Science teachers often rely on analogies and comparisons to help students picture what an atom “looks like”. The following activities aim to help students understand the atom, as it serves as the foundation for the rest of chemistry and plays an important role in many parts of physics.
Storyboard That has a few different layouts available for your storyboards. The grid layout is a format option that compares items across two axes. Grids are often the best choice for storyboards with lots of information, because grids are organized in a matrix.
The 1st energy level is closest to the nucleus. With so little space, there is only room for two electrons. The total electron capacity for this level is 2 electrons.
D ORBITAL
The Aufbau Principle explains that electrons fill orbitals of lowest energy first. If electrons occupy rooms of an electron hotel, they have to fill up the rooms in order of increasing energy.
F ORBITAL
THE 2ND ENERGY LEVEL
An s orbital can describe a maximum of 2 electrons in the same way that this room can accommodate two guests.
In the second energy level, there are two sublevels - another s orbital and the p orbitals. The total electron capacity of the second energy level is 8 electrons.
Hund's Rule explains that when electrons "occupy" orbitals of equal energy, they don't pair up until they have to. In the hotel analogy, guests would not share bunk beds unless there are no vacant beds.
THE 3RD ENERGY LEVEL
A set of p orbitals can describe a maximum of 6 electrons in the same way that this room can accommodate six guests.
With the 3rd energy level comes a third sublevel - the d orbitals. The d orbitals add another 10 electrons, so the total electron capacity of the third energy level is 18 electrons.
THE 4TH ENERGY LEVEL
The f orbitals increase the electron capacity by 14 electrons. The total electron capacity of the 4th energy level is 32 electrons.