Questions tagged [electrons]
Electrons are subatomic particles with the symbol e−. They have a negative electric charge (-1 elementary charge. )
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How did J. J. Thomson prove that the cathode rays were made of negative particles and not negative rays?
In Thomson's experiment, he used a discharge tube to prove that the cathode rays that emanate from the cathode were made of "a stream of negatively charged particles" because they were repelled by an ...
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How are second and third electron affinities of atoms measured?
Wikipedia data page on electron affinities shows second and third electron affinities. Of course, they are negative, because one tries to attach electron to anion. But how are they measured or ...
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Why electrons are attracted by cathode in Voltaic/Galvanic cell
I studied that in the above setup electrons are attracted by Cu because of their reduction potential but they don't involve in reaction because of the d-bands of the electronic structure so Hydrogen ...
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Covalent compounds [closed]
Which of the following bond has lowest energy?
1.C-C. 2.N-N
3.H-H 4.O-O 5.F-F
I don't understand the concept behind this question. If we take electronegative as a factor than option 5 is ...
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Why doesn't Silicon act as the basis of a class of compounds like Carbon is for organic compounds?
Carbon is the basis of organic materials in large part due to it's four valence electrons. Silicon also happens to have four valence electrons as well but does not serve as a basis for a large set of ...
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How to interpret a singlet term symbol for an s¹p¹ configuration?
I am interested in the $^1P_0$ singlet state of $\ce{Hg}$ ($\ce{5d^10 6s^1 6p^1}$).
I interpret this to be the two following electron configurations below, because for an $S = 0$ state the two ...
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37 views
Lewis structure of atoms and electron configuration
In chemistry textbook we usually see Lewis strucutre of carbon with 4 dots ( because it have 4 valence electrons). But my teacher say it's false representation of carbon, it's rather 2 dots( each dote ...
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Can there be any substance whose number of electrons and protons are different at neutral state
I want to ask that if there any substance that has the different number of electrons and protons at its neutral state
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Atoms in Solar Cells
An electric field in solar cells is created through photons knocking electrons off of atoms. What happens to the positively charged atoms once the electrons have been knocked off? Furthermore, are the ...
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What does this reaction notation mean? [duplicate]
I encountered the following notation to denote a reaction, $$\ce{^{37}Cl(\nu_e,e^-) ~ ^{37}Ar}$$
What does this notation represent in terms of a reaction equation or equations? For example, does it ...
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115 views
How is NO2 stable despite having an odd electron?
In class, my chemistry teacher told me that $\ce{NO(g)}$ produced will react with $\ce{O2}$ in the air to form $\ce{NO2}$ since there is a single electron in the molecule, but I found that there is an ...
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Are the 2s and 2p subshells degenerate in the He+ ion?
I know that the 2s and 2p (as well as 3s, 3p, and 3d) electron subshells are degenerate in the hydrogen atom. I was wondering if they are also degenerate in other one-electron species, such as the $\...
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What is a formal charge, conceptually? [duplicate]
I'm having some difficulty understanding what a formal charge is. I know how to calculate it and what it's used to determine, but I don't know what the numbers represent.
For example, in methane, the ...
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Why in honeycomb graphene sheet each Carbon atom has 7 valence electrons and 3 bonds according to the following image? [closed]
Carbon has four valence electrons. But in the honeycomb structure of graphene, each carbon atom has a triple bond? Because if you look at methane gas:
$\ce{CH4}$
So shouldn't there be 8 valence ...
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3answers
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De-excitation of a molecule
In our chemistry lecture today on UV/vis-spectroscopy, we discussed the origin of colour in conjugated molecules due to electronic transitions from lower-energy molecular orbitals to higher-energy ...
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Electron promotion in hybridisation: A misconception
Recently, I read through a short article on Nature Chemistry, written by Michelle Francl, titled "Talking to Pauling's ghost". The article talks about how electron promotion was never something that ...
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2answers
140 views
Why do atoms have electron Affinity? [duplicate]
Atoms are stable so how can they pull electrons i.e how do they have any electron affinity at all?
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Very elementary question about valence electrons of ionic compound
In a university entrance question, I found this question:
What is the number of valence electrons of $\ce{Mg(OH)2}$? Answer = 24
I know that Mg has 2 valence electrons and O has 6. But I don't ...
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Chemistry: A Chemical Dilemma [closed]
We accept that, via observations that an electron possesses a negative charge and a proton a positive charge, both of which attracting each another. My dilemma lies here, what is the reason for the ...
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2answers
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In a copper wire, how many electrons does each atom give away?
As an ion, copper can give off 1, 2, 3 or 4 electrons. But it has 1 s electron in the last shell and 10 d electrons. So as a metal, how many of those are delocalised and free to move around, and how ...
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1answer
282 views
Can visible light or infrared radiation excite electrons?
So the limit of ionizing radiation seems to be UV light.
I'm wondering if IR light or Visible light can excite the electrons in an atom.
It has to do with the difference in energy level right?
So ...
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1answer
67 views
Quantization and Bohr's model
According to quantization it's said that emitted or absorbed energy is quantized.
Then, when it's said in bohr's model an electron changes its orbit (Let's say it goes to a higher energy shell from $...
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Why does iron lose exactly 3 electrons in oxidation?
I'm not a chemist, but I have this question. Why does iron (Fe atom) lose three electrons when exposed to oxygen for the first time? Why doesn't it lose less than or more than three electrons?
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As an atom get's bigger (on increasing atomic no.) , electrons have to move faster and faster around the nucleus, Why?
Does speed even make sense at such small scales ? Heisenbergs Uncertainty principle ?
