The effective nuclear charge is the net positive charge experienced by an electron

Electron

The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...

 in a multi-electron atom

Atom

The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...

. The term "effective" is used because the shielding effect

Shielding effect

The shielding effect describes the decrease in attraction between an electron and the nucleus in any atom with more than one electron shell. It is also referred to as the screening effect or atomic shielding.-Cause:...

 of negatively charged electrons prevents higher orbital electrons from experiencing the full nuclear charge by the repelling effect of inner-layer electrons. The effective nuclear charge experienced by the outer shell electron is also called the core charge

Core charge

Core charge is the effective nuclear charge experienced by an outer shell electron. In other words core charge is an expression of the attractive force experienced by the valence electrons to the core of an atom which takes into account the shielding effect of core electrons...

. It is possible to determine the strength of the nuclear charge by looking at the oxidation number of the atom.

Calculating the effective nuclear charge

In an atom with one electron, that electron experiences the full charge of the positive nucleus

Atomic nucleus

The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...

. In this case, the effective nuclear charge can be calculated from Coulomb's law

Coulomb's law

Coulomb's law or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics describing the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It was first published in 1785 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism...

.

However, in an atom with many electrons the outer electrons are simultaneously attracted to the positive nucleus and repelled by the negatively charged electrons. The effective nuclear charge on such an electron is given by the following equation:

where

Z is the number of protons in the nucleus (atomic number

Atomic number

In chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...

), and

S is the average number of electrons between the nucleus and the electron in question (the number of nonvalence electrons).

S can be found by the systematic application of various rule sets, the simplest of which is known as "Slater's rules

Slater's rules

In quantum chemistry, Slater's rules provide numerical values for the effective nuclear charge concept. In a many-electron atom, each electron is said to experience less than the actual nuclear charge owning to shielding or screening by the other electrons...

" (named after John C. Slater

John C. Slater

John Clarke Slater was a noted American physicist who made major contributions to the theory of the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and solids. This work is of ongoing importance in chemistry, as well as in many areas of physics. He also made major contributions to microwave electronics....

). Douglas Hartree

Douglas Hartree

Douglas Rayner Hartree PhD, FRS was an English mathematician and physicist most famous for the development of numerical analysis and its application to the Hartree-Fock equations of atomic physics and the construction of the meccano differential analyser.-Early life:Douglas Hartree was born in...

 defined the effective Z of a Hartree-Fock

Hartree-Fock

In computational physics and chemistry, the Hartree–Fock method is an approximate method for the determination of the ground-state wave function and ground-state energy of a quantum many-body system....

 orbital to be:
where

_H is the mean radius of the orbital for hydrogen, and

_Z is the mean radius of the orbital for an electron configuration with nuclear charge Z.

Note: Z_eff is also often written Z*.

Example

Consider a sodium

Sodium

Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...

 cation, a fluorine

Fluorine

Fluorine is the chemical element with atomic number 9, represented by the symbol F. It is the lightest element of the halogen column of the periodic table and has a single stable isotope, fluorine-19. At standard pressure and temperature, fluorine is a pale yellow gas composed of diatomic...

 anion, and a neutral neon

Neon

Neon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps or...

 atom. Each has 10 electrons, and the number of nonvalence electrons is 2 (10 total electrons - 8 valence) but the effective nuclear charge varies because each has a different atomic number:


So, the sodium cation has the largest effective nuclear charge, and thus the smallest atomic radius

Atomic radius

The atomic radius of a chemical element is a measure of the size of its atoms, usually the mean or typical distance from the nucleus to the boundary of the surrounding cloud of electrons...

.

Values

Updated values of screening constants were provided by Clementi et al.

