Why does chromium have a different electron configuration

Post by Eduardogonzalez1G » Mon Oct 12, am. Laurence Lavelle Skip to content. Quick links. Email Link. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why do iron II ions and chromium have different electronic configurations?

Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 2 months ago. Active 3 years, 6 months ago. Viewed 6k times. It breaks the "rule" because the extra stability from half-filled 3d orbitals is favoured. Improve this question. Gaurang Tandon 8, 10 10 gold badges 55 55 silver badges bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes.

Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. Jan Jan Vihanga Jayawickrama Vihanga Jayawickrama 1 1 1 bronze badge. My question is mainly that, after two 4s electrons are removed, why doesn't one 3d electron go up. As in, Cr is special, why can's Fe II be special? When we write the configuration we'll put all 24 electrons in orbitals around the nucleus of the Chromium atom. In writing the electron configuration for Chromium the first two electrons will go in the 1s orbital.

Since 1s can only hold two electrons the next 2 electrons for Chromium go in the 2s orbital. The next six electrons will go in the 2p orbital. The p orbital can hold up to six electrons. We'll put six in the 2p orbital and then put the next two electrons in the 3s. Since the 3s if now full we'll move to the 3p where we'll place the next six electrons.