Q&A for How to Write Electron Configurations for Atoms of Any Element

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  • Question
    What is an electron configuration?
    Community Answer
    An electron configuration is the arrangement of electron of an atom or a molecule in an atomic or molecular orbital.
  • Question
    What is the electron configuration of CH4?
    Community Answer
    CH4 isn't an atom, but a composite substance. You can only tell the electron configuration of an atom.
  • Question
    While writing EC, should 4s come before 3d?
    Eirina Khan
    Community Answer
    When writing the EC, we consider the energy levels of the shells. 3d has higher energy level than 4s, therefore it will come after 4s. You need to memorize the order of orbitals according to the energy levels.
  • Question
    What is ionization energy?
    Community Answer
    Ionization energy is the quantity of energy that an isolated, gaseous atom in the ground electronic state must absorb to discharge an electron, resulting in a cation.
  • Question
    How is the electron configuration and order of electron addition the same for every element?
    Community Answer
    Because in every shell, no matter what atom, they all hold the same number of electrons.
  • Question
    How do I put elements in electronic configuration using numbers?
    Community Answer
    You basically take the traditional boxed configuration and write it in numbers where the first number represents the energy level (i.e 1s^2 is the first energy level) and the superscript represents the number of electrons in that energy level (in the previous example the "^2" means that there are 2 electrons in that energy level).
  • Question
    Why is iron called Fe?
    Community Answer
    The Latin name of iron is ferrum.
  • Question
    What is the numerical representation of electronic configuration element of calcium?
    Community Answer
    1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^6 4s^2. You basically take the traditional, boxed configuration and write it in shorthand where the first number represents the energy level and the superscript represents the number of electrons in that energy level (box).
  • Question
    How do I write the electronic configurations of carbon?
    Community Answer
    The atomic number of carbon is 6. Hence, it's configuration is [He] 2s2 2p2. The expanded form is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^2.
  • Question
    Why is electron configuration required?
    Community Answer
    Because electron configuration gives the number of valence electrons, by which we can easily determine the chemical properties of an atom or ion or molecule or compound.
  • Question
    What is the valency of scandium?
    Community Answer
    Scandium has three valence electrons, because it is on the third column of the periodic table.
  • Question
    How do I determine the charge of an atom?
    Community Answer
    On the periodic table there are 18 groups. Each group has a specific charge. For example, any element in group 17 has a 1- charge.
  • Question
    How do I calculate the valency of atoms in compounds?
    Community Answer
    It is not the compounds that hold the valencies. Rather the combining atoms or ions possess different valencies.
  • Question
    How many electrons can the first, second, third and fourth shell hold?
    Community Answer
    The first shell can hold 2 electrons; the second and third can hold 18; and the fourth can hold 32 electrons.
  • Question
    What is the electronic distribution of barium?
    Ahmad Sohail
    Community Answer
    The full electron configuration of barium is: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 5s2 5p6 6s2.
  • Question
    How can I know the number of neutrons in every element?
    Community Answer
    To know the number of neutrons you need to know the atomic number and mass. Atomic number equals the number of protons, and atomic mass roughly equals protons plus neutrons, so just subtract the atomic number from atomic mass to get the number of neutrons.
  • Question
    What is the electronic configuration of iron?
    Community Answer
    The atomic number of iron (ferrous) is 26. Hence it's electronic configuration is [Ar] 3d6 4s2. The expanded form is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^ 2 3p^6 4s^2 3d^6.
  • Question
    Where should I put commas between the subshells?
    Community Answer
    Nowhere. You shouldn't put commas in an electron configuration.
  • Question
    How do I calculate empirical formulas?
    Community Answer
    Check out the wikiHow article, Find the Empirical Formula .
  • Question
    If an electron configuration ends on 4d^3, how do I determine from which subshell it will lose electrons?
    Community Answer
    The electrons are taken from the 4d subshell because it is incomplete. The 4d subshell should have 10 electrons, not 3, which means 7 electrons were taken from it.
  • Question
    How do I find the electron configuration using a Bohr model?
    Ahmad Sohail
    Community Answer
    We can only find the electronic configuration of monoelectronic atoms (the atoms that contain only one electron in their valence shell) by using a Bohr model. It was the defect of the Bohr model that it was only applicable to monoelectronic atoms.
  • Question
    What is the EC of an atom with 29 electrons?
    Ahmad Sohail
    Community Answer
    1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s1 is the electronic configuration of atoms having 29 electrons; the name of this atom is copper (Cu), and it has an atomic number of 29.
  • Question
    What is the quantum number?
    Community Answer
    The quantum number is refered to as the outermost valence electrons of the carbon atom, which are loctaed in the 2p atomic orbital.
  • Question
    How many electrons will there be in the 3rd shell? According to the formula, 2* square 3rd shell will have 18 electrons, but configuration states that valence shell will have only eight.
    Community Answer
    If you are only counting the electrons in the 3rd shell, then there will be 8 electrons. If you are counting all of the electrons on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd shell, then it will be 18 electrons.
  • Question
    Why does Fe stand for iron?
    Community Answer
    It was taken from its Latin name "ferrum," and we take the first letters as a symbol for the element.
  • Question
    What is ionization enthalpy?
    Caeiia
    Top Answerer
    Ionization enthalpy, or ionization energy, is the energy needed to remove the outermost, or loosest, electron from an atom. This is measured in kJ/mol or eV-.
  • Question
    What about the electronic configuration for potassium?
    Community Answer
    1s^2, 2s^2, 2p^6, 3s^2, 3p^6, 4s^1 is the electronic configuration of potassium.
  • Question
    What is the Aufbau principle?
    PaperSky_206
    Community Answer
    The Aufbau principle states that electrons fill atomic orbitals of the lowest energy levels before moving onto higher energy levels.
  • Question
    How many electrons can each shell hold?
    Ahmad Sohail
    Community Answer
    We can find the number of electrons an atom holds by using the formula 2n^2, where 'n' is the number of shell of an atom. For example: for first shell value of 'n' will be 1 and it can accommodate only 2 electrons and for second shell value of n will be 2 and it will accommodate 8 electrons in the valence shell.
  • Question
    How do I find the locations of an element on the periodic table?
    Community Answer
    The atomic number determines the location of the element in the periodic chart.
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