[erickejah (OP)]

1.Why are shells in atoms named as K,L,m etc. instead of A,B,C?
2.And why are there atoms that don't fill the number of electrons given by 2n^2 in the shells, don't they have to overpass the max the go into the next shell?

[Chemistry4me]

And why are there atoms that don't fill the number of electrons given by 2n^2 in the shells, don't they have to overpass the max the go into the next shell?

I'm not sure what you mean by this... []

[Chemistry4me]

As for your first question, Charles Barkla labeled them with the letters K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q. I've got no idea why but obviously it has stuck.

[erickejah (OP)]

1st diagram its ok,, i saw one like the 2nd one few day ago. The thing is that i dont know if it is valid.[diagram=392_0][diagram=393_0]

[Chemistry4me]

You mean like 2 electron in the first shell (K), 3 in the second (L) and 6 in the third (M)? Or are you talking about the orbitals. E.g 1s, 2s, 2p etc...?

[erickejah (OP)]

yep,,

[erickejah (OP)]

You mean like 2 electron in the first shell (K), 3 in the second (L) and 6 in the third (M)? Or are you talking about the orbitals. E.g 1s, 2s, 2p etc...?

yes why the electrons dont fill the spaces in the 2 shell?

[Chemistry4me]

Are you asking why the diagram is as it is? Where did you find it?

[erickejah (OP)]

Are you asking why the diagram is as it is? Where did you find it?

yep, I forgot where i saw it but i know that it was an altered element

[erickejah (OP)]

i just found an element: ruthenium and its shell structure goes like this:2.8.18.15.1,http://www.webelements.com/ruthenium/atoms.html, why does that happens? would not the positive charge attract the electrons an squeeze then into the lower shell?

[Chemistry4me]

Well, I can't give you an exact answer but electrons can obviously move about in the atom and when they are 'excited' (absorb energy such as light) they move up into higher energy levels. Some electrons in the second shell must have moved up into the third shell so thsts why the second one isn't filled up. When the atom gets back to 'ground state' the electrons should fill up as normal.

[Chemistry4me]

i just found an element: ruthenium and its shell structure goes like this:2.8.18.15.1,http://www.webelements.com/ruthenium/atoms.html, why does that happens? would not the positive charge attract the electrons an squeeze then into the lower shell?

Ah, okay, I see what you mean now. Do you know about orbitals or subshells? Thats the only way that I can explain it, if you want to hear about it []... It could take a few minutes  [] []

[erickejah (OP)]

of course, im starving of scientific knowledge.  []

[Chemistry4me]

Okay, what you have been taught at school might be that electrons fill up shell by shell, 2 in the first, then 8 then 18 and so on... am I correct?

[erickejah (OP)]

not really, just that by using 2n^2 u can calculated the max# of electrons in each shell

[Chemistry4me]

Electrons in the same energy level (for example: K) can have slightly different energies, so each main level can be divided into energy sublevels. The 1st level (K) has one sublevel, the 2nd (L) has two and the 3rd (M)has three. In general, nth level has n sublevels.
Electrons in the same sublevel may be found in different regions in the space around the nucleus. They are said to occupy different orbitals.
At any level (K, L, M, N etc...), the first sublevel consists of one orbital can an s orbital; the second consists of 3 orbitals called p orbitals; the third level consists of 5 orbitals which are called d orbitals. So the first level (K), which has only one sublevel, has only one s orbital. The second level (L) has two sublevels, and therefore has one s and three p orbitals. The third level (M), which has three sublevels, has one s and three p and 5 d orbitals.
Each orbital can be occupied by one or two electrons

Are you with me so far? How does this have anything to do with your question you ask? [] []
You'll soon find out. [] []

[erickejah (OP)]

ok,, still processing but keep on

[Chemistry4me]

Here is a diagram:

[diagram=394_0]

[Chemistry4me]

Each of those boxes is an orbital, each orbital can hold one or two electrons.

[erickejah (OP)]

got it, the diagram is very helpful