Electron configuration

[Melinda Luo 2G]

When we write electron configurations, is it important that we list which axis each orbital (for l > 0) is? I noticed that during lecture, Dr. Lavelle usually separates the p orbitals into p_x, p_y, and p_z for example. Would we need to separate it as well, or would it be fine if we just combined it as 2p⁶ rather than 2p_x² 2p_y² 2p_z²?

[105691548]

I had the same question but what I noticed is that on achieve it accepts the answer if it was 2p^6 instead of 2px^2 2py^2 2pz^2, so I believe that Dr. Lavelle separates the p orbitals in order for it to be more clear as to why it is 2p^6 and to figure out the m-1. I hope this helps!

[Crystal Ma 2J]

Hi,
In the achieve homework and textbook problems, the p-orbitals are usually not separated so I think that it should be fine if you go with 2p^6!

[SarahOMalley1D]

Hi! Either notation should be accepted. Just to add a bit of explanation, this is because writing 2p^6 is a shorter form of writing 2px^ 2py^2 2pz^2. The x, y, and z subscripts stand in for the different orientations of angular momentum (orbitals) an electron can inhabit within a subshell. They can also be represented by the magnetic quantum number. For example, an electron in the 2p subshell can inhabit 3 orbitals (ml=-1, ml=0, or ml=1), so they can inhabit the 2px orbital, the 2py orbital, or the 2pz orbital.

[Hannah Carsey 1B]

Hi, since it seems like both formats are accepted by achieve problems and textbook homework problems, I would just be consistent with my format usage and to try to make my answers as clear as possible. So if a problem needed me to be specific about the p orbital I would separate the p orbitals but if the question was general I would keep the p orbital together in my answer. Hope this helps!

[Srikar_Chintala_1E]

in general, you are simply going to combine them together to consider them as 2p^6. Only in the circumstance that Dr. Lavelle asks what the ml is, then we might need to know that. However, he did say that we do not need to know that information right now.

[kylanjin]

I would just combine it into something like 2p6 since that's usually how the answers are going to be presented. I think Lavelle just separated it out to show visually how each orbital can hold 2 electrons.

[Grant_2A]

Hi! I would keep it as just 6p^6 because that's what the homework was like, but the test is going to be multiple choice, so it should be fairly easy to determine what they want based off the answer choices they provide!

[SuryaDham 3E]

i think that the 2p^6 way of writing it is fine

[Kaethe Zappacosta 2L]

Hi! I asked this question to my TA, and he told me that Lavelle was just using x,y,z to try to get us to conceptually understand the different orientations of angular momentum. I think just using numbers on the midterm and in homework is fine!

[Kaira Shibata 1E]

Hi! The separation the x,y,z is to help us understand that there are 3 orbitals within the p subshell. However for your answer you do not need to have those separated.

[Jessica Ghiuzelian 1H]

Hi! The electron configurations of both the x,y,z and the subshells are the same. Labeling with the x, y, z just gives a visual of how many orbitals the element would have. Generally the subshells are used as a more efficient way of describing an element.

[205678283]

Hi! Ya I had the same question. But all the homework solutions just combined it to 2p6 so I am assuming on the tests we will combine it. I think we were just looking at it broken down into px, py, pz because that helped us visualize the magnetic quantum number (ml) which labels the different orbitals of the sub shell and gives us the orientation of the angular movement (the x, y, z tells us the orientation).

[emmakvarnell]

Unless it tells you to specify the orbital, it's common to just write out all of the orbitals combined into one. I'm pretty sure he just writes it like that during lecture to help us understand the difference between each orbital in the subshell.