Iron

Properties of iron atoms

Ionisation Energies and electron affinity

The electron affinity of iron is 15.7  kJ mol^-1. The ionisation energies of iron are given below.

Electronic configuration

The following represents the electronic configuration and its associated term symbol for the ground state neutral gaseous atom. The configuration associated with iron in its compounds is not necessarily the same.

• Ground state electron configuration:  [Ar].3d⁶.4s²
• Shell structure:  2.8.14.2
• Term symbol:   ⁵D₄

Iron's "busy" spectrum is a natural, irregular wavelength scale with which to calibrate spectrographs and help assign unknown spectral lines.

A schematic representation of the shell structure of iron - not what the atom of iron "looks like".

WebElements Shop

WebElements now has a WebElements shop at which you can buy periodic table posters, mugs, T-shirts, games, molecular models, and more.