Electronic structure

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Kira

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Electrons orbit the nucleus in shells (or energy levels) and each shell has a different amount of energy associated with it
The further away from the nucleus, the more energy a shell has
Electrons orbit the nucleus in shells (or energy levels) and each shell has a different amount of energy associated with it
The further away from the nucleus, the more energy a shell has
Electrons fill the shell closest to the nucleus
The outermost shell of an atom is called the valence shell and an atom is stable if it can manage to completely fill this shell with electrons
The first shell can hold 2 electrons
The second shell can hold 8 electrons
The third shell can hold 8 electron
There is a clear relationship between the electronic configuration and how the Periodic Table is designed
The number of notations in the electronic configuration tells us the number of occupied shells
This tells us what period an element is in
The last notation shows the number of outer electrons the atom has
This tells us the group an element is in
Elements in the same group have the same number of outer shell electrons
The group number of an element indicates the number of electrons in the outer shell
This rule holds true for all elements except helium; although is in Group 0, it has only one shell, which holds only 2 electron instead of 8
Therefore, elements in the same group react similarly
The less electrons shells an atom has the easier it is for the atom to gain an electron on its outer shell. This is why reactivity increases As you go down group 1 elements. Group one elements need to lose an electron to become stable so its is harder for the elements at the top of the group to lose an electron because they have less electrons shells which mean it is easier to gain electrons instead of losing electrons
Group 1,2,6,7 are very reactive because they only need to gain or lose 2 electrons to have a full outer shell. This means that less energy is required for them to react