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Chemistry LibreTexts

Excited-State Atom

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An excited-state atom is an atom in which the total energy of the electrons can be lowered by transferring one or more electrons to different orbitals. That is, in an excited-state atom not all electrons are in the lowest possible energy levels.

eg. Consider a carbon atom whose electron configuration is the following.

excitedstateatom1.png

The total energy of the electrons in this carbon atom can be lowered by transfering an electron from a 2P orbital to the 2S orbital. Therefore, this carbon atom is an excited-state carbon atom.

excitedstateatom2.png

see also ground-state atom


This page titled Excited-State Atom is shared under a All Rights Reserved (used with permission) license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Gamini Gunawardena via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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