Chapter 7 Flashcards
Behaviour of Subatomic Particles in an Electric Field
- Protons, neutrons and electrons behave differently when they move at the same velocity in an electric field
- When a beam of electrons is fired past the electrically charged plates, the electrons are deflected very easily away from the negative plate towards the positive plate
- A beam of protons is deflected away from the positive plate towards the negative plate
- A beam of neutrons is not deflected at all
Behaviour of Subatomic Particles in an Electric Field according to weight
- proton deflects less due to its weight compared to electrons
- neutral particles are not deflected at all
Atomic radius
- The atomic radius of an element is a measure of the size of an atom
- It is half the distance between the two nuclei of two covalently bonded atoms of the same type
Atomic radii show predictable patterns across the Periodic Table
- They generally decrease across each Period
- They generally increase down each Group
electron shell theory
- Atomic radii decrease as you move across a Period as the atomic number increases (increased positive nuclear charge) but at the same time extra electrons are added to the same principal quantum shell
- The larger the nuclear charge, the greater the pull of the nuclei on the electrons which results in smaller atoms
- Atomic radii increase moving down a Group as there is an increased number of shells going down the Group
- The electrons in the inner shells repel the electrons in the outermost shells, shielding them from the positive nuclear charge
- This weakens the pull of the nuclei on the electrons resulting in larger atoms
Ionic radius
- The ionic radius of an element is a measure of the size of an ion
- Ionic radii show predictable patterns
- These trends can also be explained by the electron shell theory
These trends can also be explained by the electron shell theory (ionic radius)
- Ions with negative charges are formed by atoms accepting extra electrons while the nuclear charge remains the same
- The outermost electrons are further away from the positively charged nucleus and are therefore held only weakly to the nucleus which increases the ionic radius
- The greater the negative charge, the larger the ionic radius
- Positively charged ions are formed by atoms losing electrons
- The nuclear charge remains the same but there are now fewer electrons which undergo a greater electrostatic force of attraction to the nucleus which decreases the ionic radius
- The greater the positive charger, the smaller the ionic radius
Ionic radii show predictable patterns
- Ionic radii increase with increasing negative charge
- Ionic radii decrease with increasing positive charge
Electron Shells: Basics
- The arrangement of electrons in an atom is called the electronic configuration
- Electrons are arranged around the nucleus in principal energy levels or principal quantum shells
- Principal quantum numbers (n) are used to number the energy levels or quantum shells
- The lower the principal quantum number, the closer the shell is to the nucleus
- The higher the principal quantum number, the lesser the energy of the shell
- Each principal quantum number has a fixed number of electrons it can hold
n = 1 : up to 2 electrons
n = 2 : up to 8 electrons
n = 3 : up to 18 electrons
n = 4 : up to 32 electrons
Subshells
- The principal quantum shells are split into subshells which are given the letters s, p and d
- Elements with more than 57 electrons also have an f shell
- The energy of the electrons in the subshells increases in the order s < p < d
Orbitals
The subshells contain one or more atomic orbitals
Orbitals exist at specific energy levels and electrons can only be found at these specific levels, not in between
–Each atomic orbital can be occupied by a maximum of two electrons
This means that the number of orbitals in each subshell is as follows:
- s : one orbital (1 x 2 = total of 2 electrons)
- p : three orbitals ( 3 x 2 = total of 6 electrons)
- d : five orbitals (5 x 2 = total of 10 electrons)
- f : seven orbitals (7 x 2 = total of 14 electrons)
Ground state
- The ground state is the most stable electronic configuration of an atom which has the lowest amount of energy
- This is achieved by filling the subshells of energy with the lowest energy first (1s)
- The order of the subshells in terms of increasing energy does not follow a regular pattern at n= 3 and higher
Electron Configurations: principal quantum number
- indicates the energy level of a particular shell but also indicates the energy of the electrons in that shell
- A 2p electron is in the second shell and therefore has an energy corresponding to n = 2
- Even though there is repulsion between negatively charged electrons (inter-electrons repulsion), they occupy the same region of space in orbitals
- This is because the energy required to jump to successive empty orbital is greater than the inter-electron repulsion
- For this reason, they pair up and occupy the lower energy levels first
electron orbitials
- Each shell can be divided further into subshells, labelled s, p, d and f
- Each subshell can hold a specific number of orbitals:
- –s subshell : 1 orbital
- –p subshell : 3 orbitals labelled px, py and pz
- –d subshell : 5 orbitals
- –f subshell : 7 orbitals
-Each orbital can hold a maximum number of
Subshells & Energy
-The principal quantum shells increase in energy with increasing principal quantum number
- The subshells increase in energy as follows: s < p < d < f
- —The only exception to these rules is the 3d orbital which has slightly higher energy than the 4s orbital, so the 3d orbital is filled before the 4s orbital
-All the orbitals in the same subshell have the same energy and are said to be degenerate
Eg. px, py and pz are all equal in energy
p orbitals
- The p orbitals are dumbbell-shaped
- Every shell has three p orbitals except for the first one (n = 1)
- The p orbitals occupy the x, y and z-axis and point at right angles to each other so are oriented perpendicular to one another
- The lobes of the p orbitals become larger and longer with increasing shell number
s orbitals
- The s orbitals are spherical in shape
- The size of the s orbitals increases with increasing shell number
- Eg. the s orbital of the third quantum shell (n = 3) is bigger than the s orbital of the first quantum shell (n = 1)
Electron Configuration
- The electron configuration gives information about the number of electrons in each shell, subshell and orbital of an atom
- The subshells are filled in order of increasing energy
Electron Configurations: Explained
- Electrons can be imagined as small spinning charges which rotate around their own axis in either a clockwise or anticlockwise direction
- The spin of the electron is represented by its direction
Electron Configurations: SPIN-PAIR REPULSION
- Electrons will therefore occupy separate orbitals in the same subshell to minimize this repulsion and have their spin in the same direction
- Eg. if there are three electrons in a p subshell, one electron will go into each px, py and pz orbital