Hi everyone,
quick question:
Why is silver's electron configuration [Kr] 5s1, 4d10? By the usual order it would be [Kr] 5s2, 4d9
Silver Electron Configuration
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
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!
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
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.
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
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
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
Silver falls into the coinage metals group (Au, Ag, Cu) which always have a (n-1)d10 ns1 configuration
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
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.
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
The unstable nature of unfilled orbitals allow silver to "borrow" an electron from the s orbital to the d, to make it complete.
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
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.
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
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!
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Re: Silver Electron Configuration
This is because silver is more stable this way, with the d-orbital fully occcupied
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