The ground state carbon atom has six electrons, and its orbital diagram can be represented using the Aufbau principle, Hund’s rule, and the Pauli exclusion principle.
First, we start filling the orbitals from the lowest energy level. The order in which the orbitals fill up is 1s, 2s, 2p, etc. For carbon, we fill the orbitals as follows:
- 1s: 2 electrons
- 2s: 2 electrons
- 2p: 2 electrons
The 1s orbital can hold a maximum of 2 electrons, and both spots in this orbital are filled first. Next, we fill the 2s orbital, which also holds 2 electrons. After that, we need to fill the 2p orbitals.
The 2p subshell has three orbitals: 2px, 2py, and 2pz, each of which can hold 2 electrons. In carbon’s ground state, we have only 2 electrons left to place in the 2p orbitals. According to Hund’s rule, we place one electron in each of the 2p orbitals before pairing them up. Thus, we place one electron in 2px and one in 2py.
Finally, the orbital diagram for the ground state carbon atom looks like this:
1s: ↑↓
2s: ↑↓
2p: ↑ ↑
x y z
In summary, for a ground state carbon atom with six electrons, the orbital filling follows a specific pattern dictated by the principles of quantum mechanics, resulting in an arrangement of electrons that reflects their energy levels and sublevels.