Electron Configurations

These flashcards cover the key concepts and definitions related to electron configurations from the lecture notes.

What is electron configuration?

A shorthand notation for the distribution of electrons through an atom's shells and subshells.

What determines many properties of an element?

Electron configurations determine many of an element's properties.

What are the types of electron configurations?

Full Electron Configuration, Condensed Electron Configuration, and Orbital Diagrams.

What is the Pauli Exclusion Principle?

No two electrons can have the same set of quantum numbers; only two electrons can be in each orbital with opposite spins.

What is the Aufbau Principle?

Electrons must fill lower energy orbitals before moving to higher ones.

What is Hund's Rule?

Electrons must fill degenerate orbitals singly with parallel spins before pairing up.

What is a full electron configuration?

A representation that includes all of the electrons in an atom, filled in order of increasing energy.

How is a noble-gas electron configuration different?

It represents only the valence electrons with a noble gas in brackets for core electrons.

What is the configuration for H (hydrogen)?

1s¹.

What is the configuration for He (helium)?

1s².

What happens in a cation formation?

Cations are formed by losing electrons from orbitals with the highest n and highest l values.

What happens in an anion formation?

Anions are formed by gaining electrons, and they fill orbitals according to the established rules.

What is paramagnetism?

A property of species with unpaired electrons, causing a net magnetic moment.

What is diamagnetism?

A property of species with only paired electrons, resulting in no net magnetic moment.

What are exceptions to the electron configuration rules?

Certain transition metals like chromium and copper may have configurations that differ from predicted due to energy stability of half-filled or fully filled orbitals.