Ytterbium, atomic number 70, is the first element in the Periodic table to have the first four shells full.
a) State the number of electrons in the fourth shell/ level of ytterbium (1)
b)How many orbitals are there in the third shell of ytterbium? (1)
Please help I'm very confused
You have to go to the basics here. Do the electron configuration. The outer in Y is 5s25d1, before that {Kr}. So how many electrons in Kr?
To answer these questions, we need to understand the electron configuration and the structure of atoms.
a) To determine the number of electrons in the fourth shell (n=4) of an atom, we can use the formula 2n^2. For ytterbium (Yb), with an atomic number of 70, we can determine the electron configuration by filling up the shells in order of increasing energy.
The electron configuration of ytterbium is [Xe] 4f^14 6s^2 (where [Xe] represents the noble gas core configuration of xenon).
Now, we need to distribute the electrons among the orbitals of the fourth shell. The fourth shell (n=4) consists of s, p, and d subshells. Since the 4th shell is the outermost shell in ytterbium, it corresponds to the 4f subshell.
The 4f subshell can hold up to 14 electrons. Therefore, the number of electrons in the fourth shell (n=4) of ytterbium is 14.
b) To determine the number of orbitals in the third shell (n=3) of ytterbium, we can use the formula 2n^2.
The third shell (n=3) consists of s, p, and d subshells. Each subshell contains a specific number of orbitals:
- The s subshell has 1 orbital.
- The p subshell has 3 orbitals.
- The d subshell has 5 orbitals.
To find the total number of orbitals in the third shell, we sum up the number of orbitals in each subshell: 1 (s) + 3 (p) + 5 (d) = 9
Therefore, there are 9 orbitals in the third shell (n=3) of ytterbium.
I hope this clears up your confusion!