the $\ce{3d}$ electrons will enter the $\mathrm{t_{2g}}$ orbitals. ...
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Methylene "anti" Jahn-Teller effect
Yesterday a Reddit user posted a page from Morrison's Organic Chemistry in which it is said that singlet methylene is less stable than triplet methylene. Another user asked basically the same I'm ...
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Abbreviations in electronic configurations
I am teaching my students how to write the electronic configuration of the elements of the periodic table.
For example, following the rules on how to fill the orbitals, the electronic configuration of ...
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Which electrons will be taken when oxidations take place and how does the resulting orbital diagram look like?
In detail, what I really mean is which electron in which orbital is being taken when a oxidation happen? Let me give a example: chromate ion(II)
Two electrons are taken but from which orbital:
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Why is the active space for the dinitrogen cation defined this large in my example?
I have a Molpro script which computes $\ce{N2^+}$ potential energies.
The significant part is the input for the wave function:
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Why are there 14 electrons in the third shell of iron atom?
The third shell must contain at least 18 electrons. But in iron there are 14 electrons in third and 2 electrons in 4th. Why are there 14 electrons in the third shell of iron atom?
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Clarification on absorption spectra and crystal field theory
My textbook, Chemistry: The Central Science, gives this figure to explain the purple color of the hexaaquatitanium(III) ion:
Such absorption spectra are common to chemistry and biochemistry. However, ...
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How many valence electrons do elements in the d block have?
I just noticed that on the periodic table it doesn't say how many valence electrons there are for each column in the d block.
How do I find out how many valence electrons elements in the d block have?...
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Manganese(VII) oxidation state
A transition element is one which forms one or more stable ions which have partially filled d-orbitals. Manganese (Mn) could have an oxidation state of 7+, which means that it will lose all of the $\...
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Why does the electron configuration for some elements not follow the diagonal rule?
I'm doing a high-school assignment, and I came across a question that I didn't quite understand.
Explain how the electron configurations for the following elements do not follow the diagonal rule:
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Is it possible to calculate atomic radius with electron configuration?
I need to know whether is it possible to calculate the atomic radius according to the number of electrons and electron configuration. Or is there any way to calculate the atomic radius using common ...
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Is my analysis of quantum numbers describing the ground state of At correct?
Which series of quantum numbers describes the highest (energy) occupied orbital in a ground state of At atom?
a) n = 6, l = 0
b) n = 6, l = 2
c) n = 5, l = 2
d) n = 4, l = 3
e) n = 6, l = 1
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What is an intuitive explanation for Electron Configurations
I'm sort of self studying Chemistry. I'm now getting stuck wrapping my head around a concept (and I realize it was the same concept I had difficulty grasping years ago) and that is Electron ...
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Special electron configurations in p block on periodic table?
Gold and Chromium have weird electron configurations, because electrons are differently divided : eg an electron jumps from a s-orbital to a d-orbital to have a half-filled s orbital and a fully/half ...
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In metal complex electron counting, is the neutral or ionic formalism more correct?
I have been practicing finding total valence electron counts by both methods, and a few points have arisen that have confused me.
1) Which method gives the true d-electron count?
From what I ...
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The dissociation of hydrogen on UO2 and PuO2 surfaces: Homolytic or heterolytic?
I have seen that $\ce{H2}$ can dissociate on a metal-oxide surface by two methods:
Heterolytically, forming a proton-$\ce{O}$ bond ($\ce{OH}$ group) and a hydride-metal bond ($\ce{M-H}$) on a metal-...
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Can an element have a third energy shell without completely filling the second energy shell?
I came across an electronic configuration diagram, it had three shells. The first shell had only one electron, the second had six and the third energy shell had five. An electron was also present ...
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How are electronic configurations including hybrid orbitals notated?
I know the general scheme for notating electronic configurations is (with s and p orbitals) [noble gas core]nsel.$n$pel. etc., where $n$ is the principal quantum number and el. is the number of ...
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What determines how favorable (exothermic) the electron affinity of a certain element is?
(Favorable means how exothermic a reaction is, more favorable= more exothermic)
There are some abnormalities in the trends of how favorable the electron affinity is.
From Al to Cl, the
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What's the electronic configuration of Nickel and Oxygen in RNiO3 (R=Rare-Earth)?
Nickel's electronic ground state is $\mathrm{3d^8 4s^2}$ (there's a dispute on this, but let's not worry about it for now). Oxygen's is $\mathrm{2s^2 2p^4}$. In a Rare-Earth based Nickelate with ...
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A reversible exothermic reaction between a molecule in an excited triplet state and a reducing agent
Say I promote a molecule to a triplet state via repeated electronic excitation events. Here, this is going to mean that an electron from the HOMO level, originally with a spin-UP and spin-DOWN ...
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lanthanide contraction
"The Lanthanide Contraction refers to the fact that the 5s and 5p orbitals penetrate the 4f sub-shell so the 4f orbital is not shielded from the increasing nuclear change."
First, 5s and 5p are ...
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Why are Mo(NR2)3 complexes isolobal with the nitrogen atom in N2
In a Molybdenum complex of the form Mo(NR2)3, the Mo is in the oxidation state of +3, leaving it with 3 d electrons. When combined with an additional 2*3 electrons from the ligands, this leaves it ...
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Why group 13 elements don't show +2 as their major oxidation state?
These are the things I understand:
1) Group-13 elements show +1 and +3 as their major oxidation
states(OS).
2) The general configuration of G-13 elements is $ns^2$ $np^1$.
3) In the ...
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Are there atoms with different numbers of protons, but the same number of electrons, with different orbital occupations?
Imagine there is an electron-stripped nucleus with $Z$ protons, in high vacuum and isolated. Then you add electrons, one by one, and check which orbitals are filled. Will this depend on $Z$ at all, or ...
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How it was observed, that elements in columns 6 and 11 assume abnormal electron configuration?
Reading this question about why do elements in columns 6 and 11 assume abnormal electron configurations I wondering, how this was observed.
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Does the triplet sigma state of a diatomic molecule experience spin-orbit coupling?
I know that states with spin S=0 in a diatomic molecule have no spin orbit coupling, independent on the value of the projection of the total electronic angular momentum.
I expect the same is true if ...
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Lone pair electrons on secondary carbon vs primary carbon
I know that a molecule is more stable when a free radical is on a secondary carbon over a primary carbon, but how about when there is a lone pair of elections that can be placed on a secondary or ...
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Hund's Rule for Determining Term Symbol Energy Order
In order to determine the energy order based on J-value for term symbols we employ Hund's rule:
In a less than $\frac12$-filled subshell Lowest J-value is Lowest energy
In a more than $\frac12$-...