Question

The experimental ground state electronic configuration of a silver (Ag) atom is exceptional in that it does not agree with the configuration predicted by the nl rule. The following questions pertain to the ground state of a hypothetical Ag atom, whose electron configuration does conform to the n l rule. Recall that Ag has 47 electrons a) What ground state electron configuration would Ag have if it conformed to the nl rule? b) What would the ground state term symbol of Ag be if it conformed to both the n land Hund's rules? c) How many spots would have been observed in the Stern-Gerlach experiment if the ground state term symbol of Ag were the same as what you obtained in (b)?

Answer 1

ANSWER

a) Ground state electronic configuration of Ag has 47 electron n+l rule:- Thus orbitals are filled in the order of increasing energy, using two general rule to help predict electronic configuration:

1. Electron are assigned to orbital in order of increasing value of ( n+l ) .

2. For subshells with the same value of (n+l), electron are assigned first to the subshells with lower n.

i.e for 4s ( 4+0) = 4, 4p (4+1) = 5 and 4d (4+2 )= 6

Ag(47) :-1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d10 4p6 5s1 4d10

Nobel gas Notation: [Kr] 5s1 4d10

b) Ground state term symbol:- Hund's Rule indicate the likely ground term of atom or ion.

Once the value of L(orbital angular) and S(spin angular) that can arises from a given configuration is known, it is possible to identify the term of lowest energy by using Hund's Rule.

Ground State Term Symbol of the configuration 4d of Ag+:-   4d9 - || || || || | have one unpair electron L=0 for S state

S = 1/2 spin multiplicity = 2S + 1 = 2×1/2 +1 = 2  

Term Symbol is  2S1/2

c) According to Stern-Garlach Experiment 2 spots observed in Ag .