Sunday, February 28, 2016

Quantum Numbers

Every electron has four quantum numbers:

1. Principle Quantum Number: the same number as the principal energy level.

2. Angular Momentum Quantum Number: determined from the sublevel; 0,1,2,3 for s,p,d,f.

3. Magnetic Quantum Number: runs from -1 to 1.

4. Spin Quantum Number: 1/2 for the first electron in an orbital and -1/2 for the second.

Examples:

Assign quantum numbers for each electron:

*4d3 = (4, 2, 0, 1/2)

*2p1 = (2, 1, -1, 1/2)

*1s1 = (1, 0, 0, 1/2)

Determine the electron for each quantum numbers:

*(3, 2, 0, -1/2) = 3d8

*(2, 1, 1, 1/2) = 2p3

*(4, 3, 0, 1/2) = 4f4

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post Carly. I really liked how you included the examples, and the rules you included.

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  2. The examples really helped me out. I think overall this concept seems pretty simple but it could get harder when putting them into actual questions.

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