electrons, energy level and atomic orbitals

Question 1

what is the principle quantum number including what is used to represent it

Answer 1

the principal quantum number is the energy levels/shells represented by “n”

Question 2

what are subshells?

Answer 2

sublevels which makeup the energy level

Question 3

what are the subshells available?

Answer 3

s, p, d and f

Question 4

what is the energy level number equal to?

eg; n=2

Answer 4

the number of subshells
eg; n=2
subshell = s and p

Question 5

what are the subshells found for energy levels 1 to 4

Answer 5

n=1 (s)
n=2 (s, p)
n=3 (s, p, d)
n=4 (s, p, d, f)

Question 6

what is each shell made up of?

Answer 6

subshells

Question 7

what are orbitals

Answer 7

“compartments” with a maximum of 2 electrons found in subshells

Question 8

how many orbitals do each subshell contain?

Answer 8

subshell s = 1 orbital
subshell p = 3 orbitals
subshell d = 5 orbitals
subshell f =7 orbitals

Question 9

explain how orbitals are represented by

Answer 9

orbitals are represented by a box with maximum of 2 arrows which are the opposite to show that each electron in the orbital travel the opposite direction

Question 10

what is ground state?

Answer 10

the most stable arrangement of an atom

Question 11

in what order is the electronic configuration made in?

Answer 11

increasing energy

Question 12

what is the pattern of the electronic configuration and how is it made?

Answer 12

1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 4s 3d 4p 5s….

made by arranging the subshells in each shell e.g.
4s 4p 4d 4f and then making a horizontal line passing through subshell s

Question 13

explain the electronic configuration in terms of energy level of the electrons

Answer 13

the further away a shell is from the nucleus, the higher the energy( general statement) and so it is arranged in order of increasing energy level

Question 14

explain the electronic configuration in terms of inter-electron repulsion
* include the important rules of electronic configuration

Answer 14

electrons close to an another will repel due to having the same negative charge. To prevent much repulsion, a)
in each subshell, each orbital is filled up with an electron in the same direction first.

b)Once there are no empty orbitals, the electrons are paired up but the second pair of electron is in the opposite direction. This is all to minimize the repulsion.

Question 15

describe the notation used in full electronic configuration using 3p^5 as an example

Answer 15

3- stands for the shell number
p- the type of subshell
5- the number of total electrons in the subshell

Question 16

describe the short hand electronic configuration

Answer 16

to make the electronic configuration shorter, other elements with the same electron number can be be used to represent a part of the electronic configuration

e.g. for chlorine
full electronic configuration
= 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p5

shorthand configuration
-neon has the electron number 10 which can be represented by a part of chlorines configuration
=1s2 2s2 2p6

neon can be used to represent the first 10 electrons instead such as:
[Ne] 3s2 3p5

Question 17

how many orbitals can be found?

Answer 17

each type of subshell has its own specific orbital

Question 18

describe the s orbital

Answer 18

the s orbital has a spherical shape where the nucleus is found in its center

Question 19

how does the s orbital change as the principal quantum number increases?

Answer 19

as n increases, the size of the s orbital also increases

Question 20

how many types of p orbitals are they including their names

Answer 20

3
px orbital along the x-axis
pz orbital along the z-axis
py orbital along the y-axis

Question 21

determine position of the x, y and z axis

Answer 21

x- horizontal
y-vertical
z-bottom left to top right

Question 22

describe the p orbital

Answer 22

the p orbital is made up of 2 lobes making up a dumbbell like shape and 3 different orientations of the p orbitals can be found

Question 23

what is a free radicle?

Answer 23

an atom or molecule with one or more unpaired electron in their outer orbit

Question 24

is oxygen a free radicle if yes/no, explain

Answer 24

no, oxygen has the configuration of 2,6 where each electron is paired into 2,2,2,2,2 which makes up a total of 8 electrons