Ground State [ENDORSED]

[Montana James 4G]

what does it mean for an atom to be in ground state?

[Ronak Naik]

When an atom is in the ground state it means it is in its lowest electron shell and has not been excited to a higher energy level. The way to get it out of the ground state is to excite the atom with a photon or heat.

[DLee_1L]

Ground State means that the atom is at its lowest possible energy state, and that the electrons in the atom cannot lose anymore energy. In contrast an excited state is when electrons go to a higher energy level or shift orbitals.

[VioletKo3F]

In a ground state, the electrons are in the lowest energy levels and cannot be lowered any further by transferring them to different orbitals.

[pmokh14B]

In a ground state, the electrons of an atom occupy their lowest energy levels possible.

[Hannah Romano 4D]

When in the ground state, an atoms electrons are configured to achieve the lowest possible energy. In this state, atoms are most stable.