Day 3: Electrons in Atoms
If you have not yet worked through the Introduction, Day One, and Day Two, please do so before beginning this section.
Today we consider how the quantum model provides information about the distribution of electron density around atomic nuclei. Because electrons have wave properties we cannot say that a given electron is in a specific location at any particular time, but we can say how the electron’s negative charge is distributed in three-dimensional space. That distribution of charge is defined by an orbital and can be visualized to aid our thinking. For atoms with many electrons the charge distribution is complicated, but we can apply ideas developed for hydrogen atoms to these more complicated atoms. The electron configuration describes all orbitals—all shapes and sizes of electron charge distribution—of an atom. The most important electron charge distributions are those in the outermost part of an atom, because these are the electrons that interact with other atoms to form chemical bonds.
Here are links to all sections of the work for Day Three. Be sure to complete them before your whole-class meeting.
D3.1 Atomic Orbitals and Quantum Numbers
D3.2 Multi-electron Atoms
D3.3 Orbital Energy Level Diagrams
D3.5 Valence Electrons
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