isoelectronic sequence

Isoelectronic sequence

A term used in spectroscopy to designate the set of spectra produced by different chemical elements ionized in such a way that their atoms or ions contain the same number of electrons. The sequence in the table is an example. Since the neutral atoms of these elements each contain Z electrons, removal of one electron from scandium, two from titanium, and so forth, yields a series of ions all of which have 20 electrons. Isoelectronic sequences are useful in predicting unknown spectra of ions belonging to a sequence in which other spectra are known. See Atomic structure and spectra

Example of isoelectronic sequence

Designation	Emitting	Atomic
of spectrum	atom or ion	number, Z
Cal	Ca	20
Scll	Sc+	21
Tilll	Ti2+	22
VIV	V3+	23
CrV	Cr4+	24
MnVI	Mn5+	25

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Physics. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

isoelectronic sequence

[¦ī·sō·i‚lek′trän·ik ′sē·kwəns]

(spectroscopy)

A set of spectra produced by different chemical elements ionized so that their atoms or ions contain the same number of electrons.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.