Draw the electron configuration diagram for carbon?

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Draw the electron configuration diagram for carbon?

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Answer 1 · 2016-07-29T18:17:49

Each row on the periodic table introduces a new value for the principal quantum number $n$ $n$ , while $l$ $l$ goes as $0, 1, . . ., n - 1$ $0, 1, . . . , n-1$ .

Recall that $l = 0 \to s$ $l = 0 -> s$ orbital, and $l = 1 \to p$ $l = 1 -> p$ orbital. Therefore, we would have these orbitals available:

$Row 1:$ $"Row 1:"$ $1 s$ $1s$
$Row 2:$ $"Row 2:"$ $2 s, 2 p$ $2s, 2p$
$Row 3:$ $"Row 3:"$ $. . .$ $. . .$
$Row 4:$ $"Row 4:"$ $. . .$ $. . .$

Carbon has access to only $n = 2$ $n = 2$ and $n = 1$ $n = 1$ , so its six electrons can only go into the $1 s$ $1s$ , $2 s$ $2s$ and $2 p$ $2p$ orbitals, from lowest to highest energy (Aufbau Principle) one at a time to maximize spin (Hund's Rule), with opposite spins when pairing up (Pauli Exclusion Principle).

$1 s^{2} 2 s^{2} 2 p^{2}$ $1s^2 2s^2 2p^2$ :

$color(white)([(color(black)(ul(uarr color(white)(darr)))),(color(black)(2p_x))]) color(white)([(color(black)(ul(uarr color(white)(darr)))),(color(black)(2p_y))]) color(white)([(color(black)(ul(color(white)(darr) color(white)(darr)))),(color(black)(2p_z))])$

$color(white)([(color(black)(ul(uarr darr))),(color(black)(2s))])$

$" "$
$" "$

$color(white)([(color(black)(ul(uarr darr))),(color(black)(1s))])$

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Draw the electron configuration diagram for carbon?

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