Electron Configuration Calculator + Online Solver With Free Steps

The Electron Configuration Calculator is used for solving electron configuration and distribution problems associated with an element. It can identify the number of Electrons in the atom of said element and it can arrange those atoms in their appropriate Orbitals.

It uses the Laws of Chemistry to back up its results, and it can give the electron configuration as its output in the proper Aufbau Principle format.

What Is an Electron Configuration Calculator?

The Electron Configuration Calculator is an online calculator which solves the electron configuration of an element provided to it using the Aufbau Principle.

This Calculator is chemistry-based, and it can solve your problems inside your browser.

How to Use the Electron Configuration Calculator?

To use the Electron Configuration Calculator, we enter the elemental symbol of the element in question, and it gives us the electron configuration as a result. The step-by-step guide to using this Calculator is given below:

Step 1

We start by entering the element in the question’s symbol in the input box.

Step 2

Then we just press the button “Submit” which gives us the solution in a new window.

Step 3

Finally, if you would like to solve more problems of this nature, you can do that by entering them in the new window.

How Does the Electron Configuration Calculator Work?

The Electron Configuration Calculator works by taking an element symbol as an input and then solving its electron distribution according to the rules of Electron Configuration. This Calculator is based on the Laws of Chemistry, and to understand better how it works, let’s take a deeper look at the idea behind it.

Electron Configuration

The Electron Configuration is defined as the configuration of electrons in the shells of atoms. This concept is at the Core of our understanding of the molecular formation, and atomic bonding. And not just that as it also determines the nature of the Element itself, given that an atom has the same exact number of electrons and protons.

Orbital Types

Orbitals are the ones that carry the electrons of an atom, as electrons are always in Orbit. These orbitals can have varying diameters as it depends on the Energy provided to the electron. If a large amount of energy is transferred to an electron it will jump out of orbit and that is what makes Ions.

There are layers of orbitals in which electrons of an Atom are present. And combinations of these orbitals make up the Shells of an atom, and that is why they are also referred to as Subshells. There are four different types of Orbitals i.e., s, p, d, and f.

These orbitals vary in their electron capacity, the number of electrons they can carry, and their Electron Distribution. As s orbital can carry two electrons, p can carry six, d can have ten, and f can have 14.

Aufbau Principle

The Aufbau Principle is indeed at the core of the discussion about electron configuration in atomic structure. As we know, orbitals and their combinations make up shells which we call Subshells. So, according to the Aufbau Principle, an electron will always fill up the subshell with lower energy at the ground state and then move up to a higher energy one.

The meaning behind this principle is very interesting, as the subshells have Energy Levels, and as we move from s to f subshell, the energy level increases significantly. So there is a case where the subshell s of a higher energy shell would have Lower Energy as compared to the subshell f of the lower energy shell.

And thus, we have the Electron filling up said high energy shell’s s subshell before the f of the lower energy shell.

Solve for Electronic Distribution

The Electron Distribution Rule suggests that the order in which we fill up the subshells and thus their corresponding shells are as follows:

1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d, 4p, 5s, 4d, 5p, 6s, 4f, 5d, 6p, 7s, 5f, 6d, 7p, 8s …

Here, the coefficient for each subshell is the number of the Shell, so 1 means shell one, and so on. Normally when we are filling up these subshells for Elements, the last subshell to be filled would not fill up to the full capacity of the subshell.

That is why we express these subshells’ electron numbers in their Superscripts like:

\[1s^2, 2s^2, 2p^6, 3s^1\]

Finally, this order is the most important part of electron configuration as this is what Aufbau’s Principle looks like. These lower shell orbitals have higher energy than the higher shell orbitals based on their higher subshell Energy Levels.

And when we are solving for this Principle, we first take into account the number of electrons in the atom itself and then arrange them accordingly in the Subshells.

Solved Examples

Now, to get a better understanding of the concepts, let’s take a look at some examples.

Example 1

Find out the Electron Configuration of the element Iron, with the elemental symbol of Fe.

Solution

So, we begin by finding the number of Electrons in the shells of Iron. As we know Iron lies in Group 8, and the number of protons in its nucleus is 26. We know that the number of Electrons in its shells is also equal to 26.

So, if we begin filling up subshells according to the Aufbau Principle, we will first go to 1s, then 2s, and 2p, afterwards we would get 3s and 3p. But one would wonder what comes next, and yes, the next subshell according to Aufbau Principle is 4s, and then finally we have 3d.

So, arranging these subshells in a flow would result in:

1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d 

Now, we start filling up the 26 electrons we have in these Subshells. As two would go to each s for the two innermost shells, hence we have 22 left. The 2p would have 6 of the 22, so we have 16 left.

Moving forward, we would fill up the 3s and 3p, which would result in 16 – 8 = 8. Now, we fill up the 4s and the last six electrons will go to the 3d subshell. This leaves room for 4 more electrons in that subshell, hence it is not a completely stable Atomic Structure.

So, the final Electron Configuration would look like this:

\[1s^2, 2s^2, 2p^6, 3s^2, 3p^6, 4s^2, 3d^6\]

Example 2

Find out the Electron Configuration of the atom of element Bromine, the element symbol of which is Br.

Solution

We start by getting the Group Number and the Atomic Number of the element Bromine, as they are 17 and 35 respectively we can use these to get to the electron number. As Atomic Number represents both the proton and electron number, Bromine thus has 35 electrons.

Now, as we know the order of Electron Configuration, let’s just get a rough estimate of the number of subshells we will be using:

1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, 4s, 3d, 4p 

And let’s fill the electrons in these subshells using the Aufbau Principle now:

\[ 1s^2, 2s^2, 2p^6, 3s^2, 3p^6, 4s^2, 3d^{10}, 4p^5 \]

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