What is Electron Configuration?
Electron configuration is the arrangement of electrons of an atom, a molecule, or other physical structure. They are arranged in shells. A shell is an orbital around the atom's nucleus that has a fixed number of electrons. There are 2 electrons in the first shell, 8 electrons in the second shell, 8 electrons in the third shell and 2 electrons in the fourth shell. 2,8,8,2 would be calcium, since the atomic number of calcium is 20, and 2+8+8+2=20. The outer shell of electrons are called the valence electron/s.
How do I Configure Electrons?
1. You need to find out the atomic number of the element, we will use magnesium, the atomic number is 12.
2. You have to divide 12 into the shell arrangement as shown above, 2, 8, 2. There are no more shells to be filled since magnesium only has 12 electrons.
With this method, you can only go up to calcium, after that, a much more confusing algebraic method is used.
There is a few examples below, but are hard to read, but try your best!
2. You have to divide 12 into the shell arrangement as shown above, 2, 8, 2. There are no more shells to be filled since magnesium only has 12 electrons.
With this method, you can only go up to calcium, after that, a much more confusing algebraic method is used.
There is a few examples below, but are hard to read, but try your best!