# Electron shell

Example of a sodium electron shell model

An electron shell[1] is the outside part of an atom around the atomic nucleus. It is a group of atomic orbitals with the same value of the principal quantum number n.

Electron shells have one or more electron subshells, or sublevels. These sublevels have two or more orbitals with the same angular momentum quantum number l. Electron shells make up the electron configuration of an atom. The number of electrons that can be in a shell is equal to ${\displaystyle 2n^{2}}$.

The name for electron shells comes from the Bohr model, in which groups of electrons were believed to go around the nucleus at certain distances, so that their orbits formed "shells".

## Valence shell

The valence shell is the outermost shell of an atom in its uncombined state, which contains the electrons most likely to account for the nature of any reactions involving the atom and of the bonding interactions it has with other atoms. Care must be taken to note that the outermost shell of an ion is not commonly termed valence shell. Electrons in the valence shell are referred to as valence electrons.

In a noble gas, an atom tends to have 8 electrons in its outer shell (except helium, which is only able to fill its shell with 2 electrons). This serves as the model for the octet rule which is mostly applicable to main group elements of the second and third periods. In terms of atomic orbitals, the electrons in the valence shell are distributed 2 in the single s orbital and 2 each in the three p orbitals.

For coordination complexes containing transition metals, the valence shell consists of electrons in these s and p orbitals, as well as up to 10 additional electrons, distributed as 2 into each of 5 d orbitals, to make a total of 18 electrons in a complete valence shell for such a compound. This is referred to as the eighteen electron rule.

Possible Number of Electrons in shells 1-5
Shell Electrons
1 2
2 8
3 18
4 32
5 50

## Subshells

Electron subshells are identified by the letters s, p, d, f, g, h, i, etc., corresponding to the azimuthal quantum numbers (l-values) 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. Each shell can hold up to 2 8 8 8 12 and 18 electrons respectively, or 2(2l + 1) electrons in each subshell. The notation 's', 'p', 'd', and 'f' originate from a now-discredited system of categorizing spectral lines as "sharp", "principal", "diffuse", or "fundamental", based on their observed fine structure. When the first four types of orbitals were described, they were associated with these spectral line types, but there were no other names. The designations 'g', 'h', and so on, were derived by following alphabetical order.

## References

1. also known as a main energy level
• Tipler, Paul & Ralph Llewellyn (2003). Modern Physics (4th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-4345-0