Which orbital would the electron of a ground state hydrogen atom occupy?

1 Answer
Meave60
Jun 4, 2018

The electron would occupy the #"1s"# sublevel in the #"1s"# orbital.

Explanation:

Every hydrogen atom has the atomic number #1#, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. If the atom is neutral, it will also have #1# electron.

In the ground state, the only place that electron can go is in the #"1s"# sublevel. There is only one orbital in the #"1s"# sublevel, which is an #"s orbital"#. So its ground state electron configuration is #"1s"^1"#.

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