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In chemistry, an unpaired electron is an electron that occupies an orbital of an atom singly, rather than as part of an electron pair. Each atomic orbital of an atom (specified by the three quantum numbers n, l and m) has a capacity to contain two electrons ( electron pair ) with opposite spins .
They also fill the core levels of an atom. Because the spins are paired, the magnetic moment of the electrons cancel one another, and the pair's contribution to magnetic properties is generally diamagnetic. Although a strong tendency to pair off electrons can be observed in chemistry, it is also possible for electrons to occur as unpaired ...
Many radicals spontaneously dimerize. Most organic radicals have short lifetimes. A notable example of a radical is the hydroxyl radical (HO·), a molecule that has one unpaired electron on the oxygen atom. Two other examples are triplet oxygen and triplet carbene (꞉ CH 2) which have two unpaired electrons.
As an example, consider the ground state of silicon.The electron configuration of Si is 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 2 (see spectroscopic notation).We need to consider only the outer 3p 2 electrons, for which it can be shown (see term symbols) that the possible terms allowed by the Pauli exclusion principle are 1 D , 3 P , and 1 S.
In ferromagnetic elements such as iron, cobalt and nickel, an odd number of electrons leads to an unpaired electron and a net overall magnetic moment. The orbitals of neighboring atoms overlap and a lower energy state is achieved when the spins of unpaired electrons are aligned with each other, a spontaneous process known as an exchange ...
Thus, the number of electrons in lone pairs plus the number of electrons in bonds equals the number of valence electrons around an atom. Lone pair is a concept used in valence shell electron pair repulsion theory (VSEPR theory) which explains the shapes of molecules. They are also referred to in the chemistry of Lewis acids and bases. However ...
Each has two electrons of opposite spin in the π* level so that S = 0 and the multiplicity is 2S + 1 = 1 in consequence. In the first excited state, the two π* electrons are paired in the same orbital, so that there are no unpaired electrons. In the second excited state, however, the two π* electrons occupy different orbitals with opposite spin.
Each bond consists of a pair of electrons, so if t is the total number of electrons to be placed and n is the number of single bonds just drawn, t−2n electrons remain to be placed. These are temporarily drawn as dots, one per electron, to a maximum of eight per atom (two in the case of hydrogen), minus two for each bond.