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In each term of an electron configuration, n is the positive integer that precedes each orbital letter (helium's electron configuration is 1s 2, therefore n = 1, and the orbital contains two electrons). An atom's nth electron shell can accommodate 2n 2 electrons. For example, the first shell can accommodate two electrons, the second shell eight ...
In carbon monoxide (CO, isoelectronic with dinitrogen) the oxygen 2s orbital is much lower in energy than the carbon 2s orbital and therefore the degree of mixing is low. The electron configuration 1σ 2 1σ* 2 2σ 2 2σ* 2 1π 4 3σ 2 is identical to that of nitrogen. The g and u subscripts no longer apply because the molecule lacks a center ...
A molecular orbital can specify the electron configuration of a molecule: the spatial distribution and energy of one (or one pair of) electron(s). Most commonly a MO is represented as a linear combination of atomic orbitals (the LCAO-MO method), especially in qualitative or very approximate usage.
The highest occupied orbital energy level of dioxygen is a pair of antibonding π* orbitals. In the ground state of dioxygen, this energy level is occupied by two electrons of the same spin, as shown in the molecular orbital diagram. The molecule, therefore, has two unpaired electrons and is in a triplet state.
As a result, when filling up atomic orbitals, the maximum number of unpaired electrons (and hence maximum total spin state) is assured. The valence orbitals of the oxygen atom (sides of diagram) and the dioxygen molecule (middle) in the ground state. In both atom and molecule, the electrons in singly occupied orbitals have their spins parallel.
Several rules govern the placement of electrons in orbitals (electron configuration). The first dictates that no two electrons in an atom may have the same set of values of quantum numbers (this is the Pauli exclusion principle). These quantum numbers include the three that define orbitals, as well as the spin magnetic quantum number m s.
An electron configuration with two unpaired electrons, as is found in dioxygen orbitals (see the filled π* orbitals in the diagram) that are of equal energy—i.e., degenerate—is a configuration termed a spin triplet state. Hence, the ground state of the O 2 molecule is referred to as triplet oxygen.
Molecular orbital diagram of two singlet excited states as well as the triplet ground state of molecular dioxygen. From left to right, the diagrams are for: 1 Δ g singlet oxygen (first excited state), 1 Σ + g singlet oxygen (second excited state), and 3 Σ − g triplet oxygen (ground state). The lowest energy 1s molecular orbitals are ...