Question

use hunds rule to evaluate the following: *
the orbital diagram for a ground state carbon atom is
a.
b.
c.
d.
a
b
c
d

Explanation:

Hund's Rule states that electrons will occupy degenerate orbitals (same - energy orbitals) singly before pairing up. Carbon has an atomic number of 6. Its electron configuration is \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{2}\). In the \(2p\) sub - shell (which has three degenerate \(p\) orbitals), according to Hund's Rule, the two \(2p\) electrons will occupy two different \(p\) orbitals with parallel spins.

• Option A: In the \(2p\) sub - shell, electrons are paired up immediately, which violates Hund's Rule.
• Option B: The \(2s\) sub - shell is not fully filled (a \(2s\) sub - shell can hold 2 electrons, but here it has 1), which violates the Aufbau Principle (electrons fill lower - energy orbitals first).
• Option C: The \(2s\) sub - shell is fully filled (\(2s^{2}\)), and in the \(2p\) sub - shell, two electrons occupy two different \(p\) orbitals with parallel spins, following both the Aufbau Principle and Hund's Rule.
• Option D: The \(2p\) sub - shell has two electrons in two orbitals, but the third \(p\) orbital is empty. However, the main violation is that the electron configuration representation for the \(2p\) sub - shell is not in line with the fact that for a ground - state carbon atom, we should consider the correct filling order and Hund's Rule application after filling the \(2s\) sub - shell.

Answer:

C.