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Electron Arrangement and Schrodinger's Atomic ModelErwin Schrodinger added the final piece to the puzzle of electron arrangement around the nuclei of atoms. He suggested that electrons behave in a wave-like manner rather than just as particles and that their exact location within an orbit could not be precisely calculated. This uncertainty principle is complex and fascinating, but to understand the behaviour of atoms in reactions we do not need to go into the detail of it. Schrodinger's view of the atom can be seen as "layers within layers" in terms of the electron shells. While not an accurate physical picture of what is happening with the electrons, it does allow us to visually grasp an otherwise difficult concept. Each electron shell is made up of a number of subshells. The number of subshells in a shell is the same as the shell number. So the first shell has only one subshell. The second shell is made of two subshells, the third by three and so on. In picture form it looks like this:
These subshells can be further subdivided into orbitals, and each orbital is a distinct region of space that can contain a maximum of two electrons. That will not be discussed here as it is not necessary for understanding how electron structure affects chemical bonding. We do, though, need a knowledge of the filling order of the subshells. |
