subject: Orbital Diagram For Oxygen [print this page] Introduction to Orbital diagram of oxygen:
Atom as a whole is electrically neutral; therefore, the number of positively charged particles i.e. protons present in the atom must be equal to the number of negatively charged particles i.e. electrons present in it. The number is called atomic number. Atomic number is also known as proton number because the charge on the nucleus depends upon the number of protons. Further, since the electrons have negligible mass, the entire mass of the atom is mainly due to protons and neutrons only.sum of number of protons and neutrons will be nearly equal to the mass of the atom called the mass number.The atomic number (Z) and mass number (A) of the element X are usually represented along with the symbol of the element as AZX.
Electronic Configuration of the Element- Oxygen:
The present long form of the periodic table is based upon electronic configuration of elements. With its help, it is very easy to find out the electronic configuration of any element.
Present periodic table has two parts to describe the position of an element in the table. These are periods and groups.
Oxygen has the atomic number 8 and atomic mass of 16g. Its atomic number suggests that it has 8 electrons and 8 protons. It also has 8 neutrons.
Elements in the long form of the periodic table have been divided into four blocks, i.e. s, p , d and f. this division is based upon the name of the orbital which receives the last electrons.
s-subshell has only one orbital which can accommodate only two electrons, therefore, there are only two groups of s-block elements.
p-subshell has three degenerate p-orbitals, each one of which can accommodate two electrons, therefore, in all, there are six groups of p-block elements.
d-block elements, are those elements in which last electron enters any of the five d-orbitals of their respective penultimate shells. In all, there are ten vertical column comprising ten groups of d-block elements.
f-block elements are those elements in which the lat electron enters any one of the seven f-orbitals of their respective ante-penultimate shells.
As the trend of periodic table explains, electrons of oxygen atom are also arranged in the similar manner.
Oxygen atom has eight electrons which are arranged in s-subshell of 1st orbit and s and p subshells of 2nd orbit of the atom.
2 electrons in s-subshell of 1st orbit and 2 electrons in s-subshell of 2nd orbit remaining four in p-subshell (two in 1st degenerate orbital and one each in remaining two degenerate orbitals of p-subshell).
Therefore, the configuration of oxygen atom electrons is 1s2 2s2 2p4.
Conclusion of Orbital Diagram of Oxygen:
8 electrons are arranged in the atom to provide utmost stability to the atom. Its valence or the last electron occupies the last degenerate orbital of p-subshell of 2nd orbit.