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Lewis Structure of SO3 [duplicate]
regarding to the SO3 structure, so it's better if the formal electron is equal to zero rather than applying the octet rule?
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Why is there an orbital angular momentum if the electron isn't properly revolving around the nucleus?
I'm a tenth grader who's just been introduced to this subject of atomic structure, so please help.
I recently read that an electron doesn't have circular motion around a nucleus, its motion is kind ...
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Why do electrons not flow through the electrolyte? [duplicate]
Why do the electrons not flow through the electrolyte instead of the external circuit in a electrolytic cell connected to an external circuit? I mean, if an electrolyte is a conductor why would the ...
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1answer
67 views
Are my intuitions about how batteries work right? [closed]
Being really fascinated by how electricity actually works, I started studying batteries.
I initilally understimated the complexity of this apparently-simple objects, and thorugh studies and researches ...
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1answer
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Are there bonds which share single electron?
Are there bonds which share single electron?
During chemical bonding, I asked our teacher why there are only 2 electrons shared in a bond. He said that because it's that one orbital can accommodate ...
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4answers
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Do electrons have some volume, area or shape?
I am in 8th grade now and when I was in 6th grade, my science book had diagrams of the electronic configuration of atoms. The electrons were round like spherical balls. Is it true that the electrons ...
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1answer
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Compounds with high electron density [closed]
If $d$ is the ratio of the total number of electrons in a compound and the average radius(of all anions and cations, or covalent radii), are there known compounds (inorganic or organic) where $d$ is ...
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Why do objects gain electrons? [duplicate]
I have read that objects gain electrons to become negatively charged and also that they lose electrons to become positively charged. I have also read that same charges repel each other and non-same ...
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325 views
Why are alkyl groups more electron donating than hydrogens?
We are taught that alkyl groups are electron donating because they have a partial negative charge from the hydrogen, due to the electronegativity difference, and this can transfer over to a ...
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Volume of orbitals
As I was learning about atomic structure, the lecturer made a seemingly dubious claim:
The volume of a p orbital is one-third that of the s orbital. Thus, inter-electronic repulsions are ...
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399 views
How to determine the angle between non-bonding electron pairs?
Is there a way to determine the angle between non-bonding electron pairs that aren't obvious? Take $\ce{H2S}$ for example:
The two non-bonding electron pairs would be at the yellow end of this ...
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Why do spectra of elements never overlap?
I understand the concept behind how spectra is formed, through exciting the electron beyond it's ground state, however my question is why do the spectra of the elements never overlap?
From my ...
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2answers
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Why does a neutral atom of beryllium not have any electrons in a p orbital?
Here's what I understand about quantum number and orbitals, please correct me if anything is wrong:
Electrons enter into these different types of orbitals because they have a higher/lower amount of ...
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1answer
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Electron Energy Levels? [closed]
New to chemistry; In my book it talks about electrons in atoms moving from one energy level or shell to another and denotes this by n. How does this exactly happen, do electrons move to different ...
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1answer
103 views
Possible to Calculate Electronic Charge Distributions/Densities for Organic Molecules?
I was wondering if there are any programs that can calculate the electronic charge distributions around an organic molecule, possibly in the form of a volumetric charge volume density? I am reading up ...
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1answer
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Electron orbital filling order [closed]
In the p sub shell there are 3 orbitals,
m=-1, m=0, m=1
which are listed by axis x,y, and z.
Some show as -1=x,0=y,1=z
Another shows -1=x,0=z,1=y
Some pictures and text also show the filling order ...
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262 views
Why is the oxidation state of Carbon (-4)?
Based on my understanding, atoms try to achieve the electronic configuration of the nearest noble gas, by losing or gaining electrons. For example, Sodium is closest to Neon, so loses an electron so ...
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What exactly is an “electron-sponge”?
What exactly an "electron-sponge" [behavior/action/property/system] nickname is, and what makes a material an "electron-sponge" (preferably, quantitatively)?
From what I found, it's typically a ...
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1answer
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“Sea of Electrons” - do the individual electron shells interact with each other?
I've often heard metals as having a "sea of electrons". I was wondering how the actual relationships between the electron shells of individual atoms are... do the electrons orbitals overlap the same ...
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1answer
391 views
Where do the lone pairs go in the “true” resonance structure?
Consider the "true" resonance structure of $\ce{CO3^2-}$:
The bottom diagram leaves out the 2 lone pairs, so 4 electrons disappeared in the bottom image as compared to the top one. Are these ...
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Do some electrons transfer if I connect with a conductor 2 solid pieces of 2 different elements with different electronegativity? [closed]
Making some researches to answer my last post, I found this article.
It explains that when a piece of zinc and a piece of copper are connected with a conductor, since copper is more elctronegative ...
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2answers
456 views
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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2answers
482 views
Why does copper form bubbles in vinegar in this situation?
I watched this video in which the host tries to show the principles behind the voltaic pile.
The host first immersed zinc in vinegar and bubbles are observed forming around zinc. I've learned that ...
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254 views
Can a covalent bond exist with one electron shared? [duplicate]
I was doing an exercise with formal charges on anions and it occurred to me that the issues with incomplete octets could be solved with sharing 1 electron between constituent atoms of the ion. To ...
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1answer
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If two atoms “fight over” one electron, who will win? [closed]
If two atoms of different elements are both missing exactly one electron in their valence shell so that they have a charge of +1
and we place an electron between them, exactly in the middle.
Which ...
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Does Bent's Rule only apply to molecules where there is hybridisation?
I would just like to ask if the pre-requisite for using Bent's Rule is that the bonding in the molecule involves hybridised orbitals.
I was thinking of why the bond angle in hydrogen sulfide (~ 92 ...
