Question

Beryllium has an atomic number of `2`. What is its electron configuration? Will it lose `2` electrons or gain `6` to form an ion?

Answer 1

It wants the configuration that helium has, which is two valence electrons. To be more specific, it wants a DUET, not an octet.

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Beryllium (`"Be"`) has the atomic number `4` (not `2`), so its electron configuration is `1s^2 2s^2`.

`"He"` has the atomic number `2`, so its electron configuration is `1s^2`.

Since it is much easier to lose two electrons than to gain six, the `"He"`-like electron configuration (`1s^2`) is much more favored than the `"Ne"`-like configuration (`1s^2 2s^2 2p^6`).