Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-3-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-2b/section-a/27/b/solution

For chromium the configuration is . The half-filled subshell has and ; aligning the spin gives , while . Therefore the ground-state term symbol is . For cobalt, has a closed pair. The subshell has the same possible values as three holes; maximizing spin and then orbital angular momentum gives , . Because it is more than half full, , giving . For copper, has a closed subshell, leaving , and . These are neutral-atom terms, rather than the terms of the common metal ions. The tabulated zero-energy levels independently confirm all three assignments.[ref][ref][ref]

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