Question

write full electron configurations for k. express your answer in complete form in order of increasing orbital energy as a string without blank space between orbitals. for example, 1s²2s² should be entered as 1s^22s^2.

Explanation:

Step1: Determine the atomic number of K

The atomic number of potassium (K) is 19. This means a neutral K atom has 19 electrons.

Step2: Fill the orbitals according to the Aufbau principle

The order of filling orbitals (increasing energy) is \(1s < 2s<2p < 3s<3p<4s<3d\cdots\).

• The \(1s\) orbital can hold 2 electrons: \(1s^{2}\).
• The \(2s\) orbital can hold 2 electrons: \(2s^{2}\).
• The \(2p\) orbital can hold 6 electrons: \(2p^{6}\).
• The \(3s\) orbital can hold 2 electrons: \(3s^{2}\).
• The \(3p\) orbital can hold 6 electrons: \(3p^{6}\).
• After filling \(3p\), we move to the \(4s\) orbital (since \(4s\) has lower energy than \(3d\) at this stage). The \(4s\) orbital can hold 2 electrons, but we only need 1 more electron (since \(2 + 2+6 + 2+6=18\) and we have 19 electrons). So we have \(4s^{1}\).

Answer:

\(1s^{\wedge}22s^{\wedge}22p^{\wedge}63s^{\wedge}23p^{\wedge}64s^{\wedge}1\)