Question

22/23 which electron configuration belongs to silver? 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁵4s²3d¹⁰4p⁶5s¹4d¹⁰ 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁵4s²3d¹⁰4p⁶5s²4d⁹ 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁷

Explanation:

Step1: Determine the atomic number of silver

Silver (\(Ag\)) has an atomic number of \(47\).

Step2: Use the Aufbau principle

According to the Aufbau principle, electrons fill orbitals in order of increasing energy. The electron configuration should account for \(47\) electrons.

Step3: Check for stability

Silver has a special electron - configuration due to the stability of a completely filled \(d\) - subshell. The \(5s\) orbital loses one electron to fill the \(4d\) orbital completely (\(4d^{10}\)), so the electron configuration is \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{5}4s^{2}3d^{10}4p^{6}5s^{1}4d^{10}\).
The second option \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{5}4s^{2}3d^{10}4p^{6}5s^{2}4d^{9}\) has \(48\) electrons (\(2 + 2+6 + 2+5 + 2+10 + 6+2 + 9=48\)) and the third option \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{7}\) has only \(17\) electrons (\(2 + 2+6 + 2+7 = 19\)) which is incorrect for silver.

Answer:

\(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{6}3s^{2}3p^{5}4s^{2}3d^{10}4p^{6}5s^{1}4d^{10}\)