A-level Chemistry question (modified)

• Kahynickel

  13 Oct 15, 00:06

  Q. Aluminum is the most abundant metal in earth’s crust.

   

  (a)(i)  Complete the full electronic configuration of Al atom. Label the energy levels to indicate the principal quantum number and the type of orbital at each energy level

   

  (ii) Sketch the shapes of each of the following sub-shell in Al. Label each sub-shell you draw.

   

   

   

           ………...                                        …………                                         ………...

  lowest-energy occupied     highest-energy occupied                 highest energy unoccupied

            sub-shell                                             sub-shell                                          sub-shell

   

  Ans that i am looking for:

   

  lowest energy occupied.....Is

  highest energy occpied .....3px or 3py or 3pz

  highest energy unoccupied..... ??

   

  I have confusion about the last one would it be 4s or one of the 3p susb-shell since the next eelctron will go to the any of 3py or 3pz.??

   

   

• UltimaOnline

  13 Oct 15, 00:29

  Originally posted by Kahynickel:

  Q. Aluminum is the most abundant metal in earth’s crust.

   

  (a)(i)  Complete the full electronic configuration of Al atom. Label the energy levels to indicate the principal quantum number and the type of orbital at each energy level

   

  (ii) Sketch the shapes of each of the following sub-shell in Al. Label each sub-shell you draw.

   

   

   

           â€¦â€¦â€¦...                                        â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦                                         ………...

  lowest-energy occupied     highest-energy occupied                 highest energy unoccupied

            sub-shell                                             sub-shell                                          sub-shell

   

  Ans that i am looking for:

   

  lowest energy occupied.....Is

  highest energy occpied .....3px or 3py or 3pz

  highest energy unoccupied..... ??

   

  I have confusion about the last one would it be 4s or one of the 3p susb-shell since the next eelctron will go to the any of 3py or 3pz.??

   

   

  
  Hi Kahynickel, you're setting this qn for your students?
  
  You should use the term "orbital" rather than "subshell" in the question, since for instance, the 3p subshell consists of the 3px, 3py and 3pz orbitals.
  
  By default, electrons will fill up (what we humans label as) the px orbital, before filling up py and pz orbitals. Of course, this is just a human-thing, but nonetheless, that's what is expected of A level students.
  
  As such, highest energy orbital occupied should be 3px, and highest energy orbitals unoccupied should be 3py and 3pz (accept either drawn).
  
  The 4th electron shell (there's no such thing as "quantum shell", only "quantum number", a common error made by school teachers in Singapore and around the world) is irrelevant to Al (being a period 3 element), and thus orbitals from the 4th (or greater) electron shell, will not be acceptable as an answer.
• Kahynickel

  13 Oct 15, 00:59

  Thank you very for your prompt answer.

  Thank you for the correction as well.

   

• UltimaOnline

  13 Oct 15, 01:28

  No problem :)
• Kaiwen98

  13 Oct 15, 02:06

  hu

• UltimaOnline

  13 Oct 15, 02:59

  Originally posted by Kaiwen98:

  hu

  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgFHYteJSPk