Electron Suborbitals

Electron suborbitals are regions within an atom where electrons are likely to be found. They are often represented by letters, such as s, p, d, and f. These suborbitals exist at different energy levels, which are commonly referred to as shells or principal energy levels.

Here`s a simple way to understand and remember the order of the electron suborbitals at each energy level using a mnemonic:

1. The first energy level (n=1) has only one suborbital, which is the s suborbital. You can think of "s" as the "Starting" point.

2. The second energy level (n=2) has two suborbitals: the s and p suborbitals. The p suborbitals come after the s suborbital in terms of energy. To remember this, you can use the mnemonic "Silly People" (s, p).

3. The third energy level (n=3) has three suborbitals: the s, p, and d suborbitals. The d suborbitals come after the p suborbitals. To remember this, you can use the mnemonic "Silly People Dance" (s, p, d).

4. The fourth energy level (n=4) has four suborbitals: the s, p, d, and f suborbitals. The f suborbitals come after the d suborbitals. To remember this, you can use the mnemonic "Silly People Dance Funky" (s, p, d, f).

So, the order of the electron suborbitals at each energy level is: s, p, d, f.

By using the mnemonic "Silly People Dance Funky," you can easily remember the order of the suborbitals at each energy level.

Let`s look at two worked examples:

Chlorine (Cl) has an atomic number of 17, which means it has 17 electrons.

First, we fill up the lowest energy level, which is the first energy level (n=1). The 1s suborbital can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, so we place 2 electrons in the 1s suborbital.

Electronic configuration: 1s²

Moving on to the second energy level (n=2), we place the remaining 15 electrons. The 2s suborbital can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, so we put 2 electrons in the 2s suborbital.

Electronic configuration: 1s² 2s²

Next, we move to the 2p suborbitals. The p suborbital can hold a maximum of 6 electrons. Since Chlorine has 7 more electrons to place, we distribute them across the three 2p orbitals. We place one electron in each 2p orbital before pairing them up.

Electronic configuration: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶

So, the electronic configuration of a neutral Chlorine atom is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶.

Now, let`s move on to the electronic configuration of a Chlorine ion. Chlorine commonly forms an ion with a charge of -1, meaning it gains one electron.

To determine the electronic configuration of the Chlorine ion, we add one more electron to the neutral Chlorine atom`s configuration.

Electronic configuration: 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶

Since the Chlorine ion gained an electron, it now has 18 electrons in total.