Are electrons located only in specific shells around the nucleus of the atom?

Answer 1

Electrons are located in all the shells before the last shell but when doing equations and working things out, you only refer to the last shell. This is because the shells before the last shell are all full (the first one has only 2 electrons but the rest have 8) and only the outer shell electrons, known as valance electrons, react with other substances.

Answer 2

An early visualization of atoms described electrons as orbiting the nucleus in a manner similar to the way planets orbit the Sun. More recent understanding of atomic structure suggests that image is not useful, so we now talk about electron shells and orbitals (which are not the same as orbits).

You can break down the shell and orbitals of an atom on several levels of detail.

First, there are the main shells of the atom, and these are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. (or like some doing it alphabetically K, L, M, N, ...).

In the Periodic Table you will encounter them as seven periods.

Each shell holds orbitals (sometimes called sub-shells, but they are not), and different shells have different numbers of orbitals associated with it. The higher the number of the main shell, the more orbitals it contains. In fact, the number of the main shell is equal to the number of orbitals it contains. The types of orbitals are labeled like this: s, p, d, f, and not so very important: g, h, i, etc (alphabetically after i).

So far we have:

Main shell #1

-- contains one orbital (s-orbital)

Main shell #2

-- contains two orbitals (s-orbital, and p-orbital)

Main shell #3

-- contains three orbitals (s-orbital, p-orbital, and d-orbital)

Main shell #4

-- contains four orbitals (s-orbital, p-orbital, d-orbital, and f-orbital)

etc...

Now we can further break down orbitals! The p-orbital is actually composed of three sub-orbitals and the d-orbital is composed of 5 sub-orbitals and f-orbital in 7 sub-orbitals.

So we have:

s-orbital: just a single orbital, called just the s-orbital

p-orbitals: composed of 3 sub-orbitals, called the px-, py-, and pz-orbitals

d-orbitals: composed of 5 sub-orbitals, called the dxy-, dxz-, dyz-, dx2-y2, and dz2-orbtials

f-orbitals: composed of 7 sub-orbitals, called fz3, fxz2, fyz2, fxyz, fy(3x2-y2), fx(x2-3y2), fy(3x2-y2).

etc...

And at last, but not least: each sub-orbital has a maximum of TWO electrons in it only differing in electron spin number.

So the maxima per orbital are:

s-orbital: just a single orbital, max. 2 electrons

p-orbitals: composed of 3 sub-orbitals, max. 6 electrons

d-orbitals: composed of 5 sub-orbitals, max. 10 electrons (= number of transitional elements)

f-orbitals: composed of 7 sub-orbitals, max. 14 electrons (= number of lanthanides, actinides)

Answer 3

In a neutral atom that is not chemically bonded to another atom, electrons will be located only in specific shells around the nucleus of the atom, but there are lots of other situations that involve electrons which are not in shells. In a metallic bond, there is a cloud of electrons that can move freely throughout the metal object in question. Electrons can flow through ionized gas, which takes place for example during a lightning discharge, or in a fluorescent tube. Any electric spark involves electrons that are not in shells. In a super heated plasma there will be free electrons.

Answer 4

No, they are located in all of the shells. Not just one.

Answer 5

Yes, electrons spin on 3 different orbitals, in the first on there is space for 2 electrons, the second ring there is space for 8 and the thith can also take 8

Answer 6

yes they do :D