Question

How do you determine the electronic configuration of C?

Answer 1

In order to determine the electronic configuration of carbon, we must have an idea about what an electronic configuration is. The electronic configuration of a chemical element will tell us about how the electrons present in an atom are arranged in the atomic orbital.

Complete answer:
Let us first understand what an electronic configuration is. The electronic configuration of a chemical element will tell us about how the electrons present in an atom are arranged in the atomic orbital.
Let us now see how to write the electronic configuration for a chemical element.
- Maximum number of electrons which can be accommodated in an electron shell be based on the principal quantum number. The formula $2{n^2}$can be used to determine the number of electrons present in an electron shell.
- The orbitals into which the electrons are distributed will be based on the Azimuthal quantum number.
- The electronic configuration for an element can be written with the help of the subshell labels.
Always remember that the electrons are filled on the basis of three rules:
- Hund’s Rule:
Orbitals in a subshell should be first singly filled before any orbitals are doubly filled. All the singly filled orbitals should have the same spin.
- Pauli’s exclusion principle:
No two electrons present in an atom will have all the four quantum numbers identical.
- Aufbau principle:
The electrons are filled in the orbitals in the increasing order of the energies of the orbitals.
Let us now move onto the question given.
Carbon is a chemical element which is represented by the symbol C and has an atomic number of 6.
Carbon atom in its ground state has an electronic configuration of $1{s^2}2{s^2}2{p^2}$.
Carbon atom in its excited state has an electronic configuration of $1{s^2}2{s^1}2{p^3}$.

Note: We have to remember that the electronic configuration is very useful because:
- It helps us to determine the valency of the electron.
- It helps us to interpret the atomic spectra.
- It helps us to predict the properties of the element.