What is the ground state electron configuration for aluminum?
1 Answer
An atom in its lowest energy state is said to be in its ground state. The ground state electron configuration of an atom places its electrons in the lowest energy levels possible, and the electrons are ordered according to increasing energy levels, sublevels, and orbitals.
In order to determine how many electrons are in a neutral atom of an element, we need to find the atomic number of the element on the periodic table of the elements. The atomic number of an element is the number of protons in the nuclei of its atoms. In a neutral atom, the number of electrons is the same as the number of protons.
The atomic number of aluminum is 13. A neutral atom of aluminum has 13 protons and 13 electrons. The ground state electron configuration for aluminum is
