Shells
The electron shells are labeled K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q; or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; going from innermost shell outwards. Electrons in outer shells have higher average energy and travel farther from the nucleus than those in inner shells. This makes them more important in determining how the atom reacts chemically and behaves as a conductor, because the pull of the atom's nucleus upon them is weaker and more easily broken. In this way, a given element's reactivity is highly dependent upon its electronic configuration.
Read more about this topic: Electron Shell
Famous quotes containing the word shells:
“Sing there upon the beach
Till all’s beyond death’s reach,
And empty shells reply
That all things flourish.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“As many as the shells that are on the shore, so many are
the pains of love; the darts that wound are steeped in
much poison.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)