So everything you were taught at GCSE by your teachers, yeah that was all a lie, completely forget that they lied to you! Electron shells aren't flat they are 3D and that issue with going past 20 electrons? Fret no more because we can now get past this, admittedly with a lot of work but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! So these electron orbitals are filled with sub levels, remember the 2.8.8.2 formula? Well it turns out they were actually sub levels in an atom, here take a look:
As you can see the shells are known as 'n' and the number of that orbital increases the further away it gets. Now not to confuse you but technically they are all on top of each other and the distance between each of these is miniscule! When drawing them though I recommended giving them space otherwise you are not going to be working with a lot! So lets take a deep look at this:
Orbitals are known as S, P, D, F and so on but you don't really need to know any further for now. Now this order is important as it symbolizes a certain increase of electron storage per shell.
This is done simply by using the amount of electrons in the element and applying them to 2 electrons per atomic orbital.
As you can see the shells are known as 'n' and the number of that orbital increases the further away it gets. Now not to confuse you but technically they are all on top of each other and the distance between each of these is miniscule! When drawing them though I recommended giving them space otherwise you are not going to be working with a lot! So lets take a deep look at this:
Orbitals are known as S, P, D, F and so on but you don't really need to know any further for now. Now this order is important as it symbolizes a certain increase of electron storage per shell.
These small square blocks are know as atomic orbitals and per 1 atomic orbital there are two electrons which oppose each other but they occupy empty atomic orbitals before joining their buddies! These electrons stick together by having opposite spins to one another but still choose to be alone before being paired with another. Below is a great example from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Chemical/eleorb.html
These Electron orbitals also take the form of a shape depending upon their structure:
The further away the shell is from the nucleus the higher the energy due to the increase in energy levels NOT distance. Now then lets apply this to a simple element such as magnesium.
Normal magnesium has 12 electrons and is written like this:
1s²2s²2p⁶3s²
Now if we have Mg²+ the composition is slightly different:
The only fault in this structure of electrons and orbitals is when we reach a specific point; by using nickel we can portray this li'l issue:
1s²2s²2p⁶
You've probably noticed its lacking that extra orbital, for an element to become positive it loses electrons. Keep in mind that electrons are negative and result in something positive, I guess you could think of this as a really negative person and avoiding them makes you more positive!The only fault in this structure of electrons and orbitals is when we reach a specific point; by using nickel we can portray this li'l issue:
1s²2s²2p⁶3s²3p⁶4s²3d⁹
The sub level of 4s falls before 3d due to the Aufbau principle which shows that 4s, although the trend suggests otherwise, is more stable than 3d. This simply makes the structure follow the same pattern but when it reaches 3p it must be closely followed by 4s before 3d.
One last thing: Metals lose electrons and do NOT gain them.
Did you find this helpful? Feel free to drop a comment and let me know what you liked and if I have missed something!
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