Iridium Electron Configuration: Everything You Need to Know

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Iridium is the second-densest material occurring naturally, with a density of 22.56 g/cm. Let us understand the electron configuration of Iridium through this article.

Iridium electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d7 6s2. Iridium is a silvery white metal with atomic number 77, belonging to group 9 in the d-block. The chemical symbol for Iridium is Ir. 191Ir and 193Ir are the only isotopes of Iridium occurring naturally.

We will be discussing some facts about the electronic configuration of iridium, like, notation, the ground state of iridium, the principle for filling of orbitals etc.

How to write Iridium electron configuration

The electron configuration of Iridium can by written by following the steps mentioned below:

  • According to Aufbau’s principle, orbitals are filled with electrons in the order of their increasing energy. Filling of orbitals starts from 1s because it has the lowest energy of all available orbitals.
  • Every orbital must be first filled as per Hund’s rule.
  • The spins of electrons in a particular orbital is determined using Pauli’s exclusion principle.
  • The representation of an electron can be done using a subscript. For example, 3d5; here 5 represents number of electrons in p orbital.
  • Thus, the electron configuration for Iridium id,
  • 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d7 6s2

Iridium electron configuration diagram

According to Aufbau’s principle, the electron configuration diagram for Iridium is as follows:

Screenshot 20221123 173613
Electron Configuration diagram

Iridium electron configuration notation

The Ir electron configuration notation can be represented in the following manner;

[Xe] 4f14 5d7 6s2

The electron configuration notation of Ir depicts that out of total 77 electrons;

  • 54 electrons are represented by the Xenon gas electron configuration.
  • In the f orbital of 4th shell, there are 14 electrons.
  • In the d orbital of 5th shell there are 7 electrons.
  • In the s orbital of 6th shell there are 2 electrons filled.

Iridium unabbreviated electron configuration

The unabbreviated electron configuration for Ir is as shown below:

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d7 6s2.

Ground state Iridium electron configuration

The ground state electron configuration for gaseous neutral Iridium is,

  • [Xe] 4f14 5d7 6s2
  • Term symbol for ground state Iridium is 4F9/2.

Excited state of Iridium electron configuration

The excited state of Iridium is Ir (III) and its electronic configuration is,

[Xe] 4f14 5d4 6s2.

Ground state Iridium orbital diagram

Orbital diagram of Ir depicts that 6s and 4f orbitals are filled with their full capacity whereas, 5d orbitals are filled with 7 electrons though it has capacity of 10 electrons.

Screenshot 20221123 181349
Orbital diagram of Iridium

Iridium 3+ electron configuration

Electron configuration for Ir3+ is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d4 6s2.

Iridium 4+ electron configuration

Ir4+ electron configuration is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14 5s2 5p6 5d3 6s2.

Conclusion

Iridium is a dense hard transition metal and is used in making of many special alloys because of its properties. Its electron configuration is quite strange as the 5d orbitals have 7 electrons in it which is not fully-filled or half-filled. Iridium is naturally very stable and resistive to chemical actions.

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