Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
3,899,984,565 visitors served.
forum Join the Word of the Day Mailing List For webmasters
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

electron configuration
(redirected from Electronic configuration)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
electron configuration [i′lek‚trän kən‚fig·yə′rā·shən]
(atomic physics)
The orbital and spin arrangement of an atom's electrons, specifying the quantum numbers of the atom's electrons in a given state.

Electron configuration

The orbital arrangement of an atom's electrons. Negatively charged electrons are attracted to a positively charged nucleus to form an atom or ion. Although such bound electrons exhibit a high degree of quantum-mechanical wavelike behavior, there still remain particle aspects to their motion. Bound electrons occupy orbitals that are somewhat concentrated in spatial shells lying at different distances from the nucleus. As the set of electron energies allowed by quantum mechanics is discrete, so is the set of mean shell radii. Both these quantized physical quantities are primarily specified by integral values of the principal, or total, quantum number n. The full electron configuration of an atom is correlated with a set of values for all the quantum numbers of each and every electron. In addition to n, another important quantum number is l, an integer representing the orbital angular momentum of an electron in units of h/2π, where h is Planck's constant. The values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 for n and 0, 1, 2, 3 for l together suffice to describe the electron configurations of all known normal atoms and ions, that is, those that have their lowest possible values of total electronic energy. The first seven shells are also given the letter designations K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q respectively. Electrons with l equal to 0, 1, 2, and 3 are designated s, p, d, and f, respectively. See Quantum mechanics, Quantum numbers

In any configuration the number of equivalent electrons (same n and l) is indicated by an integral exponent (not a quantum number) attached to the letters s, p, d, and f. According to the Pauli exclusion principle, the maximum is s2, p6, d10, and f14. See Exclusion principle

An electron configuration is categorized as having even or odd parity, according to whether the sum of p and f electrons is even or odd. Strong spectral lines result only from transitions between configurations of unlike parity. See Parity (quantum mechanics)

Insofar as they are known from spectroscopic investigations, the electron configurations characteristic of the normal or ground states of the first 103 chemical elements are shown in the table.

In the next-to-last column of the table, the spectral term of the energy level with lowest total electronic energy is shown. The main part of the term symbol is a capital letter, S, P, D, F, and so on, that represents the total electronic orbital angular momentum. Attached to this is a superior prefix, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, that indicates the multiplicity, and an anterior suffix, 0, 12, 1, 32, 2, 52, and so on, that shows the total angular momentum, or J value, of the atom in the given state. A sign ° above the J value signifies that the spectral term and electron configuration have odd parity.

The last column of the table presents the first ionization potential of the atom, the energy required to remove from an atom its least firmly bound electron and transform a neutral atom into a singly charged ion. See Atomic structure and spectra, Ionization potential

enlarge picture
(0)
enlarge picture
(0)


Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Feedback
Mentioned in?  References in periodicals archive?   Encyclopedia browser?   Full browser?
No references found
 
It is an in-depth examination of the field through twelve papers on philosophy of chemistry and the question of reduction; the periodic table, electronic configurations and the nature of elements, and realism and anti-realism; and educational issues in the field.
No atoms in the compound have the requisite electronic configurations to generate magnetic moments, Ott says.
Automated electronic configuration and distribution via XML.
 
 
Electronic Components and Technology Conference
Electronic Components Association - Australia and New Zealand
Electronic Components Group
Electronic Components Industries Association
Electronic Components Institute Internationale Ltd.
Electronic Components Reliability Center
Electronic Components, Assemblies, Equipment and Supplies Association
Electronic Components, Technology and Materials
electronic composition
electronic computer
electronic computer
electronic computer
Electronic Computer Crime
Electronic Computer Glossary
Electronic Computer Originated Mail
Electronic Computer Programming Institute
Electronic Computer Waste Services
Electronic Computer-Aided Design
Electronic Computer-Originated Mail
Electronic computers
Electronic computers
Electronic computers
Electronic computing
Electronic computing
Electronic computing
Electronic computing
electronic computing units
Electronic Concepts Simulation Research Laboratory
Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Electronic Conference on Trends in Organic Chemistry
Electronic configuration
Electronic Configuration Control Board
Electronic Confirmation of Enrolment
electronic confusion area
Electronic Construction Cost
Electronic Consult System
Electronic Content Management
Electronic Content Management Practitioner
Electronic Continuing Professional Development
Electronic Continuously Variable Transmission
Electronic Contracts Folder
Electronic Control
Electronic Control
Electronic Control Amplifier
Electronic Control Code
Electronic Control Company
Electronic Control Fuel Injection
Electronic Control Gear
Electronic control module
Electronic Control Security, Inc.
Electronic Control Signal Processor
Electronic Control System
Electronic Control Transmission
Electronic control unit
Electronic Control Unit Communications Module
Electronic Controlled Drug Register
 
Encyclopedia
?

Terms of Use | Privacy policy | Feedback | Advertise with Us | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc.
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.