Can somebody explain what an "Electronic Configuration of an Atom" is and how it works?
451270
its how the electrons fit into the shells around the nucleus. at gcse there are 4 and they have the rule 2.8.8.18 so the first shell is filled first with two and then the second with 8 and so on.the number of electrons in the outer most shell used gives the atom its properties and its position on the periodic table
607033
The order of elements in the periodic table is determined by their atomic number, or number of protons (positively charged particles. The nucleus of the element is made up of protons and neutrons (neutral subatomic particles), and nearly all of the mass of the element resides here. \n\nElectrons "circle" the nucleus to even out the charge of the atom. The electrons organize themselves in layers, with a certain number of electrons in each layer. These layers are also referred to as the valence of the electron. The first layer has 2 electrons, the second and third have 8, the fourth has 18... These layers are what give the atom its volume.\n\nSince density is mass/volume, there isn't a linear relationship for density in each successive element, but the trend is density increases from left to right and top to bottom.
566511
Electrons, which are a Fermion particles, obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This means in a system there can never be 2 identical fermions (in this case no 2 electrons in an atom) that occupy the same quantum state. This is different to Bosons (photons for example) where any number of bosons can occupy the same quantum state.\n\nIn a bit more depth:\nThe Pauli exclusion principle plays a profound role in a huge number of physical phenomena. One of the most important, it results in "rigidness" or "stiffness" of fermions as contrast to bosons - impossibility to squeeze identical fermions into each other - thus in "rigidness" of ordinary matter (Young and bulk moduli of solids are direct consequences of Pauli principle). Another consequence is the elaborate electron shell structure of atoms and of the way atoms share electron(s) - thus variety of chemical elements and of their combinations (chemistry). (An electrically neutral atom contains bound electrons equal in number to the protons in the nucleus. Since electrons are fermions, the Pauli exclusion principle forbids them from occupying the same quantum state, so electrons have to "pile on top of each other" in atom).\n\nFor example, consider a neutral helium atom, which has two bound electrons. Both of these electrons can occupy the lowest-energy (1s) states by acquiring opposite spin. This does not violate the Pauli principle because spin is part of the quantum state of the electron, so the two electrons are occupying different quantum states. However, the spin can take only two different values (or eigenvalues). In a lithium atom, which contains three bound electrons, the third electron cannot fit into a 1s state, and has to occupy one of the higher-energy 2s states instead. Similarly, successive elements produce successively higher-energy shells. The chemical properties of an element largely depend on the number of electrons in the outermost shell, which gives rise to the periodic table of the elements.\n\nAstronomy provides another spectacular demonstrations of this effect, in the form of white dwarf stars and neutron stars. In both types of objects, the usual atomic structures are disrupted by large gravitational forces, leaving the constituents supported only by a "degeneracy pressure" produced by the Pauli exclusion principle. This exotic form of matter is known as degenerate matter. In white dwarfs, the atoms are held apart by the degeneracy pressure of the electrons. In neutron stars, which exhibit even larger gravitational forces, the electrons have merged with the protons to form neutrons, which produce a larger degeneracy pressure. Neutrons are the most "rigid" objects known - their Young modulus (or more accurate, bulk modulus) is 20 orders of magnitude larger than that of diamond.\n\nAnother physical phenomenon for which the Pauli principle is responsible is ferromagnetism, in which the exclusion effect results in exchange energy that induces neighboring electron spins to align (whereas classically they would anti-align).
1128901
An electron/energy shell, is a group of atomic orbitals with the same value of the principal quantum number n. \nThus in a silicon atom (1s^2  2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^2)  the number of energy shells with electrons in them is 3.\n\n(just for info: There are 5 occupied subshells (1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p) and 8 occupied orbitals 1s 2s 2px 2py 2pz 3s 3px 3py, out of which the first 6 have 2 electrons and 3px and 3py have one electron each; Hund's rule doesn't allow an electron pair in 3px while the other 3p orbitals are empty)
895113
This is true in isolated atoms.\n\nIf we put them into the electric fields generated by nearby atoms, especially those of water of crystallisation, the energy levels can change and rearrange the electron orbitals.\n\nTo explain this to our satisfaction would mean solving the equations and getting the answers.  Unfortunately this is known as a many bodied problem and only the simplest of them can be solved.\n\nTake heart in the fact that the energy levels are so close together that we can glibly announce the fact and move on quickly to the next topic!
56188
Atoms have what are called "orbitals" which are sorts of energy states that electrons can acheive.  A certain set of orbitals are considered the ground state, which is to say that a neutral atom (meaning the atom has as many electrons as protons) will be at its lowest energy state when all electrons occupy the ground state orbitals.  However, an electron can acquire extra energy which will raise the electron to a higher orbital.  This can be done by heat or light.  When an electron is elevated to a higher orbital, it is unstable, and it will eventually drop.  When it drops back down to groundd state, it will release a photon which has a specific amount of energy--the difference in enrgy between the higher and lower orital.\n\nEnergy in a photon relates to its wavelength, and wavelength relates to color.  Hence, for a given type of atom, the transition between two orbitals (which is set by the nucleus involving physical chemistry matters that are way too complex to speel out here) will always require a certain amount of energy, and the relaxation of an electron between those states will always release a photon of a specific color.
911771
Which energy?\n\nCheck out the Periodic Table below.  For Hydrogen, the Ionization Potential is listed as 13.598 volts.  The electron configuration (energy level of the outer most electron) is 1s^1 (one electron in the 1s orbital).\n\nThe rows are the Levels, the columns are the individual orbitals:\nI & II are the "s" orbitals (He is "out of place").\nIIIB to IIB (under Sc to Zn) are the "d" orbitals.\nIII to 0 (under B to Ne) are the "p" orbotals.\nThe Lanthanides & Actinides are the "f" orbitals.
