The orbital filling diagram for sulfur helps visualize how electrons are arranged within the atomic orbitals. Sulfur, with an atomic number of 16, has a total of 16 electrons.
To fill the orbitals, we follow the Aufbau principle, Pauli exclusion principle, and Hund’s rule. Here’s how the filling goes:
- 1s: 2 electrons
- 2s: 2 electrons
- 2p: 6 electrons
- 3s: 2 electrons
- 3p: 4 electrons
The resulting filling order can be visually represented in the diagram below:
1s: ↑↓ 2s: ↑↓ 2p: ↑↑↑↑↑↓ 3s: ↑↓ 3p: ↑↑↑↓
In this diagram, each arrow represents an electron, with up arrows (↑) indicating one spin direction and down arrows (↓) indicating the opposite spin. The 1s and 2s orbitals are filled first, followed by the 2p, then 3s, and finally, the 3p orbital is filled. Sulfur has a total of 6 valence electrons in the 3s and 3p orbitals (2 in 3s and 4 in 3p), which plays a significant role in its chemical properties.