Hi

I came across the CTAN Bohr package ( https://ctan.org/pkg/bohr ) in the latest issue of the Ubuntu full circle magazine, this allows for the drawing of atomic structure electron shells,

So on a basic level it just needs

\usepackage{bohr}

\begin{document}

\bohr{6}{Na}

\bohr{18}{O}

\end{document}

However for Carbon, the displayed artom seems to show all the outer electrons on one side of the diagram, they are spaced out, but I would expect the 4 outer electrons to be equally spaced out.

I just wondered if this was correct, I am sure I remember being taught that for carbon, the outer shell the electrons would appear top, bottom, left right. Rather than as here.

It could be a bug in the package,

Thanks

Paul

20 minutes ago, paulsutton said:

Hi

I came across the CTAN Bohr package ( https://ctan.org/pkg/bohr ) in the latest issue of the Ubuntu full circle magazine, this allows for the drawing of atomic structure electron shells,

So on a basic level it just needs

\usepackage{bohr}

\begin{document}

\bohr{6}{Na}

\bohr{18}{O}

\end{document}

However for Carbon, the displayed artom seems to show all the outer electrons on one side of the diagram, they are spaced out, but I would expect the 4 outer electrons to be equally spaced out.

I just wondered if this was correct, I am sure I remember being taught that for carbon, the outer shell the electrons would appear top, bottom, left right. Rather than as here.

It could be a bug in the package,

Thanks

Paul

Does it matter? Neither picture is anything like the actual physical arrangement, after all. It’s just a diagram to convey the idea of shells. It does not tell you anything about the real distribution of the electrons in space.

(By the way there is something wrong with the atoms, or ions, in your picture. Neither has the right number of electrons.)

I know, I was trying out different atomic numbers without updating the actual chemical symbol, however I was just asking if all the electrons should in the outer shell should be more spaced out.

Na should, of course be displaying C for Carbon, so the bohr configuration is 2:4 (6). as Na is 19 (iirc) 2:8.8:1

There is an elements package that will display the modern shell configuration notation

As you said, it doesn't matter too much I just make sure my chemical symbols match the number of electrons.

Thanks

Paul