One of the reasons spectroscopists study excited states is to get information about the energies of orbitals that are unoccupied in the ground state of an atom. Each of the following electron configurations represents an atom in an excited state. Identify the element and write its condensed ground-state electron configuration.
a) 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s1, 3p1
1s2, 2s2, 2s6, 3s2,
Magnesium because it has 12 electrons
b) 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p4, 4s1
1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p5
Chlorine has 17 electrons
c) 1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6, 4s2, 3d4, 4p1
1s2, 2s2, 2p6, 3s2, 3p6, 4s2, 3d5
Manganese has 25 electrons
d) 1s2, 2s2, 2p5, 3s1
1s2, 2s2, 2p6
Neon, has 10 electrons