Question

Manganese has a total of 25 electrons, but the following orbital notation for manganese is incorrect. Explain the error in terms of the rules for electron arrangements. Manganese: 1s is filled. 2s is filled. 2p is filled. 3s is filled. 3p is filled. 3d is shown with five orbitals. The first two orbital have two electrons. Orbitals three through five in the 3d sublevel have one electron each.

Answer 1

The Orbital configuration for Manganese is as follows:

1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 4s2 3d5

It says 3d is shown with five orbitals- this is correct

Then it says the first two orbitals have two electrons-this is incorrect.

When filling in the orbitals for any element, you first need to distribute to ALL orbitals then extras go from there.

The orbital d can have up to 10 electrons so you need to distribute at least one electron to all ten. Since you only have 5 then only 5 orbitals would have electrons in them. In order for ANY of the orbitals to have two electrons, there would need to be AT LEAST 11 electrons to distribute.