What is the excited state of carbon?

1 Answer
Meave60
Sep 10, 2014

The ground state electron configuration of carbon is #"1""s"^"2""2s"^"2"2"""p""^2#. An excited state electron configuration of carbon is #"1""s"^"2""2s"^1"2p"^3"#. This is the state of carbon when it undergoes chemical bonding to form four covalent bonds, as in methane, #"CH"_"4"#. However, the experimental evidence shows that all four bonds have the same energy, which can only be explained by the concept that the 2s and 2p orbitals hybridize to form four #"sp"^3# orbitals, each with one unpaired electron.

agabondguru.com/BluePenguinReportDaily/2009/04/carbon_deux.html

agabondguru.com/BluePenguinReportDaily/2009/04/carbon_deux.html

agabondguru.com/BluePenguinReportDaily/2009/04/carbon_deux.html

Related questions
See all questions in Excited States and Ground States
Impact of this question
50663 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License