Electron Configurations

[Mariah]

Are noble gas electron configurations, or shorthand, the same as ground-state configurations? If a homework problem asks for the ground-state configuration of an element, is a noble gas shorthand allowed to be used?

[Jamie Lee 1F]

Any electron configuration can be written in shorthand, so you can write ground-state or excited-state configurations using shorthand.

[Mariah]

Any electron configuration can be written in shorthand, so you can write ground-state or excited-state configurations using shorthand.

Thank you! This helps, what are the differences between ground-state and excited-state configurations?

[Jamie Lee 1F]

Any electron configuration can be written in shorthand, so you can write ground-state or excited-state configurations using shorthand.

Thank you! This helps, what are the differences between ground-state and excited-state configurations?

In ground-state, atoms have the least possible amount of energy, and electrons have the least amount of potential energy. On the other hand, in excited-states, electrons are not in their lowest possible energy shells. They can jump from shell to shell after absorbing energy, and when they are in a higher energy level, they are deemed in their excited-state.