Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
Video 1: Properties of Light
Light can behave as a ___________________ or a ___________________.
Wavelength -
The Electromagnetic Spectrum …
Characteristics of Visible Light:
1. Wavelengths between ________ nm and _______ nm.
2. The order of the colors from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength is…
3. We see colors when…
4. If all colors are reflected off of an object, the object appears to be ______________________.
5. If all colors are absorbed, the object appears to be ______________________.
Frequency –
__________ wavelength
__________ frequency
__________ energy
Speed of Light –
__________ wavelength
__________ frequency
__________ energy
Page 1 of 11
Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
Properties of Light, continued...
1. Does a longer or a shorter wavelength have the higher frequency?
2. Consider a stoplight. Which of the three colors—red, yellow or green—has the…
a. Longest wavelength?
b. Highest frequency?
Video 1 Stamp
c. Highest energy?
Video 2: Light Calculations
c=fλ
Ephoton = h f
hc
λ
Ephoton =
c
Ephoton
f
h
λ
Problem 1: Violet light has a wavelength of 4.10 x 10-12 m. What is the frequency?
Problem 2: A particular light has a frequency of 6.01 x 1014 Hz. What is the wavelength in nm? Is it in the visible range?
Problem 3: Calculate the energy of a photon of radiation with a frequency of 8.5 x 1014 Hz.
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Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
Problem 4: Calculate the energy of a photon of radiation with a wavelength of 6.4 x 10-7 m.
Problem 5: A plastic toy reflects a wavelength with energy of 4.0 x 10-19 J of energy. Given the information below,
determine the color of the toy.
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
700-650 nm
649-580 nm
579-575 nm
574-490 nm
489-455 nm
454-425 nm
424-400 nm
Problem 6: An electron gives off electromagnetic radiation with energy of 5.25 x 10-22 J. Calculate the frequency of the
radiation emitted by the electron.
Video 2 Stamp
Video 3: Atomic Spectra and Quantum Numbers
Continuous Spectrum:
Emission Spectrum:
Absorption Spectrum:
Every element has a __________________ emission / absorption spectrum. This is one way to identify an element.
__________________ __________________ studied the emission spectrum of hydrogen to determine that electrons
are on different energy levels.
Ground State: All electrons are in the __________________ energy level available.
Excited State: When an electron temporarily moves to a __________________ energy level.
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Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
In order to move from one energy level to another, electrons must gain or lose an exact amount of energy known as a
__________________.
The __________________ of an electron is described by a series of 4 quantum numbers: n, l, ml, and ms.
You can think of these as being the “__________________” for an electron’s probably location. (State, city, street, house
number – each gets more and more specific.)
Electrons contain __________________ amounts of energy. The amount of energy they contain determines where in
the electron cloud they are located.
____________________________ : n
*Electron clouds are made up of energy levels which are like __________________ of a ladder, but they are not equally
spaced.
*The higher the value of n…
 the __________________ away from the nucleus the electron is
 the __________________ the energy level
 and the __________________ energy the electron must have to stay there
*The maximum number of electrons in any
energy level can be found using the following
formula: #e- = 2n2
Energy
Level (n)
Maximum
number of
electrons
n=1
n=2
n=3
n=4
n=5
Energy
Level (n)
1
____________________________ : l
*The 4 sublevels you need to know are: __________________
4
*Each sublevel contains a certain number of orbitals.
s
p
d
f
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Sublevels
Present
3
Sublevel
*Each orbital can hold a maximum of ______ electrons.
n=7
2
*The __________________ of sublevels on an energy level is equal to ______
for that energy level.
____________________________ : ml
n=6
# of
orbitals
Maximum # of
electrons on
sublevel (= #
orbitals x 2)
Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
____________________________ : ms
*Electrons within the same orbital must have __________________ spins to overcome their repulsion, which we
represent with opposite arrows.
*Spin is either + ½ (_____) or – ½ (_____)
Video 3 Stamp
Video 4: Electron Configuration and Orbital Notation
There are 2 ways to indicate the location of the electrons in an atom:
Electron Configuration
a.
b.
Orbital Notation
a. Uses __________________ to indicate each orbital
b. Uses __________________ to indicate the spin of the electron in a specific orbital
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Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
After completing, you will cut this out and place in chemistry notebook.
Periodic Table of the Elements
Group 1 (IA)
1
Group 18 (VIIIA)
1
2
1s1
1s2
Fill in the periodic table to determine
5
ATOMIC NUMBER
the electron configuration
of each
element.
Group 2 (IIA)
3
2
4
2s1
11
5
6
2p1
12
13
14
19
20
Group 3 (IIIB)
Group 4 (IVB)
Group 5 (VB)
21
22
23
8
2p4
9
10
15
16
17
18
33
34
35
36
51
52
2p6
Group 6 (VIB) Group 7 (VIIB) Group 8 (VIIIB) Group 9 (VIIIB) Group 10 (VIIIB) Group 11 (IB) Group 12 (IIB)
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
2
2
3d
4
37
38
39
40
1
5
7
2p3
3s2
3
Period
Group 13 (IIIA) Group 14 (IVA) Group 15 (VA) Group 16 (VIA) Group 17 (VIIA)
41
42
43
3
5s
55
4p
56
71
72
73
44
45
5
4d
74
75
46
47
88
50
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
4
57
58
59
84
113
114
115
61
62
63
64
65
66
6
116
7p
67
68
69
1
70
4f14
4f
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
5f13
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86
6p
4
7p
60
85
6p
1
6d
7
83
3
5d
104
54
5
10
103
53
5p
6s
87
49
4d
2
6
48
8
4d
102
Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
Some things to remember:
General Chemistry

Example: Electron configuration of vanadium (23V)
superscript = the
_____________________
2
2
6
2
6
2


3
1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 4s 3d
# in front of letter = the
_____________________

letter = the
_____________________

_______________________________ –
electrons must be placed in orbitals of
lowest energy first
A sublevel is completely filled before
placing electrons in a higher sublevel
The last sublevel might not be filled
The superscripts must add up to the
_________________________________
_________________________________
The valence electrons are…
 always _____ and _____ electrons
 on the ________________________
energy level
How can I remember the Aufbau Principle?
1. Memorize the following: __________________________________________________________
2. Memorize this diagram:
3. Use the Periodic Table
Complete this portion on the next page.
You will cut it out to add to your
notebook upon completion.
Example: Orbital Notation of vanadium (23V)
↑↓
1s2
↑↓
2s2
↑↓ ↑↓ ↑↓
2p6
↑↓
3s2
↑↓ ↑↓ ↑↓
↑↓
4s2
3p6
↑__ ↑__ ↑__ ___ ___
3d3
Some things to remember about orbital notation:






Must correspond to the electron configuration
Lines = ________________________
Arrows = _________________________
 Total number of arrows must equal the total number of electrons in the atom
Each sublevel must have the correct number of orbitals drawn, even if they are empty
Follow the __________________________________ Principle – an orbital may only hold up to two
electrons, and they must have opposite spin
 This: ↑↓
Not This: ↑↑
Follow ____________________ Rule – one electron enters each orbital of a sublevel separately and with the
same spin until all the orbitals have one electron, then they pair up.
 This: ↑__ ↑__ ↑__ ___ ___
Not This: ↑↓ ↑__ ___ ___ ___
Page 7 of 11
Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
How can I remember the Aufbau Principle?
Memorize the following: __________________________________________________________
Use the Periodic Table
Memorize this diagram:
Return to the previous page to complete the “Things to remember about orbital notation”
Page 8 of 11
Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
Problem 7: Consider the potassium (K) atom.
a. Write the electron configuration for a neutral potassium atom.
b. Draw the orbital notation for potassium.
c. In which sublevel are the valence electrons?
d. How many valence electrons does potassium have?
e. The electrons with the highest energy are in which sublevel?
Problem 8: Consider the bromine (Br) atom.
a. Write the electron configuration for a neutral bromine atom.
b. Draw the orbital notation for bromine.
c. In which sublevel are the valence electrons?
d. How many valence electrons does bromine have?
e. The electrons with the highest energy are in which sublevel?
Problem 9: Write the electron configurations for the following neutral atoms.
a. Carbon
b. Silicon
c. Zinc
Problem 10: Determine the neutral element for the configurations below.
a. 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p65s24d7
b. 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d104p65s24d8
c. 1s22s22p63s23p64s23d6
Page 9 of 11
Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
Abbreviated Configurations (or Noble Gas Configurations)

To write the abbreviated configuration, look to the ___________________________ in the previous period. Place
___________________________ around the symbol to indicate the element has the same configuration of that
noble gas, plus whatever follows.
Example:
The electron configuration for iron is ________________________________________.
The abbreviated configuration is _____________________________.
Video 4 Stamp
Video 5: Lewis Dot Structures
_______________________ Electrons
 In the outermost energy level (or shell)
 Most likely to be involved in _______________________
 Helpful in predicting _______________________ numbers (charge within a compound)
The noble gases are considered to be _______________________, so their outer shell is _______________________.
Steps for drawing Lewis Dot Structures:
1.
2.
3.
Problem 11: Draw the Lewis Dot Structures for the following elements.
K
Al
P
C
Cl
Kr
Problem 12: Complete the following questions.
a. How many valence electrons does sulfur have?
Video 5 Stamp
b. Draw the Lewis Dot Structure for sulfur.
c. How many valence electrons does sodium have?
d. Draw the Lewis Dot Structure for sodium.
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Unit 6 Student Notes: Properties of Light and Electron Configuration Name____________________________ Hr____
General Chemistry
Unit 6: Properties of Light & Electron Configuration
Properties of Light
Unit 56: Video 1
(video 56 on YouTube channel- semester 1)
7:02
Light Calculations
Unit 6: Video 2
(video 26 on YouTube channel)
17:06
Atomic Spectra & Quantum Numbers
Unit 6: Video 3
(video 57 on YouTube channel)
13:32
Electron Configuration and Orbital Notation
Unit 6: Video 4
(video 27 on YouTube channel)
16:16
Lewis Dot Structures
Unit 6: Video 5
(video 28 on YouTube channel)
5:26
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