Silver Electron Configuration

[Nina Fukui 2J]

Hi everyone,
quick question:
Why is silver's electron configuration [Kr] 5s1, 4d10? By the usual order it would be [Kr] 5s2, 4d9

[Madilyn Schindler 3E]

The d-orbital is more stable when it has either 5 electrons or 10 electrons (either half filled or filled entirely). Therefore, whenever the d-orbital seems like it should have 4 electrons or 9 electrons, an electron is taken from the s-orbital to make that number either 5 electrons or 10 electrons in order to make it more stable. Hope that helps!

[Nane Onanyan 1G]

Elements in the same group as Cu would also “act” like Cu. Copper is one of our exceptions in electron configurations: its d-orbital will have a full shell (3d10 4s1). Any element under Cu will act the same so silver’s d orbital will also have a full shell.

[Rose_Malki_3G]

This is because the species is more stable if all of the orbitals in the d state are filled with 2 electron so an electron from the 5s state will move to the 4d state

[Khushi_Gupta_1A]

Silver falls into the coinage metals group (Au, Ag, Cu) which always have a (n-1)d10 ns1 configuration

[Cass Cheng 2A]

It's more stable if it's [Kr] 4d10 5s1. When it's [Kr]4d9 5s2, it's pretty unstable which causes one of the electron from 5s2 to jump to the 4d orbital.

[Adrienne Yuh 2B]

The unstable nature of unfilled orbitals allow silver to "borrow" an electron from the s orbital to the d, to make it complete.

[George Hernandez 3I]

Know that the 5s orbital is of a higher energy level than the 4d level. If the lower levels aren't filled completely first, then the higher energy levels will not be able to carry electrons in a stable state, as they will want to fall to a tighter level.

[Jeremy Wei 2C]

Hi, I think silver's electron configuration is [Kr] 4d10 5s1 because it's more stable since the d-orbital is completely occupied. Hope this helps!

[alexandralopez 3F]

This is because silver is more stable this way, with the d-orbital fully occcupied