369573
I think if you put that sort of question you are familliar with SCHRODINGER ecuation. It is a complex ecuation simply described by\n\nNabla (a small triangle with the basis on the upper side) of H (hamiltonian - a complex math analysis operator) equals to zero.\n\nThis equation was solved only for the Hydrogen atom (in my physics books from college the solution occupy 8 A4 pages ...) and the results were extrapolated for others atoms (helium, lithium, berylium, etc.) but is just an extrapolation. \n\nFor other atom than Hydrogen the Schrodinger equation can not be solved with the mathematical apparatus we dispose today ...\n\nSo, the Schrodinger equation describes the POSSIBILITY to find an electron in a region of space at one moment. The shape of this spatial arrangement is called orbital (wave function) and we have S orbitals (spherical shape - maximum 2 electrons), P orbitals (spatial simetry over Ox, Oy and Oz with a shape similar to mathematical sign for infinitum on every axis - maximum 6 alectrons in 3 pairs), D orbitals (maximum 10 electrons in 5 pairs) and F orbitals (maximum 14 electrons in 7 pairs)\n\nSo the Sulphur electronical configuration is:\n1S(2)2S(2)2P(6)3S(2)3P(4)\n\nFrom the last shell is probably the easier to extract an electron. The distance from the nucleus dictate the strenght of atraction ... So, an 3S electron is harder to remove than an 3P electon but easier to remove than a 2P electron\n\nDONE!
575353
That is simple- Just write down the the electronic configuration of the atomic number of that element. And the number of electrons in the last shell are the valence electrons.\n\nFor eg: Na(Sodium) has the atomic number 11, now there are four shells in which the distribustion takes place- namely- K,L,M,N.These shells are also known as energy levels. \n\nThe max no of electrons in K is 2, In L is 8, M is 16 and finally in N its 32.\nAnd you cant fill the next shell till the total number is completed in one shell.\n\nThere fore for Na the configuration is: K= 2 L= 8 M= 1\nAnd hence the valence electron is 1. That is only one electron partcipates in bond formation and in chemical reactions.
946929
all the electrons are located in the electronic orbitals of the ion.\n\nYou may find this useful:\n\nhttp://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~chem251/documents/Vollhardt_1.ppt
926360
Four.\n\nThe first one is usually called "n" and it gives what people think of when they say "energy level".  It's also called the "principal quantum number", I think.\n\nThe next one is usually called "l" (el) and for a given energy level, it can be anything from 0 up to "n-1".  These correspond to what people sometimes call "shells", such as the s, p, d, f, etc. shell.\n\nThe next one is called "m" and is sometimes called the "sub-shell".  Each shell can have up to "2*l+1" sub-shells.  So an "s shell" (l=0) can have 1 sub-shell.  A "p shell" (l=1) can have 2*1+1=3 sub-shells, etc.\n\nThe final quantum number is called "s" or "spin".  For each sub-shell, this can take on one of two values, +1/2 or -1/2  in some books.  This means that only two electrons are allowed in any given sub-shell.\n\nSo for n=1, the only option is l = 0, which means further that m must be 1, with 2 choices for s.  This all means that the first energy level can only hold 2 electrons.\n\nFor n=2, l can be either 0 or 1.  For l =0, m must again be 1, allowing 2 electrons.  For l = 1, m can be as much as 3, each allowed to have 2 electrons.  So adding the 2 electrons for the l=0 subshell to the 6 allowed in the 3 possible subshells for l=1 (6 electrons we get a total of 8 electrons allowed in the second energy level.\n\nYou can continue on to get totals of 18 (2 + 6 + 10) for the 3rd energy level (n=3; l =0, 1, or 2;  and m = 1, 3 and 5, each with 2 electrons allowed).\n\nThis is where the numbers that correspond to "filled energy levels" come from in the periodic table.
1001402
Do you mean the valence shell?\n\nThe outer shell of an atom is its valence shell. The electron configuration of this shell determines the behavior of the atom.  \n\nFor more information refer to \n1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valence_electron \n2. http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Electricity/valenceshell.htm
932025
You mean the Valence Shell Configuration?\n\nIt is easy to find this by simply looking at the Group # (these are the column numbers). \n\nElements in Group 1 all have 1 electron in their valence shell, Elements in group 2 have 2 and so on...\n'\nIf you mean how many shells there are then look at the Period #  this is the horizontal groups) the Period # corresponds with the number of electron shells.\n\nElements in Period 2 have 2 electron shells, elements in Period 3 have 3 and so on...
627239
first of all, two elements combine to form molecules...not new elements, unless you are talking fusion, and that will involve radiation, not voltage (electric potential).\n\nsecond of all, there is no question here, unless you are asking if what you wrote makes sense.  If that is the question, then no, it does not make perfect sense.
390703
In the Bohr model of the atom, it was thought that electrons orbit the nucleus in the same way that the planets orbit the sun. However, the situation was found to be much more complicated than the simple planetary orbits. There are different levels of orbitals and energy levels. Also, the position of an electron can never truly be defined because of the uncertainty principle and the electrons have to be thought of as a "cloud" where any electrons could possibly be at a given moment. So, the internal structure of atoms is much more complicated than the planetary orbits.
977750
Mn(+3) has the electronic configuration of 1s(2) 2s(2) 2p(6) 3s(2) 3o(6) 3d(2)\n\nthe one before me missed the 4s2 so his is wrong
759104
what is the atom made of and explain how they work?