Atoms and Elements Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards based on key concepts from the atoms and elements lecture notes.

Coulomb's Law

Describes the force of attraction or repulsion between charged particles.

Photoelectron Spectroscopy (PES)

A technique used to determine the energies of electrons in atoms or molecules.

Wavelength (λ)

The distance between successive crests of a wave, typically measured in meters.

Frequency (ν)

The number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time, measured in Hertz (Hz).

Planck's Constant (h)

A fundamental constant used to describe the sizes of quanta, with a value of 6.626 x 10^-34 Js.

Effective Nuclear Charge (Z_eff)

The net positive charge experienced by an electron in a multi-electron atom, accounting for shielding by inner electrons.

Ionization Energy (IE)

The energy required to remove an electron from an atom.

Electronegativity

The tendency of an atom to attract electrons in a chemical bond.

Electron Affinity

The energy change that occurs when an electron is added to a neutral atom.

Excited State

The state of an atom when one or more of its electrons have absorbed energy and moved to a higher energy level.

Ground State Configuration

The lowest energy arrangement of electrons in an atom.

Cation

A positively charged ion formed by the loss of one or more electrons.

Anion

A negatively charged ion formed by the gain of one or more electrons.

Isoelectronic Series

A group of ions or atoms that have the same number of electrons.

Aufbau Principle

The principle stating that electrons fill atomic orbitals in order of increasing energy.

Hund's Rule

The rule that electrons will occupy degenerate orbitals singly before pairing.