Question

What are the 3 rules for filling electron orbital diagrams?

Answer 1

The three rules for filling electron orbital diagrams are the Aufbau Principle (filling from lowest to highest energy orbitals), Hund's Rule (singly filling each degenerate orbital before double occupancy), and the Pauli Exclusion Principle (ensuring electrons in the same orbital have opposite spins). Orbital filling diagrams are visual representations of an atom's electrons in its orbitals.

Step-by-step explanation:

The three rules for filling electron orbital diagrams are as follows:

1. Aufbau Principle: Electrons fill the lowest-energy orbitals first. This means that orbitals are filled starting with the 1s orbital, then 2s, following with the 2p, and so on, increasing in energy from 1 to 2 to 3, etc.
2. Hund's Rule: Electrons must occupy all the orbitals of equal energy (degenerate orbitals) singly before any orbital is doubly occupied. In addition, all electrons in singly occupied orbitals must have the same spin direction.
3. Pauli Exclusion Principle: No two electrons can have the same set of four quantum numbers, which means that in a single orbital, electrons must have opposite spins.

An orbital filling diagram is a visual representation that shows the arrangement of electrons in an atom. In such diagrams, orbitals are represented by squares or circles, each of which can contain up to two electrons, represented by arrows indicating their spins.