The orbital diagram for oxygen, which has the atomic number 8, illustrates how its electrons are distributed among the various atomic orbitals. Oxygen has a total of 8 electrons, and they fill the orbitals according to the Aufbau principle, Hund’s rule, and the Pauli exclusion principle.
Here’s the orbital diagram for oxygen:
1s² 2s² 2p⁴In this diagram, the ‘1s’ orbital is filled first, followed by the ‘2s’ orbital, and then the ‘2p’ orbitals. Specifically:
- The 1s orbital can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, which it does in the case of oxygen (1s²).
- The 2s orbital also holds 2 electrons (2s²).
- The 2p orbitals can hold a total of 6 electrons, but in oxygen’s case, only 4 of these are filled (2p⁴).
This means that in the 2p orbitals, there will be a total of four electrons distributed among the three available p orbitals, following Hund’s rule, which states that electrons will fill degenerate orbitals singly before pairing up. In oxygen, the 2p orbitals would have a configuration of:
- 2px: ↑
- 2py: ↑
- 2pz: ↑↓
Thus, the orbital diagram effectively represents the arrangement of electrons in oxygen, demonstrating its valence electrons and helping to explain its chemical properties.