Electronic Structure and Quantum Theory

Resources on these topics pages are here to assist you in your mastery of course content. None of the work, etc, on these pages are 'required,' so to speak. It is provided for you to use as fits into your overall approach to studying for this course. 

• General and detailed objectives give you an idea of how you will be assessed over each objective and can serve as a 'study guide' of sorts

• Slides are the raw material from which I build my in-class lectures. Annotated slides will be provided after lectures on the course schedule.

• When available, Reading Guides are provided to assist you in taking and organizing notes as you read the textbook. 

• Any supplemental videos provided are produced by myself other chemistry education professionals.

• Any additional practice provided contains answer keys, so that you may check your work.

Electronic Structure Objectives

1. Describe the properties of electromagnetic radiation 

2. Understand the origin of light emitted by excited atoms and its relationship to atomic structure 

3. Describe electron structure using quantum numbers 

4. Write electron configurations for atoms and monatomic ions 

5. Describe atomic properties and periodic trends 

Objective 1: Describe the properties of electromagnetic radiation 

• • Read Section 3.1 - Electromagnetic Energy

Upon successful completion of this objective you should be able to;

• • Explain the basic behavior of waves, including traveling waves and standing waves

  • Describe the wave nature of light

  • Use appropriate equations to calculate related light-wave properties such as frequency, wavelength, and energy

  • Distinguish between line and continuous emission spectra

  • Describe the particle nature of light

Objective 2: Understand the origin of light emitted by excited atoms and its relationship to atomic structure 

• • Read Section 3.2 - The Bohr Model

Upon successful completion of this objective you should be able to;

• • Describe the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom

  • Use the Rydberg equation to calculate energies of light emitted or absorbed by hydrogen atoms

Objective 3: Describe electron structure using quantum numbers

• • Read Section 3.3 - Development of Quantum Theory

Upon successful completion of this unit you will be able to;

• • Extend the concept of wave–particle duality that was observed in electromagnetic radiation to matter as well

  • Understand the general idea of the quantum mechanical description of electrons in an atom, and that it uses the notion of three-dimensional wave functions, or orbitals, that define the distribution of probability to find an electron in a particular part of space

  • List and describe traits of the four quantum numbers that form the basis for completely specifying the state of an electron in an atom

Objective 4: Write electron configurations for atoms and monatomic ions 

• • Read Section 3.4 - Electronic Structure of Atoms (Electron Configurations)

Upon successful completion of this objective you will be able to:

• • Derive the predicted ground-state electron configurations of atoms

  • Identify and explain exceptions to predicted electron configurations for atoms and ions

  • Relate electron configurations to element classifications in the periodic table

Objective 5 : Describe atomic properties and periodic trends 

• • Read Section 3.5 - Periodic Variations in Element Properties

Upon successful completion of this objective you will be able to:

• • Describe and explain the observed trends in atomic size, ionization energy, and electron affinity of the elements