Question

How does electron configuration correlate to the magnetic behavior of ions and atoms in a substance?

Answer 1

The magnetic behavior of an atom or ion depends on its electronic configuration in the following way,i.e. we can predict whether the material is paramagnetic or diamagnetic on the basis of its electronic configuration-

• Firstly, write down the valence shell electronic configuration of the species (atom, ion or element)
• Then, identify whether there is an unpaired electron in the valence shell
• If the valence shell of the species contain an unpaired electron- the species will be Paramagnetic
• If all the electrons in the valence shell remain paired, the species will be Diamagnetic.

For example, in the case of iron atoms, the electronic configuration is-

Due to the presence of FOUR unpaired electrons, Iron is highly paramagnetic.

In the case of Copper atom, it has one unpaired electron in 4s whereas all the electrons are paired in 3d. So the diamagnetic property is much higher in contribution. Whereas in the case of , all the electrons are paired so it will be completely diamagnetic and in case of , only one unpaired electron gives some paramagnetic property to the ion.