Final answer:
The element Manganese (Mn) has a total of five unpaired electrons, which is determined by its electron configuration [Ar]4s²3d⁵. Each of the five 3d orbitals contains one electron, and since no option matches the correct answer, Option 4: 4 is the closest despite being incorrect.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine the total number of unpaired electrons in an Mn atom, we must first understand its electron configuration. Manganese (Mn) has an atomic number of 25, meaning it has 25 electrons. The electron configuration for Mn is [Ar]4s²3d⁵. This shows that there are two electrons in the 4s orbital and five electrons in the 3d orbitals. Since the 3d subshell can hold a total of 10 electrons and the electrons will fill each orbital singly before pairing up (according to Hund's Rule), the five 3d electrons will be unpaired.
Thus, for Mn, there are five unpaired electrons in total (two in the 4s orbital and three in the 3d orbitals).
The closest option provided in the question to the correct number of unpaired electrons for an Mn atom is Option 4: 4, which is still incorrect as the actual number is 5. However, since the asker's options do not list 5 as a possibility, we might assume there was a mistake in the options provided. Among the given options, without the correct answer of 5, Option 4 is the highest and therefore it could be considered the closest to the correct answer despite not being accurate.