Sulfur: electron configuration

Phosphoms shows a range of oxidation states from —3 to +5 by virtue of its electronic configuration. Elemental P is oxidized easily by nonmetals such as oxygen, sulfur, and halides to form compounds such as 2 5 2 5 reduced upon reaction with metals to generate phosphides. The... 

Give the ground-state electron configuration for each of the following elements (a) Oxygen (b) Silicon (c) Sulfur... 

Find the electron configurations of the sulfur and iron atoms. 

SOLUTION The sulfur atom has atomic number 16, so there are 16e. Two electrons go into the Is sublevel, two into the 2s sublevel, and six into the 2p sublevel Two more go into the 3s sublevel, and the remaining four go into the 3p sublevel. The electron configuration of the S atom is... 

Often, to save space, electron configurations are shortened the abbreviated electron configuration starts with the preceding noble gas. For the elements sulfur and nickel,... 

SOLUTION Recall from Example 6.6 that the electron configuration of sulfur is ls22s22p63s23p4. Its orbital diagram is... 

The electron configuration in the valence orbitals of the sulfur atom (3s 3p4) suggests that it will form two covalent bonds by making use of two half-filled 3p orbitals. This is, in fact, observed in the molecule S8, which is present in the common forms of solid sulfur. The S8 molecules assume the form of a puckered ring, as shown in Figure 20-3. As with the phosphorus, the stability of this crystalline form of sulfur is due to van der Waals forces between discrete molecules. 

For electron diffraction, the nonbonded distances of the tetrahedral sulfur bond configurations in sulfonyl molecules are closely spaced and cause strong correlation among the relevant parameters. Assuming one of them (O O) to be known can greatly facilitate the determination of the rest of the parameters (see more details in Reference 5). 

Sulfur can exist in both positive and negative oxidation states. What is the maximum (a) positive and (b) negative oxidation number that sulfur can have (c) Write the electron configuration for each of these states, (d) Explain how you arrived at these values. 

Write the shorthand electron configuration and draw the ground-state orbital energy level diagram for the valence electrons in a sulfur atom. 

Both O and N have, as shown in Table 2.2, two electrons in the 1st shell that is thereby stabilized corresponding to the structure of He. A stabilization in the four orbits of the 2nd shell requires eight electrons. A stabilization of O and N corresponds to an electron configuration where each of these atoms obtains a structure comparable with Ne. The O and N atoms require an additional supply of two and three electrons, respectively, to establish the configuration of Ne, i.e., OX0 = -2 and OXN = -3. Sulfur is an atom with a configuration in the 3rd shell equal to the 2nd shell for oxygen, i.e., with six electrons. By accepting two more electrons, S will approach Ar in terms of stability. The oxidation level of S is, therefore, the same as for O, i.e., OXs = -2. 

Use the aufbau principle to write complete electron configurations and complete orbital diagrams for atoms of the following elements sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and argon (atomic numbers 11 through 18). 

Due to its 4s24p4 electron configuration, selenium, like sulfur, forms many divalent compounds with two covalent bonds and two lone pairs, and d hybridization is quite common, to form compounds with Se oxidation states of 4+ and 6+. 

Oxidative addition of elemental sulfur to an electron-rich metal, which is coordinatively unsaturated, is a convenient method for preparing S2 complexes (equation 6). The reaction has a high yield for complexes having metal atoms with d8 electronic configurations, such as Ir1, Rh1, Ru° and Os°. Many reactions of complexes with low-valence metal atoms produce mixtures of various metal-sulfur complexes, often in low yield. 

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