Question

1. how many unpaired electrons does oxygen have in its ground state electron configuration? 2 3 1 4

Explanation:

Step1: Determine the electron configuration of oxygen

Oxygen has an atomic number of 8. Its electron configuration is \(1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^{4}\).

Step2: Analyze the \(2p\) sub - shell

The \(2p\) sub - shell has three orbitals (\(p_{x}\), \(p_{y}\), \(p_{z}\)). According to Hund's rule, electrons first occupy degenerate orbitals singly.
For the \(2p^{4}\) configuration: two electrons are paired (\(\uparrow\downarrow\)) in one \(2p\) orbital and two electrons are unpaired (\(\uparrow\), \(\uparrow\)) in the other two \(2p\) orbitals.

Answer:

2