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(a) Write the electron configuration (s, p) of an oxygen atom showing the arrangement of electrons in atomic orbitals. - Leaving Cert Chemistry - Question 5 - 2012
Question 5
(a) Write the electron configuration (s, p) of an oxygen atom showing the arrangement of electrons in atomic orbitals.
Worked Solution & Example Answer:(a) Write the electron configuration (s, p) of an oxygen atom showing the arrangement of electrons in atomic orbitals. - Leaving Cert Chemistry - Question 5 - 2012
Step 1
Write the electron configuration of an oxygen atom
Answer
An oxygen atom has 8 electrons. The electron configuration is built according to the Aufbau principle, filling the lowest energy orbitals first. The configuration can be expressed in two ways:
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Standard notation:
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Orbital diagram:
The p orbitals can hold a total of 6 electrons but in oxygen, it has 4 electrons. Thus, it can be represented as:
Where each line represents a p-orbital, and the arrows indicate the arrangement of electrons in the p orbitals.
Step 2
Show the arrangement of electrons in atomic orbitals
Answer
In atomic orbitals representation:
ightarrow \uparrow\downarrow \\ 2s \rightarrow \uparrow\downarrow \\ 2p_{x} \rightarrow \uparrow \\ 2p_{y} \rightarrow \uparrow \\ 2p_{z} \rightarrow -$$ This indicates that the two electrons in the 2p level are unpaired, with one in each of the two available p orbitals.