Sapling Question (excited-state, ground-state)

[Nina Fukui 2J]

Hi everyone,
I'm confused about how to identify the element. How do I do this?

[Zainab Jamali 1H]

For this question, you can start by finding the total number of electrons. That number is equivalent to the atomic number of the atom so, using the periodic table, you can determine what element it is.

[Andreas Krumbein 1L]

The 2p orbital in that configuration has no electrons, since one of the electrons has been excited up to the 3s orbital. So if you move that electron back down to the 2p orbital the ground state configuration is 1s² 2s² 2p¹. Hope this helps.

[jessicaosuna_1F]

To add onto that, once you have identified the atom, you just write out the regular electron configuration.

[Savana Maxfield 3F]

I agree with everything said above! And just for reference: an electron configuration in which the valence electron is in a higher energy orbital, the element is in the excited state. To return back to ground state, identify the number of electrons and fill each orbital accordingly (in such a way that each orbital contains the maximum amount of electrons.)