Electrons in atoms

What you'll learn

• Understand that electrons in an atom can only exist in certain energy levels (shells) outside the nucleus.
• Describe the number of orbitals making up s, p and d sub-shells and the number of electrons that can fill s, p and d sub-shells.
• Describe the order of increasing energy of the sub-shells within the first three shells and the 4s and 4p sub-shells.
• Determine the electronic configuration given the atomic (proton) number and charge using either the full electronic configuration or shorthand electronic configuration.
• Describe and sketch the shapes of s and p orbitals.
• Define the term first ionisation energy and construct equations to represent successive ionisation energies.
• Identify and explain the trend in ionisation energies across a period and down a group of the Periodic Table.
• Deduce the electronic configurations of elements and their position in the Periodic Table using successive ionisation energy data.

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