
The notation 3 d 8 (read “three–d–eight”) indicates eight electrons in the d subshell ( l = 2) of the principal shell for which n = 3. A superscript number that designates the number of electrons in that particular subshell.įor example, 2 p 4 indicates four electrons in a p subshell ( l = 1) with a principal quantum number ( n) of 2.The letter that designates the orbital type (the subshell, l), and.The number of the principal quantum number, n,.We describe an electron configuration with a symbol that contains three pieces of information ( Figure 2): The arrangement of electrons in the orbitals of an atom is called the electron configuration of the atom. For small orbitals (1 s through 3 p), the increase in energy due to n is more significant than the increase due to l however, for larger orbitals the two trends are comparable and cannot be simply predicted. Electrons in orbitals that experience more shielding are less stabilized and thus higher in energy. This phenomenon is called shielding and will be discussed in more detail in the next section. Electrons that are closer to the nucleus slightly repel electrons that are farther out, offsetting the more dominant electron–nucleus attractions slightly (recall that all electrons have −1 charges, but nuclei have + Z charges). In any atom with two or more electrons, the repulsion between the electrons makes energies of subshells with different values of l differ so that the energy of the orbitals increases within a shell in the order s p > d > f. The energy of atomic orbitals increases as the principal quantum number, n, increases. | Key Concepts and Summary | Glossary | End of Section Exercises | Orbital Energies and Electron Configurations of Atoms | Aufbau Principle | Writing Orbital Diagrams | Core and Valence Electrons | Electron Configuration Exceptions | Apply the Aufbau principle to rationalize the structure of the periodic table.| Orbital Energies and Electron Configurations of Atoms | Write an electron configuration for an atom.
