How determine paramagnetic or diamagnetic from config?

If an atom or ion has one or more unpaired electrons in its ground-state electron configuration it is paramagnetic and is attracted to a magnetic field, and if all electrons are paired it is diamagnetic and is weakly repelled.

Think of electrons like tiny spinning tops that can pair up; when every top has a partner spinning the opposite way their magnetic effects cancel and the atom is diamagnetic, but when one or more tops are left without partners their spins add up and the atom becomes paramagnetic. To find this from the configuration you write out the electron arrangement for the ground state, fill orbitals according to Hund’s rule and the aufbau principle, and then count how many electrons are unpaired. For example iron two plus has a different number of unpaired electrons than neutral iron because it loses electrons from the outer orbitals first, so you must use the correct configuration for the specific ion. Remember to check the ground-state term and the correct ordering of orbitals for transition metals because that determines whether electrons remain unpaired.

Students often forget to use the ground-state configuration and instead use an excited arrangement which changes the count of unpaired electrons, so always confirm the lowest energy configuration. Another common mistake is assuming all electrons in a given shell are paired without drawing the orbital diagram, so draw the orbitals and apply Hund’s rule to avoid miscounting. A third error is ignoring the differences between neutral atoms and ions, so write the correct electron count for the charged species before deciding paramagnetic or diamagnetic.

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Magnetic Behavior from Electron Configurations

1. Electrons act like tiny spinning tops
2. Paired spins cancel magnetic effects
3. Unpaired spins cause paramagnetism
4. Write ground-state electron configuration
5. Fill orbitals by Hund’s rule
6. Use aufbau principle when filling
7. Count unpaired electrons

Common Magnetic Behavior Mistakes

1. Using excited instead of ground-state configuration
2. Not drawing orbital diagrams before counting
3. Ignoring differences between neutral atoms and ions

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