Go through the first 20 elements in the chart.  Note and record which orbital contains the additional electron.  (The various orbitals are given in the upper right area of the Table.)  The filling process is fairly straight forward to this point in the Periodic Table, but becomes a little more complex as outer orbitals are filled.  Using a Word document you can write the electronic configurations by using the "superscript" function.  Click on each element and write electronic configurations for elements number 21 through 36.  What happens when going from Vanadium to Chromium?  What happens when going from Nickel to Copper?

Access the link "Periodic Table" which contains an interactive Periodic Table.  By clicking on the element's symbol you can access interesting information about the element.  You will see the electrons fill in to the s, p, and d orbitals.  In the first shell, called the "K" shell, only 2 electrons "fill" the shell.  In the second shell, called the "L" shell, a total of 8 electrons can reside. In the "M" shell a total of 18 electrons can reside.

There are sub-shells within the main energy shells of the atom.  Each main energy shell contains a sub-shell called an "s" orbital.  The s orbitals can contain only 2 electrons.  The K shell has only s orbitals.  The L shell has an s orbital and p orbitals.  The p subshell can contain a maximum of 6 electrons.  So the total for the L shell is 2 electrons in the s orbitaal and 6 electrons in the p orbitals, for a total of 8 electrons.  The M shell contains s, p, and d orbitals.  The maximum number of electrons is 2 in the s, 6 in the p, and 10 in the d subshells.      

Procedure:

Go through the first 20 elements in the chart.  Note and record which orbital contains the additional electron.  (The various orbitals are given in the upper right area of the Table.)  The filling process is fairly straight forward to this point in the Periodic Table, but becomes a little more complex as outer orbitals are filled.  Using a Word document you can write the electronic configurations by using the "superscript" function.  Click on each element and write electronic configurations for elements number 21 through 36.  What happens when going from Vanadium to Chromium?  What happens when going from Nickel to Copper?