ground state

[KaylynnPierce2I]

I am confused on how atoms in their ground state are in their most stable state. I thought that when atoms reach the octet (except the first four elements) they were the most stable, but not every element in their ground state is following the octet rule. Is the ground state always a more stable state than elements that gained electrons to reach the octet state?

[Paige Steffler]

The ground state of an atom is the most stable for that atom because it fills in all the electrons of the orbitals in order according to the building-up principle. An atom's ground state may not necessarily have a filled octet.

[Kimia Rategh 2A]

An atom being in ground state simply means that its electrons are filling its orbitals in the manner they are supposed to, meaning that they go from n=1 to n=2, etc. and while doing so only fill each orbital with single electrons of parallel spins before pairing electrons. When an atom is in its excited state that often means that this order is messed up and the electrons and have jumped around to a higher energy level. Therefore, being in ground state is the more stable state for atoms to be in. I don't think this stable state contradicts the fact that when atom's orbitals are filled using the octet rule they are also stable. I think both are just explanations as to when atoms are more stable. I hope this helps!

[Alex Luong 3H]

You look at ground states to be the most stable form of an atom relatively. The atom could be generally unstable, but its ground state of be the least unstable. If that makes sense.

[Leah Wildmann 1F]

I think the ground state being stable means that it is stable relative to other states of the unbonded atom. Like comparing the ground state atom to an energized form of the atom.