Table of Contents
Why does the third shell of electrons only hold a maximum of 18 electrons?
Each orbital carries 2 electrons and you can actually find that 18 electrons can be shot in. This is because it is the 3rd shell’s full power and it does not say the order in which the electrons are filled. The general formula is that the nth shell can hold up to 2(n2) electrons in principle.
Why are there 8 electrons in the third shell of calcium instead of 10?
This principle states that, “Electrons fill atomic orbitals of the lowest available energy levels before occupying higher levels. In this way, the electrons of an atom or ion form the most stable electron configuration possible.” This is the reason for Calcium to have a configuration of 2,8,8,2 instead of 2,8,10.
How many electrons fit in the 3rd shell?
eight electrons
When this is filled, electrons go into the third shell, which also holds a maximum of eight electrons….Electron shells.
Energy shell | Maximum number of electrons |
---|---|
Third | 8 |
What you call an element if it has 18 electrons in penultimate shell and 3 electrons in outer most shell?
The correct answer is p-block element.
How many electrons does the third shell of the atom hold?
So the third shell can be considered to hold 8 or 18 electrons but in total the third shell can hold 18 electrons.
What is the next shell to fill after 8 electrons?
So after filling the 3s and 3p subshell with 8 electrons, the next shell to fill is the 4s one. Only when that is full, the remaining 10 electron positions in the 3d subshell will get filled. it has the capacity of 18 electrons but it does not necessarily indicates that there has to be 18 electrons.
How many electrons are there in a shell?
Things are simplified at GCSE. At A-level you learn the real facts – shells can hold 2, 8, 18 and 32 electrons respectively.
Can I Follow my electron configuration for Shell 3?
I can follow your electron configuration for shell 3. But the reason they only tell us 8 of the electrons occupying the 3rd shell and not 18 is still not clear. (This assumes that they have left out the 10 electrons in the 3d orbital.)