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Exploring Atomic Orbitals across the Periodic Table
Electron Orbitals
...and the periodic table
So, you have looked at the simplest atomic orbitals, those that can be found in an atom with a single electron, Hydrogen atom. The good news is an atom of any other element is very similar to Hydrogen, and orbitals for all atoms take the same shape.
What happens when you have additional electrons then? Several rules govern the placement of electrons in orbitals.
First an electron always tries to occupy the lowest possible energy level. That is the most stable location for the electron.
Second, only two electrons can be found per orbital. (This can get tricky because the lowest energy level, there is only one spherical orbital tat can hold two electrons, but the second energy level has the 2s orbital (2 electrons) a but it also has p orbitals. The kicker is that at any one energy level it is possible to have three absolutely equivalent p orbitals.) This is hard to imagine! That is why we have developed the periodic table with an orbital viewer.
In this exercise you will explore the periodic table with its orbital viewer.
What does the periodic table have to do with electron orbitals? The periodic table was created about 100 years ao before the discovery of energy levels within atoms and electron orbitals. It was known that atoms got heavier as one went sequentially through the table but why the periodic table had periods at all was unknon till the discovery of atomic structure. You will use concepts of electron orbitals, to describe the arrangement of the atoms in the periodic table. When viewing the table, the one rule you must remember is that moving over one element to the right brings you to an element that has one more proton and one more electron. Similarly, moving over one box to the left brings you to an element with one less electron and one less proton.
1. This introduction is simply to help you learn how to use the interative periodic table. Open the interactive periodic table by clicking the image below.
2. Adjust the size of the periodic table so you can see both the table and and this page.
3. Each row is called a period.
4. When you click on an element the 3-D model shows only the shape of the outermost orbital. If there are more orbitals, they are hidden within the image.
5. The list below the Periodic Table indicates where the electrons can be found in that element. Click on the radio buttons to see those orbitals.
6. Click Lithium (Li) on the periodic table and answer the questions below.
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org.concord.modeler.text.LineIcon0.93010105<html><body face=Verdana><b>Introducing the Interactive Periodic Table</b></html>-333301
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How many <b>electrons</b> does Lithium have?
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Count the number of orbitals at the second energy levelin a <b>Carbon</b> atom. Record the number.
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How many <b>orbitals</b> does the orbital viewer show for Lithium?
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There are two different orbial shapes on the second energy level in <b>Carbon</>. Describe them below.
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