How do you determine if an atom has a diamagnetic (ground state) electron configuration?

1 Answer
Feb 9, 2017

By checking out the arrangement of it's valence electrons in it's outer most orbital.

Explanation:

The arrangement of the electrons in the outermost orbital i.e # s, p, d, or f# determines the dimagnetic or paramagnetic character of an atom.
A dimagnetic atom has all the electrons arranged in pairs
Where as a paramagnetic atom have more than 1 umpaired electrons.
And the magnetic moment of paramagnetic atom can be calculated by the formula.

# mu = [√n(n+2)]#

Hope it will help you.