Chemistry: Electron Configuration and Periodic Trends

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to electron configuration, periodic trends, and basic atomic structure as discussed in the lecture.

Orbital Diagram

A visual representation showing the distribution of electrons in an atom's orbitals.

Paramagnetic

Species that have unpaired electrons and are attracted to a magnetic field.

Diamagnetic

Substances where all electrons are paired, resulting in no net magnetic field.

Noble Gas Configuration

The electron configuration of an atom that ends with the electron configuration of a noble gas.

Hunt's Rule

Electrons occupy degenerate orbitals singly before pairing up, to minimize repulsion.

Core Electrons

Electrons that are not involved in chemical bonding and are located in filled inner shells.

Valence Electrons

Electrons in the outermost shell that are involved in chemical bonding.

Ionization Energy

The energy required to remove an electron from an atom in the gaseous state.

Lattice Energy

The energy released when ions are combined to make a compound; it is a measure of the bond strength in ionic compounds.

Lewis Structure

A diagram that shows the bonding between atoms of a molecule and the lone pairs of electrons that may exist.

Electron Affinity

The amount of energy released when an electron is added to a neutral atom.

Coulomb's Law

A law stating that the force between two charged objects is proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Hybridization

The concept of mixing atomic orbitals to create new hybrid orbitals for bonding.

Octet Rule

The rule that atoms tend to bond in such a way that they have eight electrons in their valence shell, achieving a noble gas configuration.

Isoelectronic

Referring to different atoms or ions that have the same number of electrons in their electron configuration.

SPDF Notation

The notation used to describe the electron configuration of an atom's orbitals.

Electron Configuration

The distribution of electrons in an atom's orbitals.

Atomic Radius

The distance from the nucleus of an atom to the outermost shell of electrons.

Metallic Character

The level of reactivity of a metal; it increases down a group in the periodic table.