The Full Electronic Configuration For Moscovium

How do we write the full electronic configuration for moscovium, ₁₁₅Mc?

(Source: Wikipmedia Commons)

In December 2015, four new elements completed the 7th period of the Periodic Table. These elements were officially named by IUPAC in November 2016.

One of these elements is Moscovium (Symbol: Mc). It was named after the Moscow Oblast in which the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, where the element was synthesised, is situated.

We can write the full electronic configuration for moscovium with reference to its position in the Periodic Table – Mc is a Group 15 element in the 7th period. To get a better sense of Mc’s position in the Periodic Table, let us refer to the 32-column Periodic Table, shown below. (Our familiar Periodic Table above has 18 columns.)

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Elements in the Periodic Table are arranged in the order of how electrons fill up the subshells in each principal quantum shell.

For example,

• The 1st period corresponds to the filling of the 1s subshell in the n = 1 principal quantum shell, and is made up of two elements.
  → 1s²
• The 2nd period corresponds to the filling of the 2s and 2p subshells in the n = 2 principal quantum shell, and comprises two elements in the s block and six elements in the p block.
  → 2s² 2p⁶
• Similarly for the 3rd period, we can write 3s² 3p⁶.
• For the 4th period however, the filling of 4s and 4p subshells in the n = 4 principal quantum shell is interjected by the filling of the 3d subshell. There are two elements in the s block, ten elements in the d block and six elements in the p block in this period.
  → 4s² 3d¹⁰ 4p⁶

If we repeat the above process for each period till we arrive at Mc, we will obtain the following electronic configuration,

1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s² 3d¹⁰ 4p⁶ 5s² 4d¹⁰ 5p⁶ 6s² 4f¹⁴ 5d¹⁰ 6p⁶ 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p³

By rearranging the principal quantum shells in increasing order, we now have the full electronic configuration for Mc,

1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p⁶ 4d¹⁰ 4f¹⁴ 5s² 5p⁶ 5d¹⁰ 5f¹⁴ 6s² 6p⁶ 6d¹⁰ 7s² 7p³