construct electron configuration schematic and then use it to diagram the electron configurations of K and S.

Question

construct electron configuration schematic and then use it to diagram the electron configurations of K and S. write out the electron configurations of K and S. ( only construct the schematic though the s and p orbitals of the fourth shell)

Answer 1

The best way to learn electron configurations is to use the periodic table as your guide.  If you look at the periodic table on this webpage, you'll see that it is divided into sections, based on the subshell into which the last electron would go.

 

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorganic_Chemistry/Electronic_Configurations

 

If you are looking for the electron configuration of sulfur, you'll see that the table gives you the configuration if you just remember that the numbers increase as you go down the periodic table and the letters match the colored sections.  

 

To remember the correct letters and numbers for each row/section, it's good to memorize just four of the elements:

 

H = 1s    (top left corner of the s-block)

B = 2p    (top left corner of the p-block)

Sc = 3d   (top left corner of the d-block)

Ce = 4f   (top left corner of the f-block)

 

So, for sulfur, you can tell immediately that the last electron will be a 3p electron, because it's one row beneath boron (which is 2p).  Also, you can tell that the last part of the sulfur configuration will be 3p⁴, because it's the fourth column over in the 3p section.

 

The rest is filled in by looking at the rows/sections for the elements before sulfur.  You can count through each of the elements and sublevels:

• 1s² (this covers H and He)
• 2s² (this covers the next two elements, Li and Be)
• 2p⁶ (this covers B through Ne)
• 3s² (this covers Na and Mg)
• 3p⁴ (this gets you over to S)

 

So the configuration is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁴.

 

You can use the diagram that you see below the periodic table on the same webpage, but I really don't think it's worth remembering how to use that diagram.  You'll get the periodic table on your exams, but probably not that diagram below it, so why not learn how to get electron configurations directly from the periodic table.  It's faster and just as accurate.  

 

For potassium, it's the same as sulfur, but you keep going to 3p⁶ instead of 3p⁴ and over to 4s¹ where potassium is found.