Effective Nuclear Charges

	H																	He
Z	1																	2
1s	1.000																	1.688
	Li	Be											B	C	N	O	F	Ne
Z	3	4											5	6	7	8	9	10
1s	2.691	3.685											4.680	5.673	6.665	7.658	8.650	9.642
2s	1.279	1.912											2.576	3.217	3.847	4.492	5.128	5.758
2p													2.421	3.136	3.834	4.453	5.100	5.758
	Na	Mg											Al	Si	P	S	Cl	Ar
Z	11	12											13	14	15	16	17	18
1s	10.626	11.609											12.591	13.575	14.558	15.541	16.524	17.508
2s	6.571	7.392											8.214	9.020	9.825	10.629	11.430	12.230
2p	6.802	7.826											8.963	9.945	10.961	11.977	12.993	14.008
3s	2.507	3.308											4.117	4.903	5.642	6.367	7.068	7.757
3p													4.066	4.285	4.886	5.482	6.116	6.764
	K	Ca	Sc	Ti	V	Cr	Mn	Fe	Co	Ni	Cu	Zn	Ga	Ge	As	Se	Br	Kr
Z	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
1s	18.490	19.473	20.457	21.441	22.426	23.414	24.396	25.381	26.367	27.353	28.339	29.325	30.309	31.294	32.278	33.262	34.247	35.232
2s	13.006	13.776	14.574	15.377	16.181	16.984	17.794	18.599	19.405	20.213	21.020	21.828	22.599	23.365	24.127	24.888	25.643	26.398
2p	15.027	16.041	17.055	18.065	19.073	20.075	21.084	22.089	23.092	24.095	25.097	26.098	27.091	28.082	29.074	30.065	31.056	26.047
3s	8.680	9.602	10.340	11.033	11.709	12.368	13.018	13.676	14.322	14.961	15.594	16.219	16.996	17.790	18.596	19.403	20.219	21.033
3p	7.726	8.658	9.406	10.104	10.785	11.466	12.109	12.778	13.435	14.085	14.731	15.369	16.204	17.014	17.850	18.705	19.571	20.434
4s	3.495	4.398	4.632	4.817	4.981	5.133	5.283	5.434	5.576	5.711	5.842	5.965	7.067	8.044	8.944	9.758	10.553	11.316
3d			7.120	8.141	8.983	9.757	10.528	11.180	11.855	12.530	13.201	13.878	15.093	16.251	17.378	18.477	19.559	20.626
4p													6.222	6.780	7.449	8.287	9.028	9.338
	Rb	Sr	Y	Zr	Nb	Mo	Tc	Ru	Rh	Pd	Ag	Cd	In	Sn	Sb	Te	I	Xe
Z	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54
1s	36.208	37.191	38.176	39.159	40.142	41.126	42.109	43.092	44.076	45.059	46.042	47.026	48.010	48.992	49.974	50.957	51.939	52.922
2s	27.157	27.902	28.622	29.374	30.125	30.877	31.628	32.380	33.155	33.883	34.634	35.386	36.124	36.859	37.595	38.331	39.067	39.803
2p	33.039	34.030	35.003	35.993	36.982	37.972	38.941	39.951	40.940	41.930	42.919	43.909	44.898	45.885	46.873	47.860	48.847	49.835
3s	21.843	22.664	23.552	24.362	25.172	25.982	26.792	27.601	28.439	29.221	30.031	30.841	31.631	32.420	33.209	33.998	34.787	35.576
3p	21.303	22.168	23.093	23.846	24.616	25.474	26.384	27.221	28.154	29.020	29.809	30.692	31.521	32.353	33.184	34.009	34.841	35.668
4s	12.388	13.444	14.264	14.902	15.283	16.096	17.198	17.656	18.582	18.986	19.865	20.869	21.761	22.658	23.544	24.408	25.297	26.173
3d	21.679	22.726	25.397	25.567	26.247	27.228	28.353	29.359	30.405	31.451	32.540	33.607	34.678	35.742	36.800	37.839	38.901	39.947
4p	10.881	11.932	12.746	13.460	14.084	14.977	15.811	16.435	17.140	17.723	18.562	19.411	20.369	21.265	22.181	23.122	24.030	24.957
5s	4.985	6.071	6.256	6.446	5.921	6.106	7.227	6.485	6.640	(empty)	6.756	8.192	9.512	10.629	11.617	12.538	13.404	14.218
4d			15.958	13.072	11.238	11.392	12.882	12.813	13.442	13.618	14.763	15.877	16.942	17.970	18.974	19.960	20.934	21.893
5p													8.470	9.102	9.995	10.809	11.612	12.425

Resources

• Brown, Theodore; LeMay, H.E.; & Bursten, Bruce (2002). Chemistry: The Central Science (8th revised edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-61155-61141-5.