Question

element K has the following electronic configuration 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 . how many unpaired electrons can be found in K​

Answer 1

Element K (potassium) has one unpaired electron, which resides in the 4s orbital. The provided electron configuration was incomplete, missing the last electron in the 4s orbital for a neutral potassium atom.

Step-by-step explanation:

The element K (potassium) with the electron configuration 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 indicates that the atom is in a neutral state with all electrons paired up in their respective orbitals. Potassium has an atomic number of 19, which means it should have an additional electron beyond this configuration that goes into the next available orbital, the 4s orbital. The correct configuration of K is actually [Ar] 4s1. Therefore, there is one unpaired electron in the potassium atom, which is in the 4s orbital.

Answer 2

The key to deciphering this is to look at the last bit of information of the electron configuration

3

p

2

.

The '3' informs us that the element is in the 3rd Energy Level or row of the periodic table. The 'p' tells us that the element is found in the p-block which are all of the Groups to the right of the transition metals, columns 13-18. The superscript '2' tells us that the element is found in the 2nd column of the p-block Group 14.

I hope this was helpful.