In: Physics
For the Li atom, one electron occupies a 2s orbital, even though the average position of an electron in a 2s orbital is further from the nucleus than for an electron in a 2p orbital. Why is this the case?
The 2s and 2p orbitals ,they do have the same energy level. However the 2s orbital is a bit lower in energy than the 2p orbital .An atom will have always a low energy configuration,that's why one electron occupies a 2s orbital for the Li atom.