Question

Write the outer electronic configuration of the following using orbital notation method, Justify:
1.Ge(belongs to period 4 and group 14)
2.Po (belongs to period 6 and group 16)
3.Cu (belongs to period 4 and group 11)

Answer 1

Hint: The electronic configuration of the element describes how the electrons are filled in the atomic orbitals. A standard notation is followed in which all the atomic subshells containing electrons are placed sequentially.

Complete step by step answer:
Usually the information from the atomic number can be drawn in two forms:
The number of the electrons in the outermost shell represents the group number.
The total number of shells represents the period number.

1.The atomic number of Ge is 32 and its outer electronic configuration is $4{s^2},4{p^2}$
Since the number of the electrons in the outermost shell represents the group number the group of Ge will be 14 and the total number of shells represents the period number thus it belongs to period number 4.
2.Similarly the atomic number of Po is 84 and the outer electronic configuration is $5{d^{10}},6{p^4}$Since the number of the electrons in the outermost shell represents the group number the group of Po will be 16 and the total number of shells represents the period number thus it belongs to period number 6.
3.The atomic number of Cu is 29 and the outer electronic configuration is $3{d^{10}},4{s^1}$Since the number of the electrons in the outermost shell represents the group number the group of Cu will be 11 and the total number of shells represents the period number thus it belongs to period number 4.

Note: The electronic configuration of the element gives an idea about its atomic number as well, the total number of electrons in each shell and their sum will be equivalent to the atomic number of the element.