-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
sulfur & oxygen...paramagnetic?
Started by OneManShow
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
In their ground stand, Oxygen and Sulfur are both considered paramagnetic elements because they both have 2 unpaired electrons.
Looking at the electron configuration of each:
Oxygen: 1s2 2s2 2p4
Looking more closely at the last subshell for Oxygen (p-orbitals):
Px has 2 electrons
Py has 1 electron
Pz has 1 electron
These last two (unpaired) orbitals could allow Oxygen to be magnetized in the presence of an external magnetic field.
Sulfur: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p4
Looking more closely at the last subshell for Sulfur (p-orbitals):
Px has 2 electrons
Py has 1 electron
Pz has 1 electron
Therefore, Sulfur too could be magnetized in the presence of an external magnetic field.
However, this is only the case when Oxygen and Sulfur are in their ground state. It's possible the question you're referencing is refering to an anionic form of Oxygen or Sulfur. In this case, Oxygen or Sulfur could potentially be diamagnetic.
This has to be the case.. either that, or Kaplan messed up.
Or could be that Oxygen refers to O2 gas molecule which is diamagnetic
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Gaseos O2 is paramagnetic also.
To add on. Is it because there isn't a full transfer of electrons so technically they both don't have a full 2p6? Para = deflection or attraction by magnetic field?
Orbital diagrams for diatomic species can be a little confusing and don't usually come into play for the MCAT, but for molecular O2:
You can see, there are still unpaired electrons in O2 which will orient themselves in a magnetic field and therefore are paramagnetic.
People seem to think there is a difference between the magnetism of liquid O2 and gaseous O2 because you can only observe the magnetic properties of liquid O2. Gaseous O2 is moving so fast that it is not affected by magnets, but the paramagnetism is still there.
I got the figures here:
http://www.mpcfaculty.net/mark_bishop/molecular_orbital_theory.htm
which goes into heavy detail about orbital diagrams and orbital interactions for diatomic species if you are interested.
Sorry to bring up an old thread but stumbled upon this very question while studying. Google led me here.
Soooo. Is the conclusion that Kaplan messed up?
They're claiming sulfur is diamagnetic and I couldn't bring myself to understand that conclusion.
Soooo. Is the conclusion that Kaplan messed up?
They're claiming sulfur is diamagnetic and I couldn't bring myself to understand that conclusion.
