WCU Chemistry Discussion

Complete your required discussion prompt:

Do not pick Silicon.

Describe the electron configuration of an atom using principal energy level, sublevels, orbitals, and periodic table. Give one example others may not think about and why you made this selection.

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Hello Students,

For this weeks discussion board we look at electron configuration.

This is a way of describing where the electrons are in the atom, before we only mentioned that they are around the nucleus. 

For an example I’ll show an interesting element, Silicon. Silicon as a metalloid has many useful properties making it suitable for use in electronics. It is also a major component of glass and sand. 

This element has  a noble gas configuration of  [Ne]3s2 3p2. I got this from using the shorthand method I’ll describe in lecture and include a picture of below. The full configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p2. 

It has a principal energy level of 3. The sublevels and orbitals include things like 1s, 2s, 2p, and many more. 

This is just an example, feel free to pick any element except silicon. Make sure to include an electron configuration and try to include something unique on your element.