Electron Configuration 1-18
By: Claire Fergeson
Welcome
I will only be covering electron configuration for elements 1-18 so just pay attention to the 's' and 'p' portions of the picture. If you don't understand I explain later on.
Electron Configuration
The standard electron configuration is kinda like stepping stones, every time you want to get across you have to cross each step. The smallest you will get is 's' and the highest number you can get is two. The next section up would be the letter 'p' and the highest number it can hold is six. Groups one and two plus helium will fit under the 's' category and groups 13, 14, 14, 16, 17, and 18 will fit in the 'p' category.
Orbital Notation
Box notation is quite simple, all there is to it is writing the normal electron configuration with boxes and then drawing arrows in those boxes. When you are writing the arrows you will always fill the boxes with up arrows first and then when you can no longer draw in the up arrow you draw the down arrows. 'S' will have one box above it because it can only hold two arrows and 'P' will have three boxes and again there can only be two arrows max. It's easier to look at it so hopefully my examples help.
Noble Gas Notation
Writing the electron configuration in noble gas notation is super easy! All you have to do it find the noble gas (group 18) that is a row above the element you have to do. You'll put the noble gas in brackets ([ ]) and then write out the electron configuration, but of the row your element is on. Once you see the examples given it will make a lot more since!