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In each term of an electron configuration, n is the positive integer that precedes each orbital letter (helium's electron configuration is 1s 2, therefore n = 1, and the orbital contains two electrons). An atom's nth electron shell can accommodate 2n 2 electrons. For example, the first shell can accommodate two electrons, the second shell eight ...
In chemistry and atomic physics, an electron shell may be thought of as an orbit that electrons follow around an atom's nucleus.The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1 shell" (also called the "K shell"), followed by the "2 shell" (or "L shell"), then the "3 shell" (or "M shell"), and so on further and further from the nucleus.
Carbon is the sixth element, with a ground-state electron configuration of 1s 2 2s 2 2p 2, of which the four outer electrons are valence electrons. Its first four ionisation energies, 1086.5, 2352.6, 4620.5 and 6222.7 kJ/mol, are much higher than those of the heavier group-14 elements.
Each of the elements in this group has 4 electrons in its outer shell. An isolated, neutral group 14 atom has the s 2 p 2 configuration in the ground state. These elements, especially carbon and silicon, have a strong propensity for covalent bonding, which usually brings the outer shell to eight electrons.
In this way, the electrons of an atom or ion form the most stable electron configuration possible. An example is the configuration 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 3 for the phosphorus atom, meaning that the 1s subshell has 2 electrons, the 2s subshell has 2 electrons, the 2p subshell has 6 electrons, and so on.
In 1919, the American chemist Irving Langmuir elaborated on the Lewis's static model of the atom and suggested that all electrons were distributed in successive "concentric (nearly) spherical shells, all of equal thickness". [55] In turn, he divided the shells into a number of cells each of which contained one pair of electrons.
Lewis proposed that an atom forms enough covalent bonds to form a full (or closed) outer electron shell. In the diagram of methane shown here, the carbon atom has a valence of four and is, therefore, surrounded by eight electrons (the octet rule), four from the carbon itself and four from the hydrogens bonded to it. Each hydrogen has a valence ...
The number of electrons in an electrically neutral atom increases with the atomic number. The electrons in the outermost shell, or valence electrons, tend to be responsible for an element's chemical behavior. Elements that contain the same number of valence electrons can be grouped together and display similar chemical properties.