Chromium orbital diagram

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The orbital diagram of chromium shows that the 1s subshell has 2 electrons, the 2s subshell has 2 electrons, the 2p subshell has 6 electrons, the 3s subshell has 2 electrons, the 3p subshell has 6 electrons, the 4s subshell has 1 electron, and the 3d subshell has 5 electrons.

Steps

Here’s how you can draw the orbital diagram of chromium step by step.

#1 Find electrons of chromium
#2 Write electron configuration of chromium
#3 Draw orbital diagram of chromium

Let’s break down each step in detail.

Find electrons

The atomic number of chromium represents the total number of electrons of chromium. Since the atomic number of chromium is 24, the total electrons of chromium are 24.

Write electron configuration

The electron configuration of chromium is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s¹ 3d⁵.

Now in the next step, start drawing the orbital diagram for chromium.

Draw orbital diagram

Before drawing the orbital diagram, you should know the three general rules.

• Aufbau principle – electrons are first filled in lowest energy orbital and then in higher energy orbital
• Pauli exclusion principle – two electrons with the same spin can not occupy the same orbital
• Hund’s rule – each orbital should be first filled with one electron before being paired with a second electron

Also, you should know the number of orbitals in each subshell.

We can calculate the number of orbitals in each subshell using the formula: 2ℓ + 1

Where, ℓ = azimuthal quantum number of the subshell

For s subshell, ℓ = 0
For p subshell, ℓ = 1
For d subshell, ℓ = 2
For f subshell, ℓ = 3

So each s subshell has one orbital, each p subshell has three orbitals, each d subshell has five orbitals, and each f subshell has seven orbitals.

Now start to draw!

As mentioned above, the electron configuration of chromium is 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s¹ 3d⁵. Hence, draw the blank orbital diagram of chromium up to 3d subshell as follows:

In the above orbital diagram, the box represents an orbital. Each orbital has a capacity of two electrons. And the arrows (↑↓) are drawn inside the box to represent electrons.

Now 1s² indicates that the 1s subshell has 2 electrons. So draw two arrows in the 1s box showing two electrons as follows:

2s² indicates that the 2s subshell has 2 electrons. So draw two arrows in the 2s box showing two electrons as follows:

2p⁶ indicates that the 2p subshell has 6 electrons. So draw six arrows in the 2p box showing six electrons as follows:

3s² indicates that the 3s subshell has 2 electrons. So draw two arrows in the 3s box showing two electrons as follows:

3p⁶ indicates that the 3p subshell has 6 electrons. So draw six arrows in the 3p box showing six electrons as follows:

4s¹ indicates that the 4s subshell has 1 electron. So draw one arrow in the 4s box showing one electron as follows:

3d⁵ indicates that the 3d subshell has 5 electrons. So draw five arrows in the 3d box showing five electrons as follows:

That’s it! This is the final orbital diagram of chromium as we have used all 24 electrons.

Question: Why does the 4s subshell have only one electron (instead of two electrons), and the 3d subshell has five electrons (instead of four electrons)?

Answer: A half-full 3d subshell is more stable than a partially filled 3d subshell. That’s why the 3d subshell has five electrons (instead of four electrons). And the 4s subshell has one electron (instead of two electrons).

Next: Manganese orbital diagram

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Related

• Periodic table

More topics

• Chromium
• Chromium Bohr model
• Chromium protons neutrons electrons

External links

• https://study.com/academy/answer/draw-an-orbital-diagram-for-chromium.html
• https://www.numerade.com/ask/question/draw-the-orbital-diagram-with-a-box-for-each-orbital-for-the-chromium-atom-including-all-sublevels-and-all-orbitals-remember-that-the-electron-configuration-of-the-chromium-atom-is-one-of-th-08335/
• https://www.bartleby.com/questions-and-answers/draw-the-chromium-orbital-diagram/c526602c-fcc0-4b13-a6fa-63b087496de8
• https://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/choose-correct-orbital-diagram-chromium-ar-11-111-4s-3d-ar-1-1-11-11-3d-4s-ar-1-1-1-111-3d-q73080157