Carbon

Properties of carbon atoms

Ionisation Energies and electron affinity

The electron affinity of carbon is 153.9  kJ mol^-1. The ionisation energies of carbon 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 carbon in its compounds is not necessarily the same.

• Ground state electron configuration:  [He].2s².2p²
• Shell structure:  2.4
• Term symbol:   ³P₀

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

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