JorgeVila
Physics & Chemistry
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Electron configuration

Build atoms electron by electron. Each one you add shows up in its shell and its subshell: you'll see when s fills up, when p begins and why 4s sneaks in before 3d.

What do you want to do?

Which elements?

Each game is 6 atoms against the clock. The lab and hybridisation have no clock.

How to play

  • At the top you have the element and its atomic number Z: you have to give it Z electrons.
  • Tap a subshell in the Moeller diagram (1s, 2s, 2p...) or its sector in the atom drawing, and an electron goes in.
  • In the atom, each ring is a shell (n = 1, 2, 3...), each colour a subshell (s, p, d, f) and each segment an orbital with room for two electrons.
  • They fill in order of energy: follow the arrows of the diagram (the n + l rule). Skip one and the electron bounces off and counts as a mistake.
  • «Fill it up» completes a subshell in one go, and the [He], [Ne], [Ar]... buttons drop in the whole noble-gas core.
  • For ions you start from the neutral atom: anions gain electrons; in cations the outermost shell loses them first (4s before 3d).
  • In Hybridisation you see in 3D, step by step, how carbon and other atoms mix their s and p orbitals to form bonds: sp³, sp² and sp.
  • Fastest wins. Each mistake adds 5 seconds.

The drawing is a model to show the filling order: electrons don't really go round in rings, they occupy orbitals.

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