- Noble Gas Rule
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| The noble gases are, for all intents and purposes,
chemically inert - that is that they do not react. Examination
of their electronic configurations reveals that, except for helium,
they all have the filled s and p orbitals, i.e., ns2np6. This
observation suggests that we can attribute their lack of chemical
reactivity to this filled s and p electronic configuration. |
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- Noble Gas Electronic Configurations
| Noble Gas |
Electronic congifuration |
| He |
1s2 |
| Ne |
[He]2s2 2p6 |
| Ar |
[Ne]3s2 3p6 |
| Kr |
[Ar]3d10 4s2
4p6 |
| Xe |
[Kr]4d10 5s2
5p6 |
| Rn |
[Xe]4f14 5d10
6s2 6p67 |
|
| The lesson we take away from this observation
is that the ns2np6 electronic configuration is very stable. We
can expect that any element or ion that is isoelectronic with
a noble gas will also be stable. This observation is known as
the noble gas or "octet" rule. |